Within These Walls

Over the past year I have read some excellent haunted house stores, and I have read some rather terrible haunted house stories. I have also been thinking about what makes a haunted house / ghost story great. And I think I may have found the answer. It's not the ghosts or the house that really matter, it is the human protagonists. Because a great ghost story or haunted house story is about more than just the things that go bump in the night. The good ones are metaphors for the broken hearted and the downright right broken. Just look at The Shining, or even two of the best haunted house novels out in the last six months, Adam Nevill's No one Gets Out Alive and Willie Meiklle's Tormentor. All of them are more about the journey that our broken protagonists take than any of the many things that go bump in the night.Don't get me wrong, a good haunted house or ghost story also needs to have a great sense of claustrophobia, dread and menace, otherwise it is just another kitchen sink drama, which is something that Ania Ahlborn's magnificent Within These Walls could never been accused off.Within These Walls has it all, a haunted house, a broken protagonist who has just figured out that his wife is having an affair, a difficult daughter, ghosts, things that go bump in the night, oh and a cult leader worthy of Barker's Nix. All held together in a prose that is genuine, beautiful and totally enthralling.From the opening page you just know that you are in the hands of a writer who knows her craft. The story is preceded by a letter from Jeffrey Halcomb, and a series of newspaper clippings. These serve to snap the readers attention front and foremost, a perfectly executed hook that ensures you read on. However, it is when the story starts for real that the reader quickly realises that they are the presence of a master writer.The opening chapter is a heartfelt look at the breakdown and fallout of a marriage. The sense of love tinged anger that is conveyed on the page is as honest a portrayal as you are likely to read all year. The conflicting feelings of love and hate that Lucas feels towards his wife allows the reader to really connect to him. You feel his anguish, and despair, and within a few paragraphs you become fully invested in him"The overhead light cast shadows that veiled her eyes. For a flash of a second, she looked like that once-upon-a-time girl, the one he so desperately missed. "Those two sentences almost reduced me to tears. It is the rich and powerful turn of phrase that Ania uses that sets this book apart from so many other haunted house stories. She doesn't need long winded descriptions to convey emotion, this reviewer gets the feeling that she is a writer who is aware of the fact that it is not just about the words you put down but about the words you don't put down.Within These Walls utilises the dual time frame narrative to great effect, in the early parts of the novel, the cold bleakness of Lucas's wife and daughter is mirrored by the warm narrative of Audra as she first encounters the novel's monster. The way in which Ahlborn makes these initial historical chapters so warm and cuddly is a great counter point to present day happenings in the book. But beware even these chapters have a hidden darkness, what feel like throw away sentences when you first read them, slowly become dread filled hints at the terrors to come."they reminded her of circus clowns piling out of a tiny car, one after the other, a seemingly endless stream"This is not a rushed novel, Ahlborn takes her time in building up the sense the dread, enticing the reader with a rich prose that never resorts to a cheap scare. Enticing the reader with the mystery of what is to come next as well as chilling the reader with a terrifying and realistic portrayal of a dangerous cult. Ahlborn intertwines the terror with a truthful look at the relationship between Lucas, his wife and his daughter, and frailty of self worth and the need for acceptance.Everyone goes on about the book and writer you just have to read, ignore them and go and pick a copy of this book, you can thank me later.

I thought The Bird Eater was a step back for Ania but this book has reclaimed her place as one of my favourite authors. Her attention to the characters was brilliant and the story gripped me like her early books did. Cannot wait for her next book.

In the midst of reading this, i am finding the story slow going. Hopefully the pace picks up as i want to finish it

This book as been on my 'to read' list for quite some time. I kind of wished I didn't bother even buying it. This supposed horror couldn't carry its own weight. It was so cliqued that I saw the ending a mile off. You have the failing writer, the angsty soon-to-be teenager (I think the writer maybe should have made her 15 instead of 12, she didn't write her well enough to be a convincing 12 year old, seemed way older), the haunted house, the cult. Then it was the whole 'we are leaving this damned place' then they don't. Next chapter: 'We are leaving this damned place' then they don't. This pattern goes on pretty much the second they move into the house all the way to the end, it's infuriating. It was almost identical to the Charles Manson case, yes the author even writes about Manson and the parallels but it was basically an unoriginal idea that Ahlborn expanded on. And to finish off my criticism, none of the characters were likeable, Lucas was a douche, Jeanie was annoying, Echo was frustrating, Halcomb was so loosely written I found it hard to believe that he convinced people to follow him, I could never remember which cult members were which as they weren't delved into deep enough for me to care to remember who was who and Caroline was the typical 'bitch' character that's so done to death that I was done to death with this book. I did however like Audra, but then again, she wasn't exactly in it much, considering. Oh and the book failed to answer much of the questions raised like why DID Halcomb pick of Lucas out of literally anyone in America?I didn't give it a one because it was an easy read. It wasn't difficult, it wasn't baffling, it was just a simple read. A simple read that should have been 100 pages shorter with a more intense narration. Okay I'm done.x

Not bad but no way as good or scary as the previous books

With his marriage on the rocks, washed-up true-crime writer Lucas is desperate for a comeback. His chance comes when he's promised exclusive access to inmate Jeffrey Halcomb, the notorious cult leader and mass murderer ready to break his silence after thirty years. With nothing left to lose, Lucas leaves to live and work from the crime scene: a split-level farmhouse soaked in the blood of Halcomb's diviners—runaways drawn to his message of family, unity, and unconditional love. Jeffrey Halcomb promised his devout eternal life, and they're far from dead within these walls.⠀⠀⠀⠀WITHIN THESE WALLS is a spine-tingling thriller that intertwines the past and present of Halcomb's cult of runaways and the true story uncovered by true-crime writer Lucas. With great fascination, I thoroughly enjoyed the evolution of the "family." But also terrifying to witness Audra's transformation into a brainwashed member. I've mostly read books that took place after the math, but Ahlborn produced a well-written narrative that captured the realistic nature of cults and the manipulation of one's leader.⠀⠀⠀⠀Fast forward to the present; Lucas and his daughter live in the home where Halcomb committed mass suicide and murder. Lucas isn't the most likable guy in the world. But he's bearable enough that you feel a bit sorry for him. Not the best parenting skills, but it's not like his angsty teenager made it any easier. I can't disclose much, but I will mention that the supernatural activity gave me the creeps with one binge-worthy twist!⠀⠀⠀Ahlborn always delivers a masterful horror piece that would also entice thriller readers. Thanks to the detail-oriented writing, I visualized each compelling scene from start to finish. WITHIN THESE WALLS is a must-read if you're into cult-themed books. We rarely get a look into the growth and demise of a cult, so I'm thrilled I finally picked up this hit!

I liked the plot but I am not so sure about the execution. It was too slow for my taste and then at the end everything happens so quickly I could barely understand. The ending was good and the fact that there are two plots (eventually I was more interested to know What was happening in the past). Maybe I would like it more if one the main chatacters were not a teenager....

Another stunner from Anita Ahlborn. A real page-turner. Kept me riveted right to the shocking end! Definitely add this to your TBR pile!

Absolutely loved it. I love all of Ahlborn's work but this is my favourite so far.

(3.5/4)This book was a good spooky sort of story set in a house of previous horrors.This is the story of Lucas and his daughter. Well, lots of others as well but they are the main (living) characters of the story for the most part in the present day. Lucas and his wife are having marriage issues. When he gets a lead about a story, he's a writer, he jumps at it. He is asked by known cult leader/killer Jeffrey Halcomb to come live in the house that some bad stuff went down in during a two week period and he will grant him information for a real good story. He decides to do it but his wife is all, "blah blah you go and take our daughter I'm off on a trip with "work" (and the man she's suspected of having an affair with) and we're over by the way". He takes his daughter and off they go to the freaky house.That's pretty much the initial set up. Once there things slowly, a little too slowly at times, start to happen. For a long time this is just gathering information and learning about the things that have happened. Oh, and when they arrive in this town to get to work, Mr. psycho decides he doesn't want to do the giveaway anymore. Anyway, as you are reading this part of the story it is also flashing back to the 80's when the first bloody mess happened in the house so you get to see what was going on back then and what actually happened.This book is good and has a good story line and plot going on. However, this is a wordy book. At times it just seems to have a lot of words and not a lot of going anywhere. The cult stuff is good but it's very "Manson" like. Once it gets to the final act in the past and when the supernatural stuff finally comes to play in the present it breaks away from that feeling a bit. For me it got just a little bit weird for a while in the past and present stories both at the end of their stories but it was also a good ending as well.I can't really go into detail so this review is probably less than helpful but it would be horrible for me to spoil anything for you! I went into this blindly and that seemed to work out well for me. Perhaps that would work for you as well? It's definitely worth giving a chance to.