The Siren and The Specter

Written by Jonathan Janz

Narrated by Davis Brooks

When David Caine, a celebrated skeptic of the supernatural, is invited by an old friend to spend a month in “the most haunted house in Virginia,” he believes the case will be like any other. But the Alexander House is different.

Built by a 1700s land baron to contain the madness and depravity of his eldest son, the house is plagued by shadows of the past and the lingering taint of bloodshed. David is haunted, as well. For twenty-two years ago, he turned away the woman he loved, and she took her life in sorrow.

And David suspects she’s followed him to the Alexander House.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Flame Tree Publishing
• Release date: Sep 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781787580701

Jonathan Janz

Jonathan Janz is the author of more that fifteen novels and numerous shorter works. Since debuting in 2012, Jonathan’s work has been lauded by Booklist, Publishers Weekly, The Library Journal, and many others. He lives in West Lafayette, Indiana. Jonathan Janz grew up between a dark forest and a graveyard, which explains everything. Brian Keene named his debut novel The Sorrows “the best horror novel of 2012.”

Reviews for The Siren and The Specter

[Nina Quartuccio · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book has it all! Impressive character development, vivid scenes, plot twists, subtle horror that still packs a punch and the author is not afraid to kick in sex to make you cringe. Human depravity can be the worst horror of all and the author uses it as a secondary story line to really cast the mood and get the reader's scruff up. Then he teeters on reality and the supernatural causing blurred lines for the reader that keeps you guessing and just when you think it's climaxed he pushes the story again...enjoying this book will be easy putting it down when it's over will be hard.

[Bill Yeary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The perfect American Gothic horror story, modern day meets historic terror. It is a bit flowery but is easily overlooked. This was my first for this author, and I’m going to straight to find the next one. That should say it all.

[Shannon Blanchard · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great story! Lots of creepy! I wouldn’t read it at night!!

[paul · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a great take on the skeptic visiting the haunted house trope. That is just the surface story and it goes so much deeper than that. Love, revenge, and the absolutely terrifying things on the second floor.

[Jennifer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I feel as though I’ve listened/read all books pertaining to supernatural horror that are decent. I started feeling bummed out when I couldn’t find anything that was not a predictable cliché ghost story. I went in with doubts but I’m happy I did. The storyline flowed easily and held my attention. There was plenty of creepy moments and an ending I actually did not see coming. If you enjoy a haunted house story with a good backstory and plenty of wtf moments, while occasionally needing to look behind you, then this book is for you. In fact, I am now searching for other books written by this same author.

[RichardKevinWilson · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Talk about the worst book Janz has ever put out! It could have been a lot of good, and gory fun, but when the humans started masturbating and milking the creatures.....omfg. It was SO ridiculously stupid. Sorry. I stopped at 42%. Cannot recommend.

[irenecole · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When David Caine accepts an offer to stay in a supposedly haunted house for a month, to prove or disprove whether it has earned it's title of most haunted house in Virginia, he is unaware of many details about the area. He is not expecting sexual deviants for neighbors. He is not expecting the house to hold ties to his own past, and he is not aware that the Alexander house holds horrors of epic proportions.
This is more than a haunted house tale. The horror is not only in the supernatural aspects but in the evil that mere mortals commit. It got under my skin, not just with delicious spine tingling fear that all horror lovers crave, but with sadness, and disgust, and sometimes rage. The test of any good book (for me) is whether it can make me feel something. The Siren And The Specter is a masterpiece of horror.
5 out of 5 stars.

I received an advance copy for review.

[booknookretreat7 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a very haunting read and I was just swept away into the atmospheric setting of the Alexander House.

A little backstory for you readers:

David Caine, a renowned debunker of paranormal activity, is invited to come to the Alexander House on the request of his friend, Chris. The Alexander House has laid claims to being the most haunted house in Virginia. David decides that he will stay in the house for a month to see if he can capture any kind footage of a haunting.

David delves deep into the history of the house and finds that the Alexander house is named after Judson Alexander who did unspeakable things in the house. David has some past personal issues that he has to overcome as he tries to debunk what is happening around him, but as time goes on, he finds out that some houses are just down right bad.

There is an island that sits out in a lake across from the house which is also haunted. David catches a glimpse of a ghostly figure that seems to float on the lake. David decides to investigate the island to check out what is really going on out there and what he finds turns his world completely upside down.

There are other characters involved in the book besides David and his friend, Chris, as the neighbors that surround that area take part in the story too. All the characters in the book are very believable and the story just meshes together bringing all the characters to the Alexander House.

It was slow at first with a little world building, but once I became involved in the story it picked up the pace and the last half of the book I was staying up late nights wanting to see how it all ended! Five stars for this one.

[carol420 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

More than enough for The Ghost Story Junkie and this one rang with the possibility of some truth. It's got all the stuff any ghost story/horror reader could possibly want, ghosts, monsters, murder, mystery, a creepy old house that become creepier by the page...and best of all, it gave me goosebumps and chills, and that is something that few ghost stories can do anymore. I didn't especially like any of the characters but the house and its atmosphere more than made up for any of their shortcomings. The story and Alexander House was born in the imagination of Jonathan Janz's by a stay “in a historical home in Virginia” as he explains in an author Q&A at the end of the book. It's well worth taking the time to read about how the book came alive for him. As a result, Janz has come up with an outstanding and unique plot that is filled with sensual detail as well as suspense and scares enough to keep any ghost story enthusiast happy. The reader will also find that The Siren and the Specter contains several gruesome discoveries and events that will diffidently get and keep your attention. You might also want to consider leaving the lights on, and the doors locked...if it will really do any good.

[charrlygirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5/5*

Alexander House is the most haunted house in the state of Virginia. David Caine is perhaps the most well known debunk-er in the United States and as such, he is called in to stay at the house and write a book about it. The current owners are hoping that David will be persuaded into believing that the haunting is real, and that the resulting book about the matter will draw visitors/tourism to the home. Is David finally persuaded that ghosts and hauntings do exist? You'll have to read this to find out!

My brief synopsis above doesn't do this story justice. Unfortunately, that's part of the problem I had with this book. There's a LOT going on-and to be honest? I thought it was too much. I loved the portions about the history of the house, the area where it's situated, and its former inhabitants-specifically Judson Alexander. I would have been happy with a book about him alone.

I understand that this story has several layers and I respect what Jonathan Janz tried to do. However, I think the focus of this tale became too wide, what with tons of information about David's old girlfriend, his old friend Chris and Chris' new wife Katherine, the CRAZY neighbors down the way, the local sheriff, and I haven't even mentioned the siren yet! I was fine with all of it through about 2/3 of the novel, but by the last third it just got too busy for me. Yes, there were thrills aplenty and lots of surprises, but I felt like the denouement went on a bit too long, and tried to cover too much material.

The writing itself though, was excellent, as I've come to expect from Mr. Janz. He created a tense and dense atmosphere-at times I felt I would surely suffocate from it. I also felt the characters were mostly realistic and while David Caine wasn't perfect by any means, I did come to care for him and I wanted him to pull through. This tale was imaginative and to restate, my only problem was that I wished it had been more focused.

I seem to be almost the only one who isn't all-out raving about this story, so it's definitely possible that I read it wrong. Even with my complaint, I still enjoyed the heck out of THE SIREN AND THE SPECTER. You probably will too. Jonathan Janz is always worthy of your consideration and if you decide to give this one a go, feel free to come and share your thoughts with me when you're done. You can tell me how wrong I am!

Recommended!

*I received an e-ARC of this book from FLAME TREE PRESS via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it.*

[empressreece · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very entertaining story- characters included. There were a couple of scenes though that didn't quite wash with me which is why I didn't give it a full 5 stars i.e. toward the end when they're all standing in the middle of the road at a standoff and they all just decide to hop in the cars and ride together together to Alexander House like they weren't just being held at gunpoint and shot at a second ago. That segueway just wasn't very realistic to me.

Also, how many times does David have to forget his keys or phone to realize that obviously is not a good idea! Come on seriously*face palm*

Never a dull moment though and a good choice if you like hauntings and ghosts!

Still wondering about the ending...would love a follow up story on the Siren.

[readingbifrost · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“Far off, so softly he couldn’t be certain it existed at all, David heard the melody of the night before. Sorrowful. Yearning. The song cleaved his soul. The voice sounded like Anna’s.”Our main character, David, is an author that debunks well known haunted houses. The Alexander House is perfect, as a well-known debunker already stayed at the house. And disappeared. The beginning of the book is slow, but there’s a lot to be covered early on. This book isn’t very big, but it has multiple stories going on at once. Sometimes the haunted house almost seems like just a story playing in the background: David confronts his past, the various horror stories of the house’s past, and some very strange locals.What can really make or break books are secondary characters. If the people the main characters interact with are flat, then the story WILL fall flat. Janz didn’t let that happen. He created a world full of colorful and creepy characters that complimented his main character.Ralph is the first of the locals David meets. He’s a typical southern man, retired to a waterfront home to spend his days fishing and drinking. I loved this character. Usually when someone writes in a southern character, they make them really over-the-top and stereotypical. Ralph has his words of wisdom, a bit of paranoia, and hospitality enough to invite neighbors over for hamburgers. Sheriff Harkless is a sassy, snarky, doesn’t-put-up-with-anyone’s-poop character. I instantly loved her.The Shelby’s with their two kids: wow. There’s some very messed up family dynamics going on here, and David can somewhat see bits of his own childhood replayed in the eyes of Mike Jr.The story definitely earns the creep-factor. Full haunted house mode: noises, figures floating in water, phantom music and more. What adds more to the story is interactions with the locals that aren’t so…nice, and David’s history linked to a nearby park. It had me guessing if everything was a coincidence, if something was drawing our main character to the house, or if another party was slinking in the shadows. Worth the read for horror lovers; just don’t go up the stairs!

[misspider-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was only the second book by the author I've read so far, but I can already recognize the author's unique voice. Again, Janz delivers a complex story packed with gory action and glimpses into the abyss of depravity, but also interludes of more subtle horror and an exceptional character depth. The broad variety found in this book makes it not just another haunted house/ghost story, but a unique sample of the finer art of horror.At first, I felt slightly overwhelmed by the different plot lines thrown in, but at the end everything fit perfectly together. I was eager to explore the history of the house and the peninsula, and to understand step by step how it came to be haunted. What got to me most though were the children, and seeing how their innocence was already crushed by human monsters long before any supernatural evil reached out for them.Regarding characters, it was fascinating to observe the transformation of the main character David. He fought so hard to maintain his belief in the non-existence of anything supernatural, but at some point he could no longer deny it, as it was staring him right in the eye. Oh, and at the beginning I was really amused by his jumpiness, which contradicted his matter-of-fact appearance.A very rewarding reading experience which more than fulfilled my expectations.(Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of the book, all opinions are my own)

[coachtim30 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best horror books of the year! A Bram Stoker nominee waiting to happen! Once again, Janz thrills readers with a carefully-crafted, immensely emotional story dealing with the supernatural. The writing is a crisp and vivid as always with one of his books. Readers who haven't taken the opportunity to enjoy this fresh voice, need to find a copy of this book as soon as possible. This is one seriously haunting tale!

[angelajmaher · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a great book. It has everything you want in a haunted house story. Sometimes the horror is subtle, but then it comes at you from an unseen direction and slaps you in the face.I loved how the book keeps you guessing about what's real, and the way secrets and truths were revealed about the characters. I won't talk about any specifics, because I don't want to risk creating spoilers, but I will say it's a real roller coaster of a book with a healthy dose of unexpected twists.If you enjoy a good haunted house horror story, you will love this.Many thanks to Flame Tree Press for the ARC. My review is my honest opinion.