Books I've Been Reading: The Ghosts of Varner Creek

Type: An e-book purchased here from Amazon.
Price: $0.99
Date finished: February 22, 2012
Rating (out of 5 stars): 4 stars (I really liked it)
Synopsis from Goodreads:

In the summer of 1909, Solomon Mayfield awoke to find his mother and sister had disappeared. Left with his alcoholic and abusive father, Sol lived his life believing the story he'd been told, the story all the people of Varner Creek believed about what happened that summer. But in a plot of twists and family secrets that will leave the reader reaching for their jaw upon the floor, Sol is taken back to his childhood by the spirits he knew in life when he passes away so many years later . . . it is only then he learns what secrets The Ghosts of Varner Creek have been keeping so many years.

My review:

Let me say right off the bat that this is not a scary ghost story! The "ghosts" in this book refers more to the ghosts-of-the-past kind of ghost. I will admit that the title is what caught my attention (I like scary books and I liked the price - $0.99 cents!) but it was a really good read.

This is a pretty straight forward story about a man learning the truth about his past, which has many deep, dark, unhappy secrets. The story starts out with Sol, age 87, sitting in his room at the nursing home where he lives. He's thinking back on his life when he sees a faceless ghost sitting next to him (not meant to be scary, but fear is subjective so it might freak you out, but I didn't see it that way) but the ghost doesn't say anything. He's used to seeing ghosts since he was a child. The story continues on by going back in time to when Sol's parents were children. Most of the first half of the book gives a very deep and descriptive background history of the characters. If you like books that pick up right away, this book isn't for you. It picks up towards the middle. But it is definitely worth reading because this deep history is what makes everything come into perspective at the end. Once I got through the first half, I couldn't put it down.