Poltergeist by Kat Richardson: Not Your Typical Friendly Ghost

Harper Blaine is a Greywalker, someone that can pass through the human realm into the paranormal or “Grey” zone. The Grey contains dark and evil things – ghosts and poltergeists are regular occupants. Since Harper only recently learned to control her body’s tendency to shift into the Grey she’s reluctant to take on any projects that might force her to voluntarily enter that violent and volatile world.

But she’s got bills to pay.

The Main Plot:

Harper is approached by a college professor who’s conducting parapsychology experiments with students who have been tasked with “creating a poltergeist.” He wants Harper to observe the class sessions to determine whether they’ve really conjured a legitimate spirit. But his request isn’t totally above board: the professor has directed one of the students to fake the poltergeist phenomena because he doesn’t believe the group can really create a ghost on their own. As such he’s equipped the classroom with speakers and devices that cause objects to appear to move on their own.

But there’s one problem: it appears as if the students have actually summoned a real ghost. Strange things are happening in the classroom that the professor can’t explain.

Harper agrees to observe the group sessions in the class observation room, which is located adjacent to the classroom and is equipped with a 2-way mirror. It’s from this room, accompanied by a student assigned to videotape the experiment, that she realizes the poltergeist isn’t something the students have created in their minds. The spirit is real. And it’s violent.

When one of the students is brutally killed in his apartment under suspicious circumstances Harper realizes the poltergeist is somehow absorbing mass amounts of energy; that’s the only way a spirit could inflict such extensive damage to a human being.

Harper quickly finds herself thrust into the middle of a murder investigation, forced to deal with a detective that doesn’t believe in the supernatural. For that matter, neither does the professor. He thinks one of the students is responsible for the strange events in the classroom and believes this same person may have committed the murder. Thus Harper has to gather evidence to convince both the police and the professor that the spirit is real and the responsible party.

Kat Richardson superbly combines suspense, adventure, and a little macabre in Poltergeist, which represents the second book in the Greywalker fantasy series. The storyline is evenly paced but contains enough surprises to keep readers engaged. Although we learn more about Harper’s character in this installment (which helps explain some of her motives), there’s no requirement to read the first book in the series. Kat Richardson has written a solid standalone edition that will appeal to fantasy book readers and paranormal fans alike.

Add Poltergeist to your shopping list or risk hearing weird noises in your home. At night. While you’re alone. You decide.