What Haunts Me - Ghost Killer 1 - Margaret A. Millmore

I'm reading "What Haunts Me" for the Genre Horror square, which will give me my fourth bingo.

 

It should be a fun experience because the story is original and interesting but it turns out that 'what haunts me' about this book is how poorly it's written.

 

It's set in contemporary San Fransisco with the main character as a thirty-something male but the way the main character describes the people around them seems to be from a different time and doesn't seem like the way a man would think.

 

Here's an example:

 

"A few older gentlemen were perched on the bar stools chatting with the bartender, and a couple of younger guys on the other side of the large room playing pool."

 

Set aside the apparently missing word (which reflect the poor proof-reading throughout). What thirty-something man describes guys drinking in a bar as "a few older gentlemen"?

 

Then there's the point where he meets up with the most likely love-interest and we get this:

 

"I only had on my wrinkled khakis from the night before, and suddenly felt conscious of my naked upper body. Don't get me wrong, I was a strapping young man, and thought I looked pretty good shirtless. But I could actually feel her staring and it wasn’t a pleasant sensation."

 

Who described themselves as a "strapping young man"? This seems to me a very peculiar and unlikely reaction for a man to have.

 

I've come too far to DNF this book and I do want to know what's happening but I find the style very distracting.