Seven Days in Benevolence, by Steven Wedel

The haunted house story has always been a favorite of mine. From Shirley Jackson's breathtaking The Haunting of Hill House, to Richard Matheson's terrifying Hell House and on to spine-tingling works by Stephen King and Douglas Clegg, ghost infested houses have scared and delighted horror fans for generations.

Steve Wedel is best known as the author of The Werewolf Sage, which includes Shara, Murdered By Human Wolves and Call to the Hunt. All of which I greatly enjoyed. His latest publication is in the haunted house tradition and it's called Seven Days in Benevolence.

Seven Days in Benevolence is a novella and as such it is lean and a tight read. Dena Harris is a recently divorced mother of two that fled her marriage after an emotionally devastating disclosure about her husband. Looking to start a new life in a small Oklahoma town called Benevolence, she rents a large old house. Unbeknownst to her, ghastly events occurred in the house's past and the local residents consider it to be haunted.

The legends appear to be true almost immediately. Doors refuse to stay shut and Dena and her daughters are plagued with night terrors as their nightmare week in Benevolence continues. Bad turns to worse as the restless spirits make themselves known. By the end of the week, all hell breaks loose and the lives..and souls...of Dena and her children become endangered.

Seven Days in Benevolence was published by Scrybe Press, in a lovely trade paperback that only costs around ten bucks. It's a good, skillfully-written horrorfest that is well worth the price. Don't pass this one up.