Title: The Well
Author: Marie Sexton
Publisher: Self-published
Publishing Date: May 22, 2017
Genre: Mystery/Thriller, Romance
Format: eBook
Rating: 3.75 Stars
synopsis
Twenty years after prom queen Cassie Kennedy is brutally murdered, six teenagers break into the house where she was killed to hold a séance. Haven knows his cousin Elise only wants to scare the crap out of him and his friends, but he’s willing to put up with one of her pranks if it means a chance to spend a few hours with the new kid in town, Pierce Hunter.
But when morning comes, Elise has disappeared without a trace.
Twelve years later, Pierce and his twin brother Jordan are professional paranormal investigators, starring in their own ghost-hunting TV show. When Pierce calls Haven, insisting they return to the supposedly haunted building one last time, Haven reluctantly agrees. He’s nervous about seeing Pierce again, but he’s determined to get some answers. Did they really speak to Cassie’s ghost that night? What happened to Elise? And the biggest mystery of all – how did she know the secret of the well?
♦ Personal Thought ♦
Even when you experience something first hand, you’re left with more questions than answers and no proof whatsoever.
You know there’s moment in your life that bridge before and after, where the after turned your life upside down and changed everything. The Well brought that sort of scenario to life; a prank went awry, so to speak. A night that would change the life of three young men.
Told in alternate flashback and present time chapters from a seventeen and twenty nine year old Haven Sage’s POV, that showed the gap between youth’s ingenuousness and later their better grasp on reality. I felt for Haven and his guilt, the mystery of his cousin’s disappearance. In not so many words, I felt his loneliness as Elise’s disappearance robbed him many things including chance at a budding love.
While not necessarily a sleuthing story – more like the character gripped by twelve long years grief and curiosity, trying to find answer – The Well gripped me from first page to the last. The paranormal aspect in it is enough for the characters to question things but not fully answered them. It’s a pretty grounded paranormal mystery with likable characters that blend conflicting emotions. The romance side of the story was a nice bonus.
