The Haunting of Abney Heights is not a horror book. It's a historical fiction murder mystery and a passive one. The main character, Megan, is a genealogist/archivist, who she gets assigned by a woman named Betty Gardiner to unravel the mystery of Betty's great aunt Emmanuelle. Emmanuelle Murray (Elle) was a patient in The Abney asylum in 1907. In June 1907., Elle tragically died on the grounds of the asylum. On the same day of Elle's death, her friend, Lucy, is also found dead in the Abney park cemetery. While Megan's task is to shed light on Elle's life and death, the more information she gathers, the more obsessed she becomes with the two Edwardian ladies. This unexpected mystery rattles Meg to her core when she finds herself engrossed with the history of Abney Heights to the extent of deliberately disregarding her history that lurks in the shadows.

In the present day, Abney Heights is a luxurious apartment complex owned by Monarch. Megan is staying in one of the apartments of The Abney Heights while she combs through the former asylum archives. Once the story starts developing, we are introduced to a few characters who will be assisting Megan in solving the mystery. As with most historical fiction, the book has two timelines. The present-day timeline is written partially as a regular narrative and partially as Uzi's messages (Uzi is one of the residents in the complex), whereas the past timeline is in the form of dr. Wood's diary entries (Elle and Lucy's doctor), and later Elle's diary entries. I am not a big fan of dual timelines because the present-day timeline is often not as intriguing as the one set in the past. This was partially true in this story too.
Why it worked: Megan is a refreshing protagonist. She's a middle-aged divorcée with no kids, has an unusual job, and has a Ph.D. in fairy tales. Her sidekick is her childhood friend, Antoine Byrne, an editor for the local paper – The Hockney Comet, who also lives in the Abney complex. The other characters who make up the 'Scooby Gang' are Uzi, Uzi's boyfriend Rowan, and Megan's college mentor Benedict. They're a fun group with a good dynamic.
Why it didn't work: It was passive and bit underwhelming. The detective work consists of the characters gathering around in Megan's or Antoine's apartment, or a local cafe, The Happy Cat, to discuss what they've read in the diary entries. No real action happens until the very end. Also, this should not be in the horror category. Absolutely nothing remotely scary or creepy occurs until the end. One mildly scary scene does not a horror make. Megan's background story falls flat. It takes too long to develop because Emanuele's story overshadows the present-day plot. I think that is why Thomas decided to incorporate the twist at the end, which elevates Megan's history and makes it more relevant.

One more thing I must address: the sapphic romance. Firstly, why not just use the term lesbian instead of 'gay women'? Secondly, the alleged queer romance is barely there. I find that it is also a historical fiction trope - the stories include lesbians but the romance is superficial, so it feels more like queer baiting. For the most part, the romance feels one-sided or as if the writer forgot to include the other character's contribution. Towards the end, the romance becomes more intense and complex and serves as a plot device rather than a stand-alone love story.

Don't get me wrong I had a fun time reading this book. I recommend it to fans of Edwardian history, murder mysteries, complex plot, slightly underdeveloped characters, and lovely descriptive writing. If you want a haunted asylum, you're not going to get it.

I just finished this last night.
I was impressed with the historical research that clearly went into this novel. The journal entries read just like reading an actual journal from the time period. It was amazing. I loved the characters. Our protagonist was perfect for this story.
There were somethings that were just plain weird. The text sections were especially weird. They fit in with the story, I guess, but they were strange.

I read this pretty quick but only because I try to push through stories I’m not a fan of quickly. I’m sorry to say I just wasn’t a fan. The best part about this book was the synopsis and title. I felt underwhelmed and disappointed ☹️

A creepy modern gothic story just in time for Halloween!
Meg returns to London almost against her will., knowing she will face her past mistakes. Taking up residents in an old asylum, she is researching the deaths of two asylum patients. It's a slow burn with many different literary elements and even Buffy references!
If you like a Halloween read, The Haunting of Abney Heights is for you!
.#BooksGoSocial

I thought that this was a really good book with great back and forth through timelines and points of view.

The first half of this book was brilliant, it really had me engaged and eager to find out what happened at the asylum, but halfway through I lost track of some of the peripheral characters and their connection to the dead girls and it was a shame as the book could have been shorter and kept up a tight pace and been brilliant. 4 stars for the first half, but 3 overall.

I enjoy dual timeline historical fiction and present day novels and this is a good example of this for most of the book. Towards the end, as we discover what really happened at the asylum it takes a very dark turn and I found it difficult to read a fictionalised version of events we know happened all too often in these places. For me it wasn't creepy, more harrowing and I struggled to finish the book.

I’m just going to make this one short and say that it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I expected more scare factor and less rambling and a drawn out slow pace. This one just didn’t do it for me.I’m just going to make this one short and say that it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I expected more scare factor and less rambling and a drawn out slow pace. This one just didn’t do it for me.

There's much to parse in this British contemporary/Edwardian Ghostly mystery. The Narrator, a former academic, now a freelance genealogist, carries a trunk load of baggage from childhood and adolescence. She's currently staying in a Renovated Edwardian Asylum while working through the Asylum archives for the Development corporation. It's also the area of London in which she grew up, and the penthouse resident is her bestie while growing up.

Additionally, she is contracted by a San Francisco resident to uncover the mysteries of one of the gentlewoman inmates. There's enough Supernatural Interference to keep the cauldron boiling, which in turn creates danger and potential fatality. Caution: the unraveling of the Asylum narrative reveals some very ugly facts, disturbing to some (many) readers. The reading is not as fast-paced as I would have hoped, as discovering the truths from 1907 is spaced out through journal entries, and our Narrator is constantly involved in her own past drama.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC.

This book was okay. It wasn't scary, spooky, not even creepy. Honestly, it was kind of boring. The title, cover, synopsis is what drew me in and it was all just underwhelming and forgettable.

I hate to be a party pooper, I really do, but for a book titled "The Haunting" and described with words horror and gay romance it was extremely underwhelming. It was what drawn me to this title, yet it's also what didn't work for it.

For instance, I wanted creeps. Spooky vibes. Dark undertones. The only part that actually defends itself in this category is the ending, yet it was so... surprising (not in strictly positive way) that it felt ridiculous. The very rest of THoAH is a try to write a solving murder mystery type of story, and because this trope is a pet peeve of mine I feel dissapointed. The whole "solving" is a group of mcs sitting in different places, reading a diary that gives them all the answers. Sometimes they move in order to research, but it's so not the main plot it shows.

Don't get me wrong, the story is interesting more or less. The twist at the end? Pretty cool, but because the whole book was so static and one-way it felt a bit out of place. I still don't know how old main characters are and what are their relationships between them, this part is messy and again, very straightforward. No side plots, not much of characters depth, not many emotions awaken in reader.

I'm not a big fan of stories divided into two perspectives – one from now and the second from the past. But in THoAH it's actually pretty cool, if I had to point advantages of this title. Despite my disappointment in plot I can see that the author put a lot of heart into it. I was ready for a spooky, full of action ghost hunt, not calm novella about family issues. There are people that will like it, I'm more than sure about that, it's just not mine kind of jam.

Rounding up to three stars


The light hearted manner of the buffy references and banter didn't quite match up to the stories told in the asylum for me.
It was an interesting tangled Web of characters and how they fit together, but I never once got the creepy feeling I was hoping for.
Just didn't really work for me.