Threshold

by David Wright, David W. Wright

Some doors should never be opened…Single father Scott Dawson’s life is shattering. His construction business has failed. After discovering Scott’s infidelity, his wife Holly has disappeared without a trace, and his only hope is that she’ll return.With their mom missing and presumed dead, Scott’s children are coming unhinged. His teenage son Hudson lashes out, growing angrier by the day. And their younger daughter Hazel retreats into a world of her own — and claims to hear her mother’s voice. Clinging to the futile hope that Holly might still return, Scott is teaching his traumatized kids to dodge the foreclosure notices. So when he sees his young daughter in the front yard talking to a man in an expensive suit, Scott’s convinced it can’t get any worse.But the man claims to represent his wife’s long-lost uncle, and offers Scott the opportunity of a lifetime.Will this mysterious stranger bring answers and wealth beyond Scott’s wildest dreams, or an ancient terror he and his children can’t escape?

362 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Scott and his kids Hazel and Hudson find out that their mom Holly had a great uncle Alastair who gives them a new home and a million dollars, they believe its too good to be true. The catch: Only one of the children can leave the house. Can they survive this haunted house? Read on and find out for yourself.

This was a pretty good horror science fiction haunted house story. If you like these types of stories, be sure to check this book out on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

[Jarkko Laine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A troubled family inherits a mansion that is said to be haunted. A mansion they had never heard of before. On top of that, there is the strange rule that one of the children must stay at the premises at all times. The mystery delivered on the first pages of the book sucked me from the very first pages. And from there, things only got more interesting as the family started getting stressed out and the house's secrets slowly started unfolding. All the way to the ending (which I will not say anything about so I won't ruin the surprise -- suffice to say I liked it).

The only thing that I'd have liked to see explored still a bit deeper was the family's relationships and overall, especially Scott's struggles with his temper. That said, this is a very good ghost story with a signature Collective Inkwell twist.

In fact, if you're new to Platt and Wright's work, this could be a good place to start before jumping to their serials and other longer works.

[Blaine Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story about a family falling apart in bankruptcy after the mother mysteriously disappeared, but being saved by an even more mysterious rich uncle who left his mansion and assets to his great-niece and nephew. There were some stipulations, of course; one of the children needed to remain on the property at all times, so only one could ever leave at any given time. (Ignore the fact that no attorney would ever agree to draft a will like that; presumably the father had no idea that it wouldn't hold up in court.)

The house is haunted, and as far as ghost stories go it was a pretty fun read. The explanation for the ghosts in the story seemed plausible in the construct of the world that was described, although some of the discrepancies in the relationships of some of the characters didn't make a ton of sense.

[john hoxie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Complete surprise

As always love these authors. This book was not what I expected when I began it although it did take me back to Yesterdays Gone (LOVED IT). The story comes across as a ghost story but wait for the surprise. Finished the book quickly and can not wait for the next stories to come from the authors.

[Jason Siegfried · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my fave, but still good.

Threshold is about a man and his duty to his bloodline. Though slow at times, the characters are well developed, and even the antagonist ends up earning your consideration. I liked the plot, but think more information about the past and the threshold would have made it clearer and more epic. A few twists and turns kept you thinking, but I had a pretty good idea about what was going to happen (partly) about halfway through the story. Still, this does nothing to turn me away from future Platt, Wright, and Truant books. They are still some of my favorite writers, and may soon eclipse Stephen "The" King as my favorite. Maybe...

[Natasa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed this book. Had to finish it, been reading it all night long and it's past 9am lol
Somewhere along the middle it suddenly changed from a horrorish ghost story, to an alien sci-fi-ish one.

[Elaine and Tess the Springer. I won’t be on GR for a bit. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a fan of fantasy or ghosts but I did enjoy this. It was all very believable and the end was good for everyone. This is my first book by Sean Platt and David W. Wright and I'm sure I'll read more.

[L.J. Bale · Rating 1 out of 5]

As a fan of Yesterday's gone, lover of Crash and constant listener to these guys podcasts I was expecting something of much higher quality here. The story starts out with a great premise which draws you in but unfortunately it meanders on and on with very little in the way of scares. Normally I enjoy this type of suspense building but this book was probably double the length it needed to be. The scares were no scarier than a kids halloween story, the characters were no more interesting than any other cliched horror book.

The prolonged twist (without giving spoilers) takes the story in a completely different direction to the haunted house idea promised which would have been fine if it had been built in throughout the story instead of just being spliced onto the end. The end is so rushed and tied up conveniently it makes the story laughable for example without giving anything away "his blood allowed him to understand their language" and other conveniences to avoid coming up with something more believable. Even the authors note confesses that this was trudged through without enthusiasm, not much connection to the material and an ending left for others to help rewrite. Unfortunately even the extra input couldn't save this book. Nice ideas for a short story but after painstakingly working my way through this it left me nothing but annoyed.

[PJ Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was expecting a ghost story but this is so much more. The creep factor is very high and the tension grips harder the farther you read. Using different points of view, especially from the children, is a good touch. The outcome was surprising, really not what I thought it was going to be.
I enjoyed it immensely but wasn't sucked right in, so not quite a 5 star for me.
*This was an ARC, my opinions are my own.*

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this horror tale. It had a classic feel to it, yet came with a refreshing twist that made it a bit different than your standard classic "haunted house" novels. Well-written and suspenseful, intriguing and creepy with characters that came alive, furthering the reader's descent into the darkness.

[Danni0309 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book. It isn't my type of story. I feel that the author wrote it in hopes that they would make a horror/science fiction movie out of it.

I can see how others would like it. It just isn't my type of story.

[Marjorie Pezzeca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok

Good story I just did like what it turned out to be. Don't want to spoil it for someone else who will love it.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reminded me of a old movie Burt Offerings with a small twist. I really wanted to give this a 2 1/2.

[BookzBookzBookz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come.

[Tristen Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

It had me hooked, the whole time. Bizarre endings, though. of all the ways, to end....

[Amy Alders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this story line, well developed characters and unexpected ending. Great as always.