Another fun, spooky read for October in the books! I highly suggest this one if you enjoy historical fiction and some spooky story lines!
This dual-timeline takes us back to 1928 when the Bonaventure Circus is thriving. Pippa Ripley is the adopted daughter of the circus owner, but wants to know where she came from. She knows she is the daughter of people in the circus, but her parents will not give her more information. There is someone who knows though, “The Watchman” sends her letters telling her little bits of information. She starts to hears stories of a serial killer on the circus route that people are calling “The Watchman”. Is her watchman an innocent person just trying to help her, or is there something more sinister going on?
In present day, the Bonaventure Circus is nothing more than a dilapidated building that used to be the circus’ home. Chandler Faulk’s uncle has her evaluating the property, which he just purchased, to understand if it should be flipped or restored. When spooky things start happening in the building, Chandler starts to question if all these ghost stories are a bit more. Then, she stumbles onto evidence of the serial killer, and she becomes part of the story, rather than an outsider.
I loved this story. The plot was so well done, and there were so many pieces that fit together perfectly to create a spine-tingling read. The Watchman wears a brown bag over his head with eye holes cut out. I mean, that alone was creepy! The author added all these wonderful elements to the story that just raised the hairs on my arms.
The characters were good. I really enjoyed a lot of the side characters as much, or more, than the main characters. The main characters are both questioning God’s hand in their lives. Does he listen to their prayers? This created a Christian element to the story, however, if that’s not your thing, I don’t think it’s a deterrent. It wasn’t the main focus in either timeline.
Overall, I really enjoyed this story. It got pretty hard to put it down as all the spooky stuff started happening, and I really needed to know what was going on!
Content Warning:
Murder, stalking, child abduction.
To Read or Not To Read:
I would recommend