Winterbay Abbey

Bladek and Juroe’s lukewarm haunted mystery opens with architect Will Larson under intense pressure: his wife is pregnant and grappling with an injury from a horrific car accident that he caused, and he’s at risk of losing his job. His boss asks him to head to the coast of Maine to transform abandoned Winterbay Abbey into a hotel for a couple of hip Seattle developers. It’s going to be a tough job, and if he doesn’t get it right, he’ll be fired. Shortly after he arrives, he witnesses a young woman dressed as a nun disappear into the roiling sea and calls the police, but it’s dismissed as a teen prank. When he finds a room in the abbey full of records indicating that it may have been a haven for unwed mothers, the mystery deepens, but not enough to matter. The haunted abbey story has been done to death, and done better. Skeptical Will is often off-putting, seeming to resent the fact that his gentle and supportive wife, Emily, is pregnant and unable to work. Ultimately, this gothic ghost tale fails to scare up any real thrills. (BookLife)