Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Black Rose Writing, and author Steve Rigolosi for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

Set in Maine, The Haunting of Kinnawe House was a good read for fans of ghost stories and horror. It has the feel of a historical fiction mystery with ties to the present. I had a hard time getting into it at first, but I enjoyed it quite a bit in the end.

Matthew Rollins is an aspiring musician. He’s had a moderate hit but is trying to find inspiration. When his girlfriend, Kellyce, announces she’s pregnant but tells him she’s going to have an abortion, Matthew is devastated. He doesn’t understand why. She tells him that “his seed is rotten.” That’s not something that the average millennial thinks he’ll hear from his girlfriend. Devastated, he takes a house-sitting job in Maine for the winter.

The house he’s going to be staying at, Kinnawe House, was built in 1749 and has a storied past. The story switches between Matthew in the present and the early days of the town of Cape Agamenticus, Maine. The town was founded by missionaries from a church in Northampton, Massachusetts. However, they were led astray with promises of a life of wealth and ease. Parthalán was the illegitimate son of a fiery preacher who turned to the darkness and dragged the congregation along with him.

The story switches back and forth between the events in the 1700s and modern times. Matthew is a bit of an enigma. The reader gets some of his background, but most comes out in dribs and drabs throughout the story. He was raised by a single mother who was quite insane at times and never told him anything about his father. He has numerous scars on his body that break open and bleed regularly. Matthew seems to take these occurrences with ease, which seems strange early on. Later, it’s revealed how he got them, and the story makes much more sense. It’s details like this that made it hard for me to get sucked in right away.

There is only one person among the residents of Cape Agamenticus who befriends Matthew. Helen Crowe has ties to Cape Agamenticus’ past. How the author weaves these two time periods together is quite well done and kept me guessing for much of the book. I had a feeling I knew some of what was going on, but I did not guess all of it. Is Matthew suffering the same psychological disorders that plagued his mother? Why was he drawn to Kinnawe House in the first place? All is revealed in the end, but there’s also a sense that perhaps things are not over and done with.

There’s graphic violence in The Haunting of Kinnawe House, including rape and domestic violence. If you are a horror fan, I think you’ll like it, though. Rigolosi has some rough spots jumping back and forth between the two time periods, but overall, I thought it was well done. I’d say 3 1/2 stars, rounded up to 4. It’s deserving of a look if you like this genre.