The Haunting of Room 904
A Novel
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
“You’ll want to follow Erika and her Olivia into any dark, creaky room.” —Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author of Horror Movie
From the author of White Horse (“Twisty and electric.” —The New York Times Book Review) comes a terrifying and resonant novel about a woman who uses her unique gift to learn the truth about her sister’s death.
Olivia Becente was never supposed to have the gift. The ability to commune with the dead was the specialty of her sister, Naiche. But when Naiche dies unexpectedly and under strange circumstances, somehow Olivia suddenly can’t stop seeing and hearing from spirits.
A few years later, she’s the most in-demand paranormal investigator in Denver. She’s good at her job, but the loss of Naiche haunts her. That’s when she hears from the Brown Palace, a landmark Denver hotel. The owner can’t explain it, but every few years, a girl is found dead in room 904, no matter what room she checked into the night before. As Olivia tries to understand these disturbing deaths, the past and the present collide as Olivia’s investigation forces her to confront a mysterious and possibly dangerous cult, a vindictive journalist, betrayal by her friends, and shocking revelations about her sister’s secret life.
The Haunting of Room 904 is a paranormal thriller that is as edgy as it is heartfelt and simmers with intensity and longing. Erika T. Wurth lives up to her reputation as “a gritty new punkish outsider voice in American horror.”
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wurth (White Horse) disappoints in this underdeveloped paranormal horror novel. Indigenous paranormal investigator Olivia Becente bounces from case to case while reeling from her sister Naiche's suicide. Then a mysterious organization of socialites who call themselves the Sacred 36 asks her to investigate room 904 of Denver's storied Brown Palace hotel, the site of Naiche's death. Olivia learns that her sister's soul is trapped there by an ancient curse—and after her mother checks into the hotel, she may be the curse's next victim. Wurth puts a refreshing twist on standard paranormal investigation procedurals by incorporating Indigenous faith traditions and real historical elements, like the Sand Creek Massacre, but the herky-jerky plot lacks focus, careening between digressions and miring itself in a series of interpersonal dramas and romantic misadventures among a thinly drawn supporting cast. Meanwhile, attempts to cut the scares with humor lend the prose a flippant, and occasionally juvenile, feel. Wurth's diehard fans will enjoy the tough as nails narrator, but those seeking narrative cohesion will struggle with this.
