For those readers who like thrillers, mystery, and science fiction, “The Summoning” by Kelley Armstrong is the book you should pick off the shelf.

Life is normal for Chloe Saunders – or, as normal as life can get for her. She goes to an art school, is part of the theater club, and she just wants to fit in. Everything appears to be going in the right direction… until she sees her first ghost. Now they won’t leave her alone.

Her situation lands her in a group home known as the Lyle House with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. She, however, starts to uncover secrets about her housemates and about the home itself, and she starts to learn that no pills can help her and to wonder why the basement door is locked. Not even when the ghosts start returning to their bodies.

“The Summoning” is a thrilling read – one that will keep your heart racing until the very end. Armstrong’s use of film vocabulary and Chloe’s interest in film writing/directing keep the book extremely vivid. For example, while Chloe is going into the darkened green room of her school’s auditorium to retrieve her lunch box, she thinks of all the horror films where the unsuspecting girl goes into a room alone without the lights on… and suddenly she hears something… but no one can hear her scream. You can feel the heroine’s heart racing, hear the dramatic music, and even feel the scream bursting from your lungs. Complex characters keep the storyline twisting and turning, and when you think it’s safe, the trapdoor opens beneath you.  

Are the ghosts real? Are Chloe’s housemates more than just troubled teens? Why is the basement door locked? Will Chloe get out alive?