The Haunting of Velkwood by Gwendolyn Kiste

Release Date: 03/05/2024

From Bram Stoker Award­–winning author Gwendolyn Kiste comes a chilling novel about three childhood friends who miraculously survive the night everyone in their suburban neighborhood turned into ghosts—perfect for fans of Yellowjackets.

The Velkwood Vicinity was the topic of occult theorists, tabloid one-hour documentaries, and even some pseudo-scientific investigations as the block of homes disappeared behind a near-impenetrable veil that only three survivors could enter—and only one has in the past twenty years, until now.

Talitha Velkwood has avoided anything to do with the tragedy that took her mother and eight-year-old sister, drifting from one job to another, never settling anywhere or with anyone, feeling as trapped by her past as if she was still there in the small town she so desperately wanted to escape from. When a new researcher tracks her down and offers to pay her to come back to enter the vicinity, Talitha claims she’s just doing it for the money. Of all the crackpot theories over the years, no one has discovered what happened the night Talitha, her estranged, former best friend Brett, and Grace, escaped their homes twenty years ago. Will she finally get the answers she’s been looking for all these years, or is this just another dead end?

Award-winning author Gwendolyn Kiste has created a suburban ghost story about a small town that trapped three young women who must confront the past if they’re going to have a future.

Synopsis

Overall Rating

4/5

Spooky Rating

2/5

Quick Take

The Haunting of Velkwood by Gwendolyn Kiste is one of the most original ghost stories I have ever read. It is filled with eerie imagery and vibrant characters that fully consume the reader. If you are a fan of wholly original gothic horror, this one is for you!

Tell Me More

Paranormal horror is a subgenre that I find often becomes convoluted with novels that are predictable and variations on the same themes. However, that is not the case with The Haunting of Velkwood. Gwendolyn Kiste took the classic ghost story, reinvented it, and completely turned it on its head.

Velkwood follows Talitha, a woman whose mother and sister became ghosts when her neighborhood became the Velkwood Vicinity years ago – a neighborhood surrounded by a veil and filled with the ghosts of its inhabitants. No one has been able to penetrate the veil except for Talitha and two other women who escaped the neighborhood before they were turned into ghosts. However, there is a lot of pain attached to the Velkwood Vicinity and Talitha’s history with Brett, her former best friend.

The concept of an entire neighborhood being stuck in time and haunted with ghosts of its previous inhabitants was absolutely tantalizing. I felt my skin crawling when Talitha re-entered the Velkwood Vicinity and was faced with confronting the ghosts of her mother and sister, as well as the other inhabitants who were stuck in time and on a loop. Kiste created such an eerie atmosphere that completely absorbed me, and I didn’t want to leave.

Brett and Talitha’s relationship was also a highlight of the novel, and I found myself wholly invested in their feelings for each other and the complicated nature of their relationship. The LGBTQIA+ representation was incredible, and I felt close to both Talitha and Brett and rooting for their relationship.

The Haunting of Velkwood was a complicated and absorbing paranormal novel that I couldn’t put down. I only wish that it had been longer so that I could have spent more time learning about the Velkwood Vicinity and how it came to be. However, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this novel, and I will be reading it again. If you are a fan of paranormal horror, I guarantee that you will be enraptured by this incredible story. Kiste does it again.