The Haunting Of Natalie Glasgow – Hailey Piper

Reviewed by Steve Stred

This is hands down one of the most original possession tales I have read. Ever. Full stop.

Sorry, that’s all I can say, because I can’t give away this fantastic twist. Well actually, it’s not really a twist. We know full well from the start that young Natalie Glasgow is possessed. Her father died some time back and now her mother is worried about Natalie. She is comatose all day, burning up with a fever, her mother opening the window and keeping the room as cold as possible. By night, well by night is a different story. Natalie comes out of her comatose state and stalks the house. She may be only eleven and weigh seventy pounds, but at night her footsteps pound down the hallways, causing the floors to vibrate. She frequents the kitchen, devouring raw meat by the fistfuls, then returns to her room to sleep until the following night.

Doctors are stumped. So Natalie’s mother reaches out to Margaret Willow, a supernatural investigator.

This is Hailey Piper’s first release and wow does she do a fantastic job of keeping the reader riveted with so few words. I read this in one sitting and found the words flew off the pages, keeping me enthralled the entire time. Piper builds depth to each of the characters, but never really goes into further detail about their back stories, except for The Glasgow’s. We find out a bit about the deceased father, Nathaniel, but very little about Margaret.

For me that was the biggest let down. This novella was really, really well done, but it had two short-comings.

1 – The title doesn’t do this tale justice. By using the phrase ‘Haunting’ I think it may get buried in the massive amount of ghost tales and haunted house tales that get pumped out each year. ‘The Possession of Natalie Glasgow’ would read more accurately, would not cause a change in the story what-so-ever and would separate itself from the pack.

2 – GOD HOW I WANTED MORE! Margaret is a supernatural expert. But what has she done to get her there? I wanted some back story, hear about her other investigations, how she became what she became. I also would have loved a bit more of the story regarding just how Natalie became possessed, but to disclose anything more would fail into spoiler territory.

I think with an extra thirty pages of back story and continued suspense this would have put this over the top for me, but for now, if you are looking for a really well done, edge-of-your-seat possession tale, then look no further. Hailey Piper has you covered.

Star Rating (out of 5): 4.5*

Margaret Willow has never met an eleven-year-old as dangerous as Natalie Glasgow. Natalie spends her days comatose, but at night she prowls her mother’s home, unnaturally strong and insatiably carnivorous. With doctors baffled, Natalie’s mother reaches out to Margaret, an expert in the supernatural. But even Margaret is mystified and terrified by Natalie’s condition. She’s dying, and before she dies, she might kill someone. Has a demon clawed its way inside an eleven-year-old girl? Or does the source of this nightmare lie with Natalie’s dead father?

You can buy The Haunting Of Natalie Glasgow from Amazon UK & Amazon US

Steve Stred

Steve has a new book out will ALL PROCEEDs going to charity!

You can buy Dim The Sun from Amazon US & Amazon UK

Steve Stred is an up-an-coming Dark Horror author. Steve is the author of the novel Invisible, the novellas 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.

Steve also has a number of works on the go and enjoys all this horror, occult, supernatural and paranormal.

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