Figgy’s Reviews > The Visitors Book: And Other Ghost Stories > Status Update

Oooh, that last one was 4.5 - 5/5!

Julie Laycock is, I believe, a practitioner of Covert-Reign-of-Terror parenting, the sort that kids don't realise they've had until they're in their mid-thirties at least. Julie's chosen burial over cremation because it pisses her off to think that after her death she won't be able to emotionally blackmail her daughters any more.

Julie sighs heavily. 'Don't be thick, Mel. With cremation, the ashes are scattered and that's it, job done. With burial, there's a grave to be visited and tended week after week, year after year. There's a ... a site that needs to be maintained.'
Did I hear a note of pride in Julie's voice? Is she actively looking forward to being a high-maintenance cadaver?

Okay, that one gave me chills.

4 - 4.5/5.

'How did you know she was a ghost?' people will ask me.
Because I did. Because of how I felt when I saw her. it wasn't fear. I didn't think she would harm me. Dread, horror ... those words were more accurate. I would do anything to delete the memory of having seen her. Realising that this is impossible, I start to cry.

Uhm, zebra crossings don't usually have traffic lights, do they?

They cross the street. The hem of the ghost's coat touches my car as she passes. Neither woman looks at me through the windscreen; I only realise I was afraid they would - afraid she would - once it hasn't happened.

Another interesting but not entirely original idea. Some great lines throughout, but it ended very suddenly and with a few things left wide open.

3/5?

One had forgotten a grey hooded top, the other a black scarf. 'Tell them to take whatever they want and go,' Greg muttered. 'The telly, the DVD player, our wallets - anything, as long as they leave.'

[2/2]

Parents began to ring the doorbell again. When they asked if I knew where their particular child was, I forced myself not to say, 'Oh, just take any. There are no individuals here. They've merged to form a rabble.' Two mothers contrived to devise a particularly exquisite form of torture; they left, with their children, then came back five minutes later.

[1/2]