Silence for the Dead – Book Review

“Portis House emerged from the fog as we approached, showing itself slowly as a long, low shadow….”

In 1919, Kitty Weekes, pretty, resourceful, and on the run, falsifies her background to obtain a nursing position at Portis House, a remote hospital for soldiers left shell-shocked by the horrors of the Great War. Hiding the shame of their mental instability in what was once a magnificent private estate, the patients suffer from nervous attacks and tormenting dreams. But something more is going on at Portis House—its plaster is crumbling, its plumbing makes eerie noises, and strange breaths of cold waft through the empty rooms. It’s known that the former occupants left abruptly, but where did they go? And why do the patients all seem to share the same nightmare, one so horrific that they dare not speak of it?

Kitty finds a dangerous ally in Jack Yates, an inmate who may be a war hero, a madman… or maybe both. But even as Kitty and Jack create a secret, intimate alliance to uncover the truth, disturbing revelations suggest the presence of powerful spectral forces. And when a medical catastrophe leaves them even more isolated, they must battle the menace on their own, caught in the heart of a mystery that could destroy them both.

Simone St. James is like my favorite horror genre author and I make sure to read ALL her books. This book was released in 2014 way before Sun Down Motel and Book of Cold Cases were released (which I have already read)

The story starts with Kitty securing a job at Portis House, a well known place that houses mad men–men who were affected by the Great War. It was the year 1919. But this particular house used to belong to a Swiss family named Gersbachs who mysteriously disappeared one night and was never heard from again. Kitty befriends and finds a dangerous ally Jack Yates, a former soldier and known as Patient Sixteen in the house. When working at the night shift, Kitty encounters something sinister–patients start screaming and thrashing, and something–or someone is lurking around the house at night. And the west wing part of the house is closed off…

I like this book although this book wasn’t as great as the Sun Down Motel in my opinion. There were some jump scare parts in the book and I felt like I was watching a horror movie. The book was well written in my opinion and I like how the supernatural elements worked through this novel. Even after finishing reading this book, I was still unsettled having read the ghost part of the story particularly the part where the ghosts attack on the patient. The ending I felt was slightly rushed but overall, this book was one of those horror books that will make you feel unsettled after reading the book. Worth four stars.

If you haven’t read any of Simone St. James novels, check out The Sun Down Motel and The Broken Girls first–they are really good!