The Abandoned

By Amanda Stevens

Mira

EAN: 9781426888861

3.75 stars

Ree Hutchins is on-duty at the mental hospital when her favorite patient passes away.  Never a believer in the supernatural, and certainly not ghosts, Ree can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t quite right; especially after overhearing a conversation involving a doctor she admires greatly.  Ree spends her days trying to understand what she overhead at the hospital and hoping the creepy feeling she’s experiencing will fade.  Finding herself in a cemetery late one night with no recollection of how she got there, Hayden Priest, an amateur ghost hunter, comes to her rescue in more than one way.

This is a prequel to The Restorer which I really enjoyed.  (My review is here if you’re interested.)  It’s a short story but because I’d read The Restorer first, I had very high expectations.  I tamped the expectations down and enjoyed the story more at the end than at the beginning.  In ways, it felt as though I was waiting for more and that was because I knew the other later story that came from this one.  Stevens was definitely honing her story idea here.

As part of my 2011 reading, I’ve been trying to read more short stories, something I don’t often do because in certain ways I feel cheated.  I get attached to a story or a character and then it ends quickly.  I’m slowly learning to overcome this so even though my review seems only lukewarm, it’s not intended that way.  That has more to do with my non-ability to read a short story without being picky.  If you’re looking for a quick little ghost story, give this a try but do it before The Restorer if you have that on your list.  It’s an enjoyable story.