{Book Review} An Invitation To Darkness: Hailey Piper

An Invitation To Darkness: Hailey Piper

Reviewed By Steve Stred

• Print Length: 46 pages
• Publisher: Demain Publishing; 1 edition (27 Sept. 2019)

“It must have taken years to construct.”

Who’s ready for a gothic burst through a sea-soaked horror house?

Hailey Piper has unleashed another stellar story into the Short Sharp Shocks! world of books from Demain Publishing and what a thrill ride.

Last year, when I discovered her outstanding possession story, ‘The Possession of Natalie Glasgow,’ I was startled with the gloriousness of that book and its ending. I’ve been singing its praises ever since and that book is now available as both an ebook and paperback, which I have a copy of each.

If you thought for a second Piper was going to rest on her laurels and phone this one it – forget it.

We follow Captain Jamie Thames, done with their life of piloting a ship and wants to settle down. They disembark in a quaint inlet town, and immediately set their sights on Leavenworth Manor. Thames has been told it’s unoccupied but soon finds out that isn’t the case.

From there Piper delivers a story that I described in my review notes as “Clive Barker writing about The Winchester House.”

We get a shockingly brutal back story, a claustrophobic setting and a love story that keeps you going, wanting to see the resolution.

I loved the way Piper set this one up and the subtle references to the sea throughout and its role both within the main story but the surrounding plot points were fantastic.

Overall, this story is another fantastic entry into this ever-growing series, which has delivered some of the best novellas/novelettes in the horror/dark fiction world as of late, but also this tale cements Piper’s place in my world as one of the best up and coming authors to keep an eye on.

Hailey delivers big on a premise that a less confident author might have stumbled on and for that, Piper deserves all of the kudos put forth.

Excited to see just where Piper’s imagination takes up next, but in the meantime, this is a must-read for all fans of dark fiction and gothic themed mansion tales.

An Invitation To Darkness

In ‘Invitation To Darkness’ sea captain Jamie Thames meets wealthy heiress Elizabeth Leavenworth and the two women quickly fall in love. Of course, it’s never that simple in a Gothic story. Leavenworth Manor is haunted, but ghosts are the least of the lovers’ troubles.

You can buy An Invitation To Darkness from Amazon UK & Amazon US

Steve Stred

Steve Stred writes dark, bleak horror fiction.

Steve is the author of the novels Invisible & The Stranger, the novellas The Girl Who Hid in the Trees, Wagon Buddy, Yuri and Jane: the 816 Chronicles and two collections of short stories; Frostbitten: 12 Hymns of Misery and Left Hand Path: 13 More Tales of Black Magick, and the dark poetry collection Dim the Sun.

On September 1st, 2019 his second collection of dark poetry and drabbles called The Night Crawls In arrived. This release was specifically created to help fund the 1st Annual LOHF Writers Grant.

Steve is also a voracious reader, reviewing everything he reads and submitting the majority of his reviews to be featured on Kendall Reviews.

Steve Stred is based in Edmonton, AB, Canada and lives with his wife, his son and their dog OJ.

You can follow Steve on Twitter @stevestred

You can visit Steve’s Official website here