Title: Amador Lockdown
Author: Coral Russell
Format: Ebook provided by author for review
From Goodreads:
Something has moved into the Amador Hotel. Hector, Marcos, Bev, and Tony of the Paranormal Posse are called in to either debunk the haunting or get rid of whatever is causing the problems. With the surprise arrival of Hector's son, he tries to keep his professional and personal lives separate, but whatever is haunting the Amador Hotel has other plans.
*** *** *** ***
Well this story was definitely different, and not quite what
I was expecting. But I enjoyed it very
much. We start with a group of
paranormal investigators, The Paranormal Posse.
Kind of a funny name, but if you’ve ever seen any of the paranormal
investigation shows on TV, you know most of them have a keen sense of
humor. The Paranormal Posse specializes
in investigations and also runs tours at different locations, allowing the
public in on the investigating.
At the beginning of the book we meet the team as they are on
a tour. One of the lead guys, Hector,
believes he is seeing shadows – ghosts! Fantastic, I think, we are into the
action right off the bat. I love that.
Marcos, another investigator in The Paranormal Posse, suggests
that The Amador Hotel may be having paranormal problems. The team begins interviews with people who
claim to have had paranormal experiences there.
I really enjoyed the way the author used these experiences as a way to
introduce some mini-stores into the book.
Some of the interviews are rather tame ghost stories, but there is one
from a boy named Julio that gave me chills!
And while interviews begin, we get introduced to another
twist. Hector’s ex-wife is having
trouble with their teenage son, Darren, and is signing custody over to Hector. Darren seems to be a teen that has an urge
to rebel. It doesn’t matter; of course,
Hector is thrilled to have his son back.
But not everything is as it seems.
Darren is a handful, and there are some secrets his mother conveniently
forgot to mention to Hector.
And then we are also getting some glimpses into the
paranormal realm. I liked the way the
author handled these scenes. Not a lot
of detail was given; things were kept fuzzy just like they were to the
spirits. There is a definite creepy
factor within these scenes that lends to the overall chill of the story.
Soon enough interviews are over, and it’s time to take on
the physical investigation. Then the story really starts to get
interesting. You think nothing is
happening, but that is foolish to be so naïve.
Something is most definitely happening.
Overall, I very much enjoyed this story. It had some definite twists and turns that
were very interesting. The main
character, Hector, was a kind man with a big heart. And when the unthinkable happens, he keeps
his faith in what he knows to be
true, not necessarily what everyone is telling him. There are some scenes near the end that I
wish were a bit more detailed and longer, but only because I was enjoying them
and wasn’t ready for it to be over.
I’m not exactly sure how I feel about this book after it’s
over. The story is good, and the writing
was good. Everything is good. But something happens, and I can’t tell you
exactly what (because any hint of telling you would be a spoiler). It was very unexpected, and not what I
anticipated at all. I guess you will have to get ahold of this
story and find out for yourself! I’ve
read a few ghost stories, and this one was different than most in the way that
you are basically “behind the scenes” of a paranormal investigation team for
most of it. That in itself was a unique
standpoint on a book. If you like good
old fashioned ghost stories, then you are in for a treat with Amador Lockdown.
Amador Lockdown Book Website
https://sites.google.com/site/amadorlockdown/ Find out
about the real ghost hunters and
the Amador Hotel.
Author
Bio
Coral
Russell won the 2003 McCaleb Peace Initiative which produced the non-fiction
articles Peace on the Peninsula about South Korean's view on
reunification. You can also find various articles written by her on Technorati
and BlogCritics. After winning a fiction writing contest (a
fluke), she caught the fiction bug. An encounter with something paranormal on a
local ghost tour inspired her to start writing the ghost hunter series.
Her
titles include Peace on the Peninsula, Twelve Worlds, Playing with Fire, The
DIY Guide to Social Media Marketing and eBook Publishing, and Amador
Lockdown.
Ms.
Russell runs the blog alchemyofscrawl at alchemyofscrawl.wordpress.com
Stop by for the latest in Indie book reviews, news, and
resources. You can stalk the author on Twitter
, Facebook, Goodreads, and Google+
