Palace of Ghosts

By: Thomas S. Flowers

Narrated by: Matt Weight

Evil resides in Amon Palace. Something worse came to visit.

Four veterans of the Iraq War seeking a cure for Post-Traumatic-Stress Disorder arrive at a notoriously haunted house in the bogs of Galveston Island called Amon Palace.

Samantha Green, a friendless former Army K-9 handler looking for a way to put her loss behind her.

Brad Myers, a lighthearted former Military Police Officer severally wounded in war wanting nothing more than a good nights sleep.

Andy Lovejoy, an overweight light spoken drone operator who once watched the war from above now questions who he has become.

Marcus Pangborn, a headstrong Marine who desperately wants a dead friend’s forgiveness.

The group joins Doctor Frederick Peters, an experimental psychologist looking to prove his exposure theory hypothesis, and his two assistants, Tiffany Burgess and Dexter Reid.

At first, their stay seems to conjure nothing more than spooky encounters with inexplicable phenomena. But Amon Palace is gathering its powers-and soon it will reveal that these veterans are not who they seem.

©2019 Thomas S. Flowers (P)2019 Thomas S. Flowers

Classic style ghost story

Really enjoyed this story. Was a good classic haunted house story. Narration was really good!

“I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.”

The Haunting of Amon Palace

Thomas S. Flowers definitely knows how to tell a good ghost story. If you are a child of the 80s, you should be familiar with all the building blocks he uses to make his stories. Definitely reminded me of some popular horror movies.

I liked the mix of characters and while they all provide their back story and do evolve during the story, I didn’t find myself really attached to any of them. Each has their own issues, but I found that the house itself was the more intriguing part. The crew seemed more like your typical made for TV haunted house story where everyone is expendable. I was ok with that as I wanted to hear more about the house and the ghosts that reside there. The interactions of the different ghosts with the people is what really stood out in this story since they were a more personal to each character.

Haunted House stories tend to be similar and I thought this story was unique in that these are not ghost hunters, just troubled people getting therapy in a stressful environment. Not sure that I would ever sign up for this type of therapy, especially since I have now heard one way it could go. I liked how the story builds and how everything plays out, although I didn’t really think the ending fit. I wanted a bit more intensity.

Matt Weight did a good job narrating. I enjoyed his voice and the energy he put into the characters. The different character voices were paired perfectly for how I pictured each one.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Excellent

Thomas S. Flowers never ceases to surprise me. He also has a knack for tackling current events/socially motivated issues without beating us over the head with it. PTSD is an enormous problem of our time and Flowers places this incredibly serious issue within the walls of a haunted house. It's almost as if the house is an allegory for the people themselves: something malleable is now housed within walls that will be forever haunted. Their minds are trapped in their skulls and there is no escape. Flowers is endlessly clever and his writing is tight, compelling and believable. Matt Weight rises to the occasion here and delivers a phenomenal performance.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Great Creepy and Unique Horror Story

From 'Go' this story had me, and it never really let me go. An experimental psychology experiment with characters who are interesting with disparate pasts (leading through their tenure in the military where they developed ptsd) potentially being healed by extreme therapy. But of course extreme therapy in a ghost story goes off the rails in increasingly horrifying ways that plays off the characters and their pasts. It was really entertaining and creepy and I really enjoyed it.

I received the audiobook code for this story at my request and have voluntarily left this honest review.

Great Haunted House Story

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

A group of military veterans voluntarily becomes part of a psychological experiment to learn to cope with their PTSD and the emotional trauma it brings. A Psychiatrist has dreams of grandeur if his experiment works: book deals, interviews, nothing short of fame. The experiment is set to take place in a "haunted house" and as you can imagine things go horribly awry. There are homages to Shirley Jackson't Haunting of Hill House all through this book, which was nice. Thomas Flowers gives us a much more brutal haunted house story than Jackson's famous novel. This was a fun read and like all good horror novels really ramped up the intensity as the end approached. Matt Weight did a great job with the characters and his narration was spot on. My only critique of the book is that the ending is a bit abrupt. I'd have loved to have seen some other possibilities explored at the end, but this is still a fun read. If you like a good haunted house story, then check this one out.