Rob Stennett

Dear Readers,

I am a great big chicken.  There I have admitted it for the world to know. I don't read Horror books, as I am sure Stephen King has noticed in the loss of sales of his books.  I don't watch horror movies, Zombieland scared me enough and that was suppose to be a comedy.  As a kid I hated when people would tell ghost stories around the campfire and there was a girl's house I wouldn't go back to because she always wanted to scare everyone at sleepovers.  So don't let everything I say about the following book color whether you read it or not.

Homemade Haunting by Rob Stennett is a very different book.  I love the snarkyness (is that a word?) of it.  I enjoy the perspective on the occult that it presented also.  It made it something that is not to be taken lightly.  It is a very real thing and not something we can control.

Charlie Walker wants to write a book.  He gets his wife to agree to him taking a year off from working as a teacher so he can concentrate on writing.  He just knows he has a best seller idea.  He just needs to do a bit of research.  Little does he know what he is in for.

For Charlie it starts with something as innocent as a Ouija Board, as it does for many.  Charlie doesn't believe in God so there can't be a heaven or a hell or even demons or Angels.  So he isn't setting out to prove anything he just needs ideas for his book.  What Charlie doesn't understand is that they all do exist and none can be controlled by mortal man.

Ok, here is where you don't have to do what I did with this book.  I only read it during the day.  I tried reading it at night, but I couldn't do it because I knew I would never be able to sleep.  I finally just read it on lunches here at work and when the sun was shining.  I don't know if it is actually that scary or if it's just me.  Frank Peretti's books scared me also, but I was able to read them at night, so go figure.

No matter what you decide about the book it is a good message about how easy it is to fall for the innocent look of the occult before you really understand what you are getting into.  For Charlie and his family it happens very quickly. I think for most it is a gradual slide and hopefully this book will help someone understand what can happen and maybe help themselves or someone they know get back out of the trap.

As I mentioned before, but I wanted to mention again, I did enjoy this book.  It is a well written and, believe it or not, funny book.  Rob takes a very serious subject and makes it something that is easier to understand and maybe even a bit less intimitating for most people.

He doesn't want you to think he takes demons lightly, but he did want to approach the subject in a way that would make people aware of what is going on in the world around us, seen and unseen.

Happy Reading