Mary Ann Mitchell, The Witch

The Witch

Mary Ann Mitchell

Medallion Press, February 2007, $6.99, 352 pp.

ISBN 1932815813

In life, Cathy was a very unhappy woman who didn't get along with her mother, and was hurt when she discovered her husband was cheating on her with their teenage babysitter. During an episode of deep depression she hung herself in the basement; her son Stephen discovered his mother's body. Cathy in life was a practicing dark witch, and she taught her son how to gain power so he could one day become a powerful warlock.

Stephen calls his mother back from beyond; upon her return she wants to live again, if only to enact revenge on the people who hurt her. In the basement where she practiced her craft, there is a box on the table decorated with real demons on the top of the box. When Stephen's blood is spilt and the demons drink it, they can be freed to enact her vengeance. Stephen does this, but people closest to him are badly injured and die, as the demons carry out Cathy's revenge. Stephen realizes that this can't continue, but he doesn't know if he will be able to sever his last link to his mother and send her back to the hell she belongs in.

Readers who like to be scared out of their wits will thoroughly enjoy THE WITCH, a chilling horror thriller in which one shocker follows another. Mary Ann Mitchell is a talented horror author, who uses interaction between her characters to tell a great haunting story. Readers will wonder how far Cathy will go, because after she achieves her quest, she also has a hidden agenda (with her offspring) to take over, by his "invitation", Stephen's heart & soul.