A standalone historical fiction ghost story, The Communion of Shadows by Gordon Bonnet is set in the Bayou country of southern Louisiana in 1850. Four friends harvesting corn, escape inside to wait out a summer thunderstorm. Sharing a drink, they each agree to tell their own personal experiences of ghosts. Moving backward in time, each man shares their ghost story and so revealing something about their own family and experiences. Featuring a love triangle, a favourite aunt, an unknown child and life bargaining, the narrative is engaging, as are the characters and the life lessons learned. It is an intriguing tale of nonfrightening ghost stories that make for a four stars read rating. With thanks to Motina Books and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

The Communion of Shadows by Gordon Bonnet

Excellent, thought provoking, and unputdownable – a new-to-me author that I am definitely going to read again!

What I liked:
* The plot, setting, era, and writing
* The strong friendship shared by the four men: J.P., T0Joe, Clivs and Leandre
* The four ghost stories told – and how different they were one from another
* The believability and almost feeling I was there
* That it made me think, feel, and care
* The way religion was intrinsic to life in the 1800’s and how it played a part in this book
* That the ghosts had an impact on the lives of the friends and on others
* Thinking about ghosts and seeing them…wondering why all four of the friends had experienced ghostly encounters
* Thinking about how difficult the job of the man in the gray felt hat must be
* All of it really except…

What I didn’t like
* Who and what I was meant not to like
* Knowing that some of the sad, bad, evil in the stories is universal…as is death

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more by this author? Definitely

Thank you to NetGalley and Motina Books, LLC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

4 friends go inside to run from the thunderstorm one makes a comment about ghost and this sets the men off telling their individual ghost stories but not all of their stories are past tense or fanciful tales of ghosts but a reality that one is currently living through. This really isn’t a great summary for this great book but I wanted to post this review to tell everyone they should definitely read this book it is so good and it is a definite five star read. I don’t know why more people don’t know about this book and why I haven’t seen it anywhere else but I am glad I ran across it when I did. This is one of my favorite stories absolutely my favorite ghost story of this year. It has great character development I found the pacing quick and they had no lulls in the narrative. If you like ghost stories and horror you really need to read The communion of shadows by Gordon Bonnett I can’t reiterate enough how good this book is! I received it from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.