'Seven years have passed since the events of A Christmas Carol, seven years since the night when Ebenezer Scrooge took to a life of philanthropy and kindness. But there is another side to Scrooge. Those afflicted by spirits and hauntings know of him as a man who can help rid them of the unquiet dead. Alongside his trusted companion and friend, Captain Ambrose, Scrooge faces off against malevolent poltergeists and supernatural wickedness.
'So when Louisa Fell invites him to investigate her family home in the east of England, he is more than happy to oblige. But the mysteries at the Fell house are deep and terrifying, and the more Scrooge uncovers, the more he risks awakening the ghosts of his past, his present, and things yet to come.'
I have to make an embarrassing confession, despite A Christmas Carol being one of my favourite Christmas stories, I've never read the original story all the way through. Instead, my love of the story comes from all of the various adaptations and stories that borrow inspiration from it that have been made over the years; with the Muppet version honestly being the one that I think is the best.
Despite that failure on my part, when I saw that a new book was being released that would show us that in the years since he was visited by ghosts and changed into a better man Ebenezer Scrooge has been hunting unruly and cruel ghosts in order to help other I was instantly hooked by the prospect. Thankfully, the broad cultural knowledge of the story of Ebenezer Scrooge seems to be all that someone would need in order to jump into this delightful ghost story, making it a must read for anyone who's ever loved the story however you've experienced it.
Set several years after the events of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge has spent the intervening years helping the people of London as best he can, trying to make up for the terrible things that he's done in the past. Part of this has been the establishment of The Club of Decent-Hearted Gentlemen, a place where people can come to request aid from Scrooge and others like him who are tying to do better. It's here that Scrooge is approached by a young, pregnant widow named Louisa Fell, who needs help with a frightening issue.
It transpires that Louisa has recently been left an old house by her uncle, who has passed away. The house, in a small Northfolk coastal town, has a reputation for being haunted, and Louisa's own experiences there as a child have chilled her to this day. It also seems that her uncle has some very strange stipulations in his will, ones that seem strangely engineered to make it so that Louisa has to move into the house or face destitution. Having heard that Scrooge has experiences with the supernatural, and the desire to help those in need, she begs him to take the case. Whilst Scrooge believes this will likely just be another usual haunting, he soon discovers that there are dark, powerful forces as work; forces with their eyes set on Louisa Fell.
As someone with a soft spot for Victorian era fiction, particularly horror and dark fantasy, I knew from the outset that I was likely going to really enjoy Ebenezer Scrooge: Ghost Hunter; just the title alone was enough to put the book on my 'must read' list. Thankfully, J.S. Barnes brings enough of the dark and gothic atmosphere of the era and injects it into the narrative to create something that at time feels very grounded and normal, but can take a sudden turn into the frightening without warning, delivering a chilling narrative that you can't help but get swept up in.
One of the main reasons for this is the mystery that's established early in the book. Louisa Fell isn't just coming to Scrooge because she's got a ghost in her house, but because She has no other choice but to move into this incredibly haunted building as life seems to have given her nothing but bad luck, taking away everyone that she loves and cares about, leading to her facing the choice between a house that terrifies her or the workhouses. Along with a string of deaths and terrible circumstances that have plagued Louisa is the unusual fact that her uncles will is incredibly specific, stating that the recipient of his estate must be in desperate financial straits, they must have a child or be pregnant, and that they must stay in the house for at least five years. With mysterious deaths and the oddly specific will it's hard to not want to know more, and Barnes manages to hook you despite the book holding back most of the horror until at least half way through.
Barnes also fills the book with some great new supporting cast to both assist and hinder Scrooge in his mission. Due to his age, Scrooge seems to have been given a younger, more action oriented assistant named Captain Ambrose, a former soldier who is indebted to Scrooge. This is a fantastic addition, as Scrooge was already in his late fifties in the original book, putting him in his sixties here. Whilst this isn't hugely old, nor does it stop him from doing everything, it makes sense to have a much younger person aiding him, one capable of handling danger, chasing down villains, and protecting Scrooge if needs be. There's something of a Holmes and Watson feel to their relationship; which isn't a complaint.
Alongside our protagonists are an ensemble of mysterious, and sometimes creepy characters who are out to make things difficult. There's a celebrated psychic medium who at first seems to warn Scrooge not to travel to the house to help Louisa, and soon becomes a more sinister presence in the book, there's the older woman who's been taking care of the haunted house in the years since Louisa's uncle passed who has vague warnings and ill omens to share; and then there's also Louisa's uncle himself, who may be trying to manipulate events from beyond the grave.
Whilst the book is something of a slow burn in the sense that we don't actually go the the haunted house and experience the dark things there until later sections, the book never feels like it's missing out on anything. There's always something happening across it's multiple narratives to keep you engaged, with new scenes either servicing the story or helping to shape and inform the characters. Barnes does a fantastic job at using every page well, not wasting a single moment.
Ebenezer Scrooge: Ghost Hunter is delightfully crafted, creating an engaging mystery, interesting characters, and a continuation of Scrooge's story that I really hope to see more of. I didn't know that the ideal follow-up to A Christmas Carol was Ebenezer Scrooge fighting ghosts, monsters, and the forces of hell, but now it's all I want to see with the character.
Ebenezer Scrooge: Ghost Hunter is available now from Titan Books for 18.99
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