#Bookreview – Gallows Hill by Charles F. French

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What Amazon says

History always makes an impact on the present. Retired homicide detective Sam Sadlowski faces his personal history and fears as well as living and dead enemies.

My review

Gallows Hill is the second book in The Investigative Paranormal Society series. I have read the first book, Maledicus, so I was engaged with the characters in this book before I started it. In Maledicus, I quickly became very attached to the main character, Roosevelt or Rosy to his friends, and also to Helena, the little girl who becomes the focus of Maledicus’ evil intentions.

In this second book, a different member of the society is central to the story and we get an opportunity to learn the backstory of Sam which, intriguingly, ties in with the central themes and story of Gallows Hill.

Sam is a retired detective who lost his only son, Josh, to suicide ten years earlier. His son’s death destroyed his marriage and Sam lives alone. He has never recovered from Josh’s suicide and carries a burden of guilt that is threatening to destroy him.

The author is exceptionally good at character building and his depiction of Sam and his emotions and motivations are captivating. I quickly grew to love Sam and was thoroughly invested in his life.

The story has a dual theme, the first being the chronic illness of his friend and colleague’s daughter, Maria, and the ultimate revelation of the circumstances surrounding Josh’s death and the second, is the investigation by the society of rumours of a ghostly presence at an abandoned steel mill on the outskirts of town. The two themes are cleverly woven together to create a satisfying and clever story.

The ghostly presence, Ebeneezer Schwarznacht, is horribly depraved and his portrayal was reminiscent for me of the men behind the Salem witch trials. I find the evil embodied in this type of personality, pious and self righteous, is far more frightening than the concept of a demon as it represents real people and real happens rather than fantasy. It is chilling to think of killers who are totally entrenched in their belief that they have a divine right to judge others and take away their lives.

The author does a great job of running the two themes in parallel with clever overlaps and then tying them both together with some great twists at the end.

This is an excellent and chilling story and I would recommend this book to lovers of horror and supernatural stories.

Purchase Gallows Hill by Charles F. French

Published by robertawrites235681907

I am a writer of young adult fiction and poetry

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44 thoughts on “#Bookreview – Gallows Hill by Charles F. French”

  2. I totally agree with your point about evil being embodied in a character’s pious personality is more frightening than a demonic presence, and in my opinion, it definitely makes for an intriguing story. I might just have to add this to my TBR. Thank you for sharing!

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    1. Yes, I suppose that is the risk with a series. That the subsequent books may not engage the reader to the same extent as the first one. I have yet to attempt a series. I started writing the first book in a trilogy and then Covid-19 spoiled some of it and I have to do some re-writing.

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      1. I know, Robbie. Diana is doing her series differently. Unless she is only doing it to her new series. She wrote all three before publishing them. But she is releasing one at a time. It’s not a bad idea it you know what to write in a series and could write them all at once. It has a better continuity.

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          1. Yes, Robbie, I think the outline is all you need to create relationships and continuity. You only need to keep the protagonist and you can change some of the minor characters down the road.

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      1. Than you for you kindness, Robbie! I will try becoming better, its for honoring you the native speakers too. Will hold your blood pressure down. Lol
        How i managed reading these books? Thanks the translators of Google and Bing too. 😉 Their speech recognition works more and more fine.

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  17. Pingback: Roberta Eaton reviews Gallows Hill by Charles F. French | Sue Vincent's Daily Echo

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