Tormentor: A review

​Don’t you hate it when the previous owners of your new house trashed the place moving out before you moved in? That’s what happens to Jim Greenwood who moves into a small house on an island off the Scottish coast. The house, centuries old, begins showing signs of mysterious soot marks, as if unseeing visitors wander the interior leaving grimy streaks like young children who haven’t washed their hands after playing outside. When the soot marks start taking the shape of stick figures, often with missing appendages and heads, Jim starts feeling a tad anxious. The islands inhabitants won’t talk about the history of the place in any detail, but do let slip a few hints of something supernatural going on.
William Meikle is a prolific writer who manages to turn out original pieces of fiction that never seem stale or overused.  Tormentor would fall under the category of a haunted house story, but there is no rehashing of old plot lines. His writing always feels unique (at least to me), and Tormentor is filled with creepy images and foreboding events that are cleverly concocted. One minor exception is the supernatural entity’s use of email which stretched the bounds of believability. But, hey, this is a ghost story after all, so I could let this silliness go by without complaint. The Tormentor was a great read, both original and spooky, much of what you’d expect from Mr. Meikle. 4.5 stars.