Susie Moloney, 362 Belisle Street

What is the secret of 362 Belisle Street? Or does it have more than one? This is the general theme of this book by Susie Moloney. It is described "no ordinary ghost story" and on Amazon is listed amongst the horror stories.

The story - or stories - centres round the house and the various people who buy it, beginning with Glenn Darnley who is the realtor enlisted to sell it, which is shortly after her return to work following the death of her husband.

She finds the house itself rather attractive having been newly renovated and painted throughout, although not all the colours are to her taste. It has some very unusual features which she feels will help to sell it to any prospective buyer however, many seem to be put off by various aspects.

She eventually sells it to a young couple, Rebecca and Dan, who feel it could be the house of their dreams and the first buyers move in in early spring. The husband is an artist, the wife an aspiring business woman. Strange activities start occurring soon after their arrival although; strangely they don't seem to discuss their experiences with each other. Dan has chosen to locate his studio in the room beneath the stairs and has regular visitations there. Rebecca, on the other hand, has strange experiences upstairs. She is also visited by a neighbour who claims to have been chased by their dog - they don't have a dog and there isn't one anywhere in the vicinity. Bumps and dragging noises come from the attic - but Dan is downstairs. Who is playing music in Dan's studio? The house is eventually put in Glenn's hands again for re-selling following tragic circumstances.

The second buyer, Barbara is recently divorced and moves in with her young son during the summer. The boy is very overweight and consequently tormented at school and on his way home. His mother is caught up in her own misery and her answer to his is to allow him to overeat to compensate for his unhappiness - so adding to the problem. After a while she is relieved to find that he has found some local children with whom he can play happily. The little girl has also visited Barbara although she doesn't know where she comes from. The children want her to play with them as well as they say their own mother is dead. Eventually the house comes on the market again - sold by her ex-husband following the strange disappearance of mother and son.

Glenn is again charged with selling the house this time to a writer with a drink problem. He chooses to write in the attic but often finds that he must have 'forgotten' to close the door - or to switch off his computer. He had a troubled childhood because his father was also an alcoholic who eventually committed suicide. Following some strange happenings he begins to suspect that he is headed the same way - but an unexpected visitor changes the course of events.

What are the strange noises in the attic? Where does the old fashioned music come from? What is the significance of the strange feet on the bath and the extremely dark cupboard? If you want to know the answers to these questions you will have to read the book.

I won't say that it is the scariest book I have read - far from it - but it did hold my attention until I reached the end. Susie Moloney has been credited with having "Stephen King's knack for creating evil that lurks in broad daylight". To my mind this book does not fall quite into this category but even so it is very readable.

ISBN 0141010304

Amazon price £ 6.39 for 608 page paperback book.

I'm pretty sure that I didn't pay this but as the book had been sitting in my 'to read' pile for some time I really can't remember how much I did pay.

I hope this will be of interest to you - and I thank you for reading.