REVIEW: Haunted Ground: The Ghosts of Laskin’s Farm

One of my favorite reads so far in 2023, this supernatural story feels like it could happen for reals!

SYNOPSIS

She escaped—but she picked the wrong place to hide out.

On the run from cartel enforcers, shrewd ex-con Kat Lundquist finds the perfect refuge, an old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. But when an earthquake stirs up ominous forces below and evidence of a haunting mounts, Kat realizes she’s stumbled upon something more terrifying than the killers on her trail.

As strange, senseless crimes rattle a nearby town, the assassins discover her hideout and close in for the kill. Desperate to escape, Kat joins forces with a new ally, a geologist whose pursuits led to their chance meeting in this remote and disturbed place. But outwitting the gunmen fast becomes the least of their worries when the dark forces of nature and the paranormal converge on Laskin’s farm.

A gripping horror novel pulsing with suspense, in Haunted Ground, a safe haven turns into a killing field where sinister never sleeps and unspeakable terror refuses to stay buried.

REVIEW

As a writer myself in the supernatural thriller genre, it’s always a delight to find a fellow writer who not only draws me into the story but does so in a way that has me rooting for the heroine and anticipating the end with regret–that it will be over!

Cailyn Lloyd has done just that with her novel, Haunted Ground : The Ghosts of Laskin’s Farm. She has handcrafted a great world here inhabited by an amazing cast of characters who aren’t cookie-cutter stereotypes but fleshed out people who are flawed and human.

I found myself invested in Kat, the heroine, as she navigated her life after prison. Maybe because I understand what it means to start over with nothing but the dark cloud of your past hanging over your head. Maybe because she feels real to me, haunted but unable to just let bad things happen around her, even when she thinks she is the bad thing.

Can we talk about Natalie and Justin? Natalie is an experienced medium who talks to the dead through her Ouija board. As someone who personally swears off Ouija boards (and does the same with her own main character) due to personal experience, I found the medium’s use of the tool refreshing, honest, with zero of the usual stupidity that floats around it, especially in books. She’s genuine and direct during her connections with the dead in a way that makes me suspect the author might have written about personal experience.

And Justin… You ever met a character that you read and just smiled? That was Justin for me. From his initial introduction to his engagement with Kat, he just… What can I say? I’m a sucker for a nerd with a big brain and a bigger curiosity. And Justin fills that bill to a T.

Together with Natalie and Justin (and Max! Let’s not forget Max!), Kat might be able to slip away from her old drug dealing boss, Harven, and his men, and save the living around the abandoned farm house she now called home from those who stirred beneath the earth.

This is a great and fascinating read, and I hope that there are more offerings from Cailyn Lloyd. I will read them all. And so should you.