BOOK REVIEW: PALACE OF GHOSTS BY THOMAS S. FLOWERS

Four veterans of the Iraq War agree to stay in a haunted house called Amon Place for a week with psychologist Frederick Peters and two members of his staff.  Doctor Peters is testing a theory of exposure therapy as a way to overcome Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  This haunted mansion seems like the perfect place to help the patients come face-to-face with their issues by exposing them to the ghosts that haunt the halls.  In other words, use fear within a controlled setting to help overcome any mental strongholds that are preventing them from overcoming their PTSD.  Because ghosts can’t physically hurt anybody, right?  While a noble effort in theory, we find out that Amon Place has a mind of its own and is much different from what anybody expected to encounter.
 
To be honest, this book was not a home-run for me.  I think it is a really interesting concept, especially since I’m interested in psychology and ghosts, but just didn’t give me a lot of “wow” factor.
 
There are a couple of things I really liked about the book.  The author structured the book so that each chapter was told from the 3rd person POV of a single character. I love books where each chapter is told from a different character’s point of view.  And they were told in the third person so that the overall style of writing stays the same between each character, but the story is focusing on one person’s view at a time.  That makes me happy.
 
I also want to celebrate the creepiness factor of the various ghosts or demons each character faced during the experiment.  All of the characters had to face something that was grotesque and scary.  I found myself getting grossed out or scared by each of ghosts that each character faced.  That’s always a plus, since I sometimes feel it takes a lot to creep me out.  So in this book, my first from the author, Mr. Flowers has proven to me that he has a great imagination for unique and scary situations that creep me right out.
 
Aside from the unique character backgrounds and the ghosts they must face, I felt like there were a lot of stereotypical horror elements in some of the characters and in the setting when I was expecting something a little more unique.  The four veterans seemed like unique characters to me (and remained consistent throughout the book), but all of the other characters just seemed like flat characters you could find in any other horror story.  It was the same thing with the house.  It sounded like any other haunted mansion.  And not to say that using common character and setting types are bad, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.
 
Also, the first chapter foreshadowed a bit too much for me.  I think I would have liked the story better if we didn’t have any sort of glimpse into how it might have ended.
 
I do want to mention that the issue of PTSD was treated with empathy and respect throughout the entire book.  After college I worked for a short time as a case worker with adults with Serious and Persistent Mental Illnesses (SPMIs).  The issue of PTSD was very common, and the origin of PTSD came from many sources: war, childhood abuse, or traumatic events as adults that are as varied as the different people we saw.  It is a complex issue because each person experiences PTSD in their own way, and there is no single cure-all for it.  I think that the complexity and variety of the illness shone throughout with all of the patients, and I appreciate that the issue was handled with care throughout the entire book.
 
I first heard of Thomas S. Flowers from a review about The Last Hellfighter and I definitely want to check that one out.  That one might be more up my alley!
 
 
Thomas S. Flowers is an Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom Army veteran who loves scary movies, BBQ, and coffee. Ever since reading Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front and Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot he has inspired to write deeply disturbing things that relate to war and horror, from the paranormal to his gory zombie infested PLANET of the DEAD series, to even his recent dabbling of vampiric flirtation in The Last Hellfighter readers can expect to find complex characters, rich historical settings, and mind-altering horror. Thomas is also the senior editor at Machine Mean, a horror movie and book review site that hosts contributors in the horror and science fiction genre.

PLANET of the DEAD and The Last Hellfighter are best-sellers on Amazon's Top 100 lists for Apocalyptic Fiction and African American Horror.
 
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PALACE OF GHOSTS BY THOMAS S. FLOWERS

Evil resides in Amon Palace. Something worse came to visit.

Four veterans of the Iraq War seeking a cure for Post-Traumatic-Stress Disorder arrive at a notoriously haunted house in the bogs of Galveston Island called Amon Palace. 

Samantha Green, a friendless former Army K-9 handler looking for a way to put her loss behind her. 

Brad Myers, a lighthearted former Military Police Officer severally wounded in war wanting nothing more than a good nights sleep.

Andy Lovejoy, an overweight light spoken drone operator who once watched the war from above now questions who he has become. 

Marcus Pangborn, a headstrong Marine who desperately wants a dead friend’s forgiveness. 

The group joins Doctor Frederick Peters, an experimental psychologist looking to prove his exposure theory hypothesis, and his two assistants, Tiffany Burgess and Dexter Reid. 

At first, their stay seems to conjure nothing more than spooky encounters with inexplicable phenomena. But Amon Palace is gathering its powers—and soon it will reveal that these veterans are not who they seem.

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