How far would you go for success? What if the thought of forever was real? In ‘Within These Walls’ author Ania Ahlborn answers these questions in a paranormal thriller that will keep you glued to the page! That being said, not everything in the book might seem unique when put in a big picture kind of way. Still, quality writing and a solid plot will make you not even realize that some of the larger story arcs have been done before.
In the novel we follow a true crime writer named Lucas Graham. His career has fallen by the wayside and when he has to move the family for a hot new assignment that could breathe fresh life, things go from bad to worse. He has long been in a loveless marriage and when Graham tries to take the family to where this crime has taken place, his wife leaves him being more in love with her job than their life together.
What is the job that has him so caught up that he goes forward with it anyway? An exclusive interview with Jeffrey Halcomb. Halcomb was the leader of a cult called the Halcomb’s Diviners whose members all committed suicide thirty years prior. Only there is still much unknown about what actually took place within the walls. When the interview is stopped dead in its tracks, we see the writer try to find out what actually happened on his own. Only, he isn’t alone.
Aside from his daughter, something else is stirring in the old farmhouse where these ghastly events once took place. Only, was the real purpose of the interview to allow Halcomb to tell his tale or did he have a new victim in mind with Graham’s own daughter?
There are some key plot points here which will stand out as being used previously though the way Ahlborn does it completely works. A story about an author who takes his family to a house that could be haunted? We’ve seen Stephen King do that in ‘The Shining’ and more recently a similar premise was used in the film ‘Sinister.’ A cult which committed mass suicide and isn’t quite gone? I recall reading ‘Last Days’ by Adam Nevill just last year.
Even with all those similarities you won’t be feeling like a single topic is in familiar territory. Ahlborn takes these ideas and weaves a completely unique story with them. While some of the dialogue is a bit much and the ending was one you could see coming, the concept itself just kept me coming back for more.
While I personally felt that it was worth a read, if cults and haunted houses aren’t your thing I wouldn’t go out of my way to pick it up.