A Ghost To Watch Over Me

by Geoffrey Sleight

A frightening encounter with an apparition in his home, transforms the everyday life of Gary Belmont into a battle of survival against powerful forces. He discovers his late grandmother had an amazing secret past, and faced great danger. Now, from beyond the grave, she exerts a mysterious influence on events, as Gary uncovers shocking revelations of betrayal and corruption at the highest level. Searching for the truth, he finds new love in his life. But it becomes increasingly threatened by the prospect of sudden and violent death for him and anyone close.

207 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

I worked 30 years in journalism and later pursued a career in acting. I've always loved writing, and have scripted audio dramas as well as short film screenplays. My favourite genres in reading are a mix of supernatural, historical fiction/nonfiction, thrillers and mysteries. My main book writing genre is supernatural.

Reviews

[Peter Topside · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Geoffrey Sleight has a ton of talent. He just seems to have that natural knack for writing. It all comes off as so natural, despite whatever the plot of any of his books contain. Now this was a bit of a strange experience for me. Sleight does almost exclusively ghost/haunting-based stories, and based on the synopsis, I figured this to be more of the same. It had a few quick scenes with apparitions but beyond that, the story was like an espionage thriller. Gary and Laura are the two leads and we follow them as they run for their lives, trying to hand deliver top secret files that could jeopardize national security. So there is a ton of action, almost too much at times, and that was at the sacrifice of both Gary and Laura’s character development. That made it very hard to find reason to be invested in their plight, and the eventual romance felt very predictable and forced. For the depth that Sleight took the plot, I felt that this needed to be much longer to properly balance out everything from the characters to the many plot points and twists, the action, and the ghosts. It isn’t a bad story, but could have benefited a great deal from a content editor to help manage the pacing and overall flow.

[Bandit · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this, particularly since the author comes across as such a nice guy. But despite ghost in the title and promises of paranormal, this was basically a thriller with merely light hints of both elements and I'm not a huge fan of thrillers unless they are really spectacular. Nothing wrong with the book per se, just really not my thing. It's a thriller lite, on a cozy side, nothing offensive, no sex, barely any violence, the ghost is more of a helper than a frightening presence. The writing is serviceable, the pacing is nice, but the characters are bland and the plot is paper thin. Quick enough read, but not particularly inspiring or inspired.

[Claudia Loureiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Ghost To Watch Over Me by Geoffrey Sleight is a supernatural thrill mystery. The main character, Gary Belmont, leads a stale life until one night he is visited by a ghost who is his grandmother and attempts to open an old chest that had belonged to his mother. His curiosity now piqued, he opens the chest and reads the letters inside. One of the letters mentions that his grandmother’s name has been soiled and that she had uncovered a conspiracy that threatens the world’s population. As he begins investigating, he meets a woman who he falls in love with. However, every person who is associated with him is imminent danger from supernatural powers. Can he uncover the mystery while preserving the lives of those around?
Supernatural novels are not a favorite of mine because, as a former Green Beret, I always think that there is a logical explanation for them. However, this novel had me intrigued because I actually was involved in breaking up a similar conspiracy in another country. The supernatural powers added to the mystery and made the suspense almost unbearable. An excellent mystery that kept the reader in doubt all the way to the end!

[Vanessa Baez-dudley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mystery, romance, and action are bundled in this mystery thriller novel written by Geoffrey Sleight. The beginning of the story finds us in the home of Gary Belmont, a guy in his 30’s living in England. Confronted by the ghost of his grandmother, he is led on a journey to find out the mystery behind her secret past. I found this book true to its genre with just a hint of romance involved. The mystery is heavy at the beginning and slowly develops into some actions scenes and a love interest to help solve the mystery.

Characters:
I never found anything wrong with the main protagonist, Gary, while reading the book. He wasn’t the most interesting person in the world but he wasn’t annoying in any way either. My only suggestion for the author (if he continues to put a romantic touch in his books in the future) would be to read some romance novels and see how that first touch should occur when it comes to the love interest. I don’t expect fireworks or hot sex but something a little more interesting than “the sting of the cream made him wince a little, but was more than offset by her gentle touch on his skin, which had the effect of arousing him”. I found Laura very likeable and I was able to relate to her emotions as a woman so that was a big plus. The grandmother was easy to visualize in her older clothing and younger looks as well.

World Building: The author did a great job letting me know what the surroundings looked like. I have never personally been to England but I had no problem visualizing the outside scenes while reading.

Overall: From counterfeiting operations to nuclear programs, this story is definitely not lacking in mystery or thrill. Other than the romance issue I had, I liked this book and will definitely buy more of his books in the near future.

[P Bee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent historical mystery. I have to say I loved the historical elements in the book more than the present day parts of the book but that's just my preference for historical books.

Gary is visited by a ghost after he moves some of his mother's possessions into an attic. The ghost is his grandmother and she takes him on an historical adventure that turns into a seriously thrilling modern day story.

I admired Gary's ability to dig up the information he needed and act on it. He definitely has a "what's next" attitude and that made this book a pleasure to read. If you love small British villages in the country, I'd definitely recommend this one.

[Rafael Rodríguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was interesting. I normally prefer to watch ghost stories and such on TV yet I felt like reading instead and so decided to pick up this book. The story got me guessing from the beginning, from what was making the noises, to what was the big secret related to American and WW2 in a UK setting.

The characters were okay, to me the grandmother with her past was the most interesting character but the others did their part well, even those with short appearance. With the descriptions provided I was able to picture most of the people and places. I would recommend the book.