If You See Her

By: Ania Ahlborn

Narrated by: Brian Holden

The house on Old Mill Road has stood in an open field for longer than Jesse Wells has been alive, its crooked windows and jutting turret tormenting the kids of Warsaw, Michigan the way only a haunted house knows how. Everyone imagines that something terrible lurks within the house’s abandoned rooms - especially Jesse and his two closest friends, Casey and Reed. But when Reed chooses the house as a backdrop for his own suicide, childhood ghost stories are transformed into a nightmare that sends Jesse into a downward spiral of grief.

Nearly twenty years later, Jesse stands on the collapsing steps of the house that snatched away his best friend. Casey has asked him to revisit their old demons, if only to help them find closure that’s long overdue. But tragedy finds them once more, and Jesse is left forever changed.

Now, left to cope with the disaster that had become his life, Jesse must unravel the mystery behind the house that has terrified him since he was a boy. To fail is to lose everything he has left. But success might come at an even a higher price.

©2019 Ania Ahlborn. (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Not her best

The story was too long and the narrator was not my favorite. I was so excited to see she has a new book coming out, I’m disappointed.

overall enjoyed

I found myself highly interested and then the writing would lag and become dull, only to thankfully pick up and become exciting again. the ending felt like a fantastic buildup in a song followed by a failed drop that left you confused with your increased adrenalin coursing through your body trying to find a release! however, I did find that I enjoyed this book overall and that it was able to keep my attention during the down times...but the last 17 minutes.....disappointing

I wish the author did not write an epilogue as it detracted from the story or that since he did...he would have written it with more meaning, purpose, energy, and an intrigue with the ending. I wish the author would have delved more into the origin and reason for the evil that abounded and spent more time with the priest.

My first Ania Ahlborn

This book wasn't for me, but I was determined to give it a chance. I'd heard great things. It was definitely well-written, had round characters, a plot that moved cleanly from point to point, and a fairly visual setting, but for some reason I just couldn't get into it. The pace never grabbed me. It didn't seem to offer anything fresh to the genre. However, it would definitely be worth a read if the reader hadn't already read widely in the genre, and it could be a very good jumping off point if a reader was looking to research haunted house fiction, or just wanted a small town haunted house book published fairly recently (2019). It's possible my problems immersing were due to being all haunted housed out at the moment. I'll certainly revisit this book later to see if it grabs me differently on a second read and update my review and rating if that should be the case. In some ways I found IF YOU SEE HER nicely reminiscent of Stephen King's 'SALEM'S LOT.

///Spoiler///
Both books focus on growing mental instability surrounding horrors witnessed at an old house, there's a malevolence that haunts/dwells the spaces where these horrors occur, there are relatable moments of small town life which nicely offset the building horror, and with both books it doesn't end well for the love interest.
///End Spoiler///

The similarities aren't derivative in a bad way, rather it felt a like a lovely homage to King's work. And, of course,

///Spoiler///
there are no vampires in Ania Ahlborn's novel.
///End Spoiler///

3 stars with the potential of a higher rating at a later read-through.

Great horror novel

Thoroughly enjoyed this book! I found myself very jumpy listening to this and feeling spooked. Narrator did pretty good with the creepy voices.

Scary asf

If you need a happy ending stop now. Ania doesn't do happy endings so if you need a feel good wrap up don't expect to find one in any of her books. That said her books a very scary, nightmare fuel. Usually these kinds of books are riddled with animal cruelty which I absolutely hate, not so in this book, thankfully. That was my one gripe with Seed. This book has the same vibes minus the dogs death. I liked Seed better otherwise I wish it was twice as long. If you liked Seed get this book.

Good Story Overall

The plot is complicated and interesting which makes the mystery even better. The characters seem real and the detail is great.

Excellent performance!

If you enjoyed Seed by Ania Ahlborn then you'll love this one, too. I noticed lots of parallels between the two.

It was ok

It was ok, it was my first Audible book, I need to get use to it.

Horror fans!

This is pretty darn good - after reading a ton of crap books, this one was entertaining and actually scary!

voices

The narrator is terrible at differentiating his voices. sometimes I had a hard time figuring out who was talking when more than one person was in the scene