October 2023 Indie Book Review

Restless Spectres by A. Woodly

An Indie Book Review by Joseph Poopinski
Sixth Sense Meets Two Broke Girls
3 stars

It’s a light fresh start romance with plenty of planning, rationalization, explanation & sometimes ghosts.  Overthinking alone may occupy a third of the novella’s real estate:  Get gas before a car trip, save that receipt from the jewelry store & procrastinate when uncertain enough, now, but remind whomever to make a better decision later.  At times it’s funny but never scary.  An oft-confounding theme from life’s independently acting agents plays a role in how Restless Spectres resolves:  Given ghosts exist, we learn straightforward rules (ghosts are invisible) but there are exceptions (Clara can see ghosts) & additional exceptions (certain other folks can see the ghosts too), and then some flukes defy those exceptions (neither Clara nor the ghost hunters can see the evil ghost), so we’re back to square one.  Among several incidentals, braver readers might utilize a planchette & Ouija board to discover her old boyfriend’s “work” trip’s true purpose & where the several spooky vanishing apparitions who never talked fit in.  The very ending suited me just fine.

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