A very scary story of the paranormal. Good writing. The author takes you on a scary adventure that is true.

It is not very often that I find myself with goosebumps after reading a book. But Norman made me chilly on a warm Brazilian beach. Trying to read it before going to bed was impossible. Just the way the story is told made it creapy and it felt true. Just as the author described I would love to see the real footage and the doll.

Norman by Stephen Lancaster is the creepy story of an allegedly haunted doll. I have no problem believing in evil, but I was skeptical of the author's reaction to it. I was confused why a seasoned paranormal investigator would keep haunted, dangerous items in his bedroom. I cannot imagine treating something that was supposedly so evil with such nonchalance. It was an interesting book, but it is up to you if you choose to read it as non-fiction or fiction.

I’m not sure how to rate this book. When I requested it, I thought it was a horror novel, but then upon looking closer, it was in fact a recounting of actual facts? Problem being that, while I am interested in paranormal phenomenons in a vague, general way, I’m not what you could call a ‘believer’—I’ll read about it, and watch shows etc., but I’m going to be detached from it. And while I’ll appreciate those things for the storyteller factor, for the ideas they give me for stories or pen & paper RPG games, I actually have trouble with suspension of disbelief when they’re -not- novels (yes, strangely as it sounds, I may ‘believe’ in this slightly more if it’s fiction… go figure).

So, do keep that in mind when it comes to my review: I probably wasn’t the right audience for it, at least not at this moment in my life.

I kept wondering why the family had the doll in their bedroom, of all places. I’ve always found dolls creepy AF (whether the ragdoll type or those uncanny-valley ‘looks like a real baby’ dolls), so even for the sake of research, I wouldn’t see myself keeping one in anything else than a closet or the basement. More puzzling is why they’d do that in a house where a teenager lives, where the grandchildren regularly come to visit, and where pets dwell, too. Choosing to endanger yourself for the sake of studying some phenomenon is fine and all, I mean it’s your choice, but bringing your kid and pets into it is… I don’t know, kind of irresponsible. I never got the feeling that Hannah agreed to it, or was thrilled with the idea. And when you see what happened to the cat, well…

The other big problem I had with this book was the amount of errors. Since I got an advanced reader copy, I know (I hope) these may have been corrected in the final, printed version, but in the meantime, they threw me out of the narrative.

This said, even though I’m ever the sceptic, the photos and video captures throughout the book were interesting to have a look at. This is typically the kind of stuff I have to see for myself in order to ‘believe’, of course, so the whole ‘we’re not releasing them because it’s our private home’ won’t convince me. Still, it remained interesting to see.

Conclusion: 2.5 stars.

I enjoy the ghost hunting shows on cable. I enjoy horror movies, and have seen a lot in my time. I have read lots of books about haunted houses. This book is one of the best I have ever read. Stephen Lancaster, the author purchases an interesting looking doll from an antique shop. When he gets it home he discovers it is haunted.
This book was so scary that I could not read it late of night because I was then afraid to turn the light off. There were photos included and one of the photos really got to me.
If you are into haunted, scary books then you have to read this one. This one is a must!

What pulled me to request this book was the cover and the title. When I read the blurb I realized that I needed to read this book I love anything to do with the paranormal and this sounded right up my alley.

Now I did enjoy the story but I was thinking it would have been more things going on and even a bit scary. I think it was pretty cool that a doll could be possessed by a human. It just makes the paranormal world a bit more mysterious! This story is told from the author and what happened to him and his family while the doll is in their possession, it has a bit of creepy factor to it especially the bugs and mice but nothing I felt was too over the top.

There are a few pictures that show what Stephen has captured, what I thought was neat is that the author is an actual investigator of the paranormal.

If you enjoy the paranormal and like to read about a doll who can move things among other things check this book out. I don't want to go into too much detail on my review as it will give a lot away.

While this book is said to be the true experiences of the author, I am not sure as to how much I believe in the paranormal. That being said, I really enjoyed the book and the author's whit. I do have to wonder, why he did not just toss Norman when they realized he was the problem. But then, I am not a paranormal investigator and I say that whenever I watch a paranormal movie. Just throw the doll out, but they never do, So it seems real life is no different than fiction at times. I really enjoyed this book, but I do not give many books 5 stars and due to my skepticism, I deducted another star.

⚠️ WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD! ⚠️

Trigger Warning for murder of an animal with details of what its mutilated corpse looked like. Also multiple ARC typos including various there/their/they’re and to/too/two violations.

So, you’re no doubt well acquainted with Chucky and Annabelle, but have you heard of Norman (the doll, not the shower scene Psycho 🔪🚿)? I hadn’t but I love all of that ooky spooky stuff so thought that this was the book for me. After all, it’s written by a man who’s been a paranormal researcher for 20 years and the front cover told me it’s a true story. ‘Sign me up,’ I thought.

I’m one of those people that will watch an episode of The X Files, any episode, and believe that whatever’s happening on screen has either already happened, is possible or at the very least plausible. So, fairly high on the gullibility scale. I tend to find the supernatural fascinating. I’m one of those 👽 I Want to Believe 🛸 types but if something appropriately ooky spooky was ever proven I am fairly certain I’d be happy to watch the movie rather than be in the room with it. So, gullible and a scaredy-cat.

With that in mind I decided to begin reading this book while the sun was shining brightly outside and the birds were chirping happily. I needn’t have bothered. I could have read this at midnight during a full moon on Friday, 13th with a raging lightning storm outside and wind rattling the windows and I still would have been okay with reading this in the dark.

The title says it all. Norman: The Doll That Needed to Be Locked Away. So where was it kept? On the headboard of the bed where the author and his girlfriend sleep, along with an assortment of other allegedly haunted dolls and toys. Huh???

Some will believe this story is true and others will think it’s baloney. If it is true then I’m wondering why child and animal protection agencies haven’t been involved. It’s fine if you want to make potentially reckless decisions for yourself as an adult but when those decisions affect minors (the 15 year old daughter of the author’s girlfriend as well as her son’s 8 and 10 year old kids) and animals (four inside dogs, one inside cat and about half a dozen outside cats), then as far as I can tell that’s reportable, not just poor judgement.

It you don’t believe in this type of Paranormal Activity and read this as fiction, then I expect you will wonder why the characters do a lot of the things they do, such as (and these are just some of the questions I want to ask the author personally):

⚠️ SPOILER BEGINS HERE ⚠️
* With all of this stuff going on that you attribute to Norman then why does he remain in the master bedroom for most of the book? That’s where you sleep, people!
* As you wonder about Norman’s questionable behaviour and the fact that all of the other haunted bits and bobs have witnessed this and may have similar ideas now, do you also wonder if maybe now would be a good time to remove them from your bedroom?
* Did anyone ever consider trying to contact the woman that had Norman before these people or at least someone who knows her to find out some handy information about him and his history?
* Is there no other place for you to conduct your research into paranormal creepy dolls other than your bedroom. Again, you sleep there, people!
* If you have seen a single horror movie you know your animals are in danger yet you still have them in the house with you and the creepy doll, even though they are scared stiff of said creepy doll.
* If you don’t want to burn or bury the doll because of the human spirit or whatever that resides in it, then why do you not have any qualms trying to sell the thing on eBay (or whatever anonymous site you listed him on) three times?
* If you truly believe that there is a child spirit inside this doll then wouldn’t locking him in a room with no human interaction and cartoons playing constantly on the television annoy him slightly after a while? Also, why is he still in your house? In the room next to where you sleep?!
* You mention how difficult it is to sleep. Duh! 🤦‍♀️
* If the 15 year old’s door closes all by itself, why does she sleep in there immediately after you all review the footage of the door closing. All. By. Itself.
⚠️ END OF SPOILER ⚠️

If you believe this is a true story, then I imagine you would question these things even more.

The photos that are included to support the author’s claims unfortunately had the opposite effect with me. For example, there are two photos showing a significant change in temperature near Norman that was reported to have happened a minute apart. Yet there’s no time stamp on the photos and even if there was the author makes mention of their “top-notch video editing software” so it would be difficult to know with certainty if they were real or fake anyway.

There were many typos in the ARC that will hopefully be corrected prior to publication. If they’re fixed, then the funniest ones you missed out on are:
* “Hannah continued to stay with her bother”. I’m an only child but I can imagine if Hannah had written that part brother becoming bother could’ve counted as a nice little Freudian slip.
* “What happened next about gave me a heart.” Here’s one! ❤️ I loved this sentence so much but I’m not sure I was supposed to be laughing when the author was explaining how scary something was.

So, do I believe the events in this book are true? I wasn’t there so I can’t say for sure, but the way it was written raised more questions than it answered for me. Unless or until the author decides to make the video footage public I’m going to have to sit on the fence and hope it’s not too uncomfortable. I’d prefer to be standing firmly on one side or the other but there’s not enough evidence or debunking (I love that word!) to give you a confident answer. I know I still want to believe!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Llewellyn Worldwide. Ltd. for the opportunity to read this book.

First, I want to say that I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. Now that's out of the way, let's just jump into this. I loved this book! It's creeped my out and hooked me so that I couldn't put it down even if I wanted to stop. It's well written, easy to understand and filled with more action than I thought.

This story follows Stephan and his family after they buy Norman and take him home. He causes all kinda of creepy things to happen. First it starts off rather innocently, a few laughs and he will move around, but it gets worse to where he tries to kill Stephan. They even try getting rid of the doll and nothing... he somehow makes it to where he has to stay with him. It's rather intriguing.

Norman is one twisted soul that is now stuck in a very old doll. I don't know what I would do if he was in my life. I mean, after trying to kill Stephan... scary stuff. Now, I do know that while the book was great, I did think the ending was... lacking.... I mean, why keep the doll around? To each their own and I wish this family luck, I really hope that they all find peace and the doll won't cause anymore trouble while locked away in his little room.

Will go live on my blog: 3/17/2018
https://sweetcherry69.blogspot.com/

This was an interesting read, and the progression of the events were fairly clear... but it had a few issues.

There were MANY grammatical and typographical errors. Hopefully this will be fixed in the final copy...

The other issue was with the way the author reacted to things... at times going out of his way to say he didn't believe something supernatural was going on (something was thrown at him from the other side of the room, and he jumped to the conclusion that someone had broken into his house and thrown this thing at him...), and at other times he seems to oversensationalise things that don't immediately hint at something "other" (like when the extended family is around for Christmas, which they don't usually celebrate together, and everyone gathered becomes moody and antagonistic at a certain point). This seesawing between overly skeptical and overly sensational makes it hard to really believe everything that is being recorded. I went in a believer in this haunted doll, and am not entirely sure I came out with the same feelings.

Also, why did they socialise in the bedroom so much? It seemed like they received guests in the master bedroom rather than the living areas?

Annabelle is one of my favourite films, I wouldn't want a doll like that anywhere fuckin near me but watching it through the safety of a tv is fine.

So when I saw this creepy ass cover I knew that all sorts of shenanigans would be happening in it and I wasn't wrong!

I've read another book by this author, it was very well written and it did creep me out a bit, which I enjoyed, so this one was a given.

It was creepy and I frequently found myself saying 'just get rid of it!!' 'it's getting closer!!' and other things that you shouldn't say loudly at 2am while sitting in the dark especially not with other people in the house.

This is an author I know I enjoy and whose books I know will keep me gripped.

*Huge thanks to Stephen Lancaster, Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd and NetGalley for this copy which I chose to read and all opinions are my own*

Wicked story. I really enjoyed it. Its one where people have mixed feeling on. But it was great, kept my interest throughout

This book was very good!!! Creepy story about a doll named Norman and what happens when he is brought into the home of the author. infestations, controlling children, animals, etc., the things that happened around this doll was just creepy. Would I want a doll like Norman??? No thank you. But was it an experience to read about this doll, yes it was. Think Annabelle, but much creepier and scarier. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC of this chilling book in return for my honest review.

This book was creepy, I'll give it that. I simply didn't find it as believable as I expected to. There were a lot of grammatical issues that drove me crazy throughout.

Interesting paranormal investigation into a possessed doll. True or false the book still provides entertaining reading for horror fans.

An incredibly haunting and wellcrafted tale of horror which will stay with you long after the last page.

First, let me just say this book was right up my alley. I have been interested in the paranormal for as long as I can remember, though I'd say as a skeptic more times than believer. I can relate to the thought that objects, people or houses can be haunted, as I've had some pretty creepy experiences of my own. However, I've always looked for the rational explanation first. Sometimes, though, there just isn't one to be found. That seems to be the case with Norman. Early on in the story, I found my skin crawling as the author begins to describe things that may have been circumstantial, but hadn't happened before Norman came into their lives. It just felt a little too familiar, and I had to take a break. I jumped back in after a day or two, and found myself wanting to know more. This is a pretty interesting tale, though I'd stay away if you have phobia of dolls.

The downside- it gets a little repetitive sometimes. I attributed it to Stephen Lancaster's need to get his point across, or his enthusiasm for his subject. All in all, I enjoyed reading Norman: The Doll That Needed to Be Locked Away, and am thankful to Netgalley for the chance to do so.

Okay, so dolls are creepy AF. A story like this is way creepier and terrifying than any Chucky nonsense because it supposedly happen in real life. The doll in question is not named Chucky, but Norman. He was originally named Matty and functioned as the mascot for Mattel Toys. I do not want to go into how his name was changed or how he even came to be in possession of the author, aside from the fact that the author and his wife found the doll in an antique shop. I will leave the backstory to be discovered by you if you choose to read it - which I think you definitely should.

Whether you believe in paranormal experiences or not, this is a good book in either case. If you do believe already, then you will have no problem accepting what happens. If you don't, but enough being creeped out, read this as fiction and it works just as well. I, however, do believe and have had paranormal experiences for myself. The part that I actually found unbelievable was the fact that all of this stuff is happening, yet he and his girlfriend go on to have family Christmas at their house, exposing her (grown) children and grandchildren to the potentially malevolent spirit. That was seriously the part that made me think, "What the hell is going on?!"

I also find it helpful that the author himself is a paranormal investigator, so he was able to use the proper equipment to discover all he could about this new doll of his. As such, there were surveillance cameras set up around the house and in the book was are treated to stills captured from the film. The authors discusses whether or not the actual video footage will ever be released and I can accept his reason for choosing not to release it at this time: this is his private home. It will be another reason that skeptics dismiss his story, saying because there is no footage, but think about haunted place around the country. Many of them are constantly being flocked to by professional and amateur ghost hunters alike. I can understand why he would not want his home and family subjected to random people intruding on their lives. Perhaps some day he will decide to release the footage. If that happens, I am very interested in watching it.

Even as a believer, I am also skeptical when first learning of paranormal events and experiences. In this case it was no different and I appreciated that the author did not always just assume that every bad thing that happened could be attributed to Norman. I feel like that is an important ability to have. There are some ridiculous paranormal shows that automatically say everything is the result of ghosts or demons or whatever. Those are not shows that bring any value and lend any credibility to the field. But paranormal investigators like the author help to create a more logical and reasonable image of those who investigate paranormal events. Additionally, there were people outside the family who were part of the story indirectly. While I do not want to give too much away, there are two incidents I will mention here: 911 was called several times from the family's landline phone in the middle of the night, and at another point the author attempted to mail the doll twice to someone attempting to purchase the doll. It is interesting to me that, if the author were making this up, he would not have included these people, as anyone could check and verify this information. This seems to be another confirmation that, even if some events might have been exaggerated, something paranormal certainly DID happen - and a lot of somethings at that.

I am definitely intrigued by this story and plan to look for other titles written by this author detailing his previous investigations. I also hope for his family's sake that there is nothing more from Norman, though if there is I certainly hope he writes about it. This book I read within an hour or so. it is not a terribly long volume, but I also had to keep reading to see what might happen next.

Definitely a creepy account of a creepy toy that I am glad does not have a place in my daughter's toy box.

I really loved this book. I enjoy a scare, more then I probably should. This is the creepiest book I have read this year. The pictures add so much to the scare factor. I enjoyed the way Lancaster wrote the story. I felt I was in his house experiencing everything with him. I have never read a book by this author. I will be looking into his other titles. This makes Annabelle look like a comedy.

Paranormal investigator Stephen Lancaster was out of the investigation game when he and his then girlfriend came across a weird looking Matty Matel doll in an improvised container at a local antique store. As someone who took in haunted items and often told people not to worry, Lancaster was not at all worried about the weird inscription on the box, or the fact that the two employees working tried to encourage him to leave the doll behind. That's when things got weird.  Lancaster and his girlfriend named the doll Norman, and that's when the weirdness started.

For readers of paranormal investigation books, prepare to be creeped out. While haunted dolls and I are already not on good terms, after this book I'm perfectly content leaving all of my daughter's dolls locked up in her room for all time. Lancaster didn't suffer just the casual things being moved or creepy disembodied voices kind of haunting. No, he got infestations of bugs and rats. His cat was torn apart by something, before its skull was dug back up. His haunting involved the police showing up to the house multiple times for phantom 911 calls, when the family was sound asleep. 

Norman is absolutely not a book to read before you go to bed. Norman is not the book to read if you're an avid doll collector. It is most definitely a cautionary tale. If you're a fan of paranormal investigation books, you're in for a gift. Just don't keep Norman in your house.

Norman is available April 02, 2018 from Llewellyn.