Review: Darkhouse (Experiment in Terror #1) by Karina Halle

Synopsis (Goodreads):

There’s always been something a bit off about Perry Palomino. Though she’s been dealing with a quarter-life crisis and post-college syndrome like any other twenty-something, she’s still not what you would call “ordinary.” For one thing, there’s her past which she likes to pretend never happened, and then there’s the fact that she sees ghosts. Luckily for her, that all comes in handy when she stumbles across Dex Foray, an eccentric producer for an upcoming webcast on ghost hunters. Even though the show’s budget is non-existent and Dex himself is a maddening enigma, Perry is instantly drawn into a world that both threatens her life and seduces her with a sense of importance. Her uncle’s haunted lighthouse provides the perfect catalyst and backdrop for a mystery that unravels the threads of Perry’s fragile sanity and causes her to fall for a man, who, like the most dangerous of ghosts, may not be all that he seems.

My Thoughts:  I've been on a bit of a ghost kick lately. All ghosts, all the time. Sometimes I want the ghosts to be sweet and cuddly (or sexy and steamy) and sometimes I want them to be nasty, vengeful creatures that want to hurt and maim and do other very bad things. I got nasty and vengeful IN SPADES with this book. And I loved it. It was so dark and brooding. With a lighthouse. A LIGHTHOUSE! Lighthouses are right up there with abandoned asylums on the creep factor scale for me. *shivers*

Okay. Where to start. How about with Perry? She's in a job she hates, still living at home, her parents don't really seem to understand her, and she has some personal issues from her past that everyone seems to think she's going to repeat. If I had people staring at me all day waiting for the next big explosion, I'd be having panic attacks, too. I personally don't know if I would have been brave enough to throw caution to the wind like she did and jaunt off to a supposedly haunted lighthouse with a guy I didn't know, but that's what makes Perry so intriguing. You don't know what she'll do next. You don't know if what she's doing is a good idea. You don't know if Dex is a good guy.

Speaking of Dex... Mr. Mysterious himself. The guy is a mass of contradictions. He's friendly and charming one minute and a scowling brute the next. And it works for him. You're constantly trying to figure out what's going on in his head. Even when you do know, you don't know. The guy is mysterious. He's got a certain appeal because of it that I found fascinating.

The setting is wonderfully creepy, the ghosties are spooky, and Perry and Dex have a chemistry that I found very appealing. I can't wait to see what adventures they get into next.

More books by Karina Halle

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Darkhouse was provided for review.