This was a very, scary true paranormal read! You will definitely want to leave the lights on with this one! The family went through a terrible time while living in their house with a malovent entity. Finished this book in 4 days - couldn't put it down. ( )

A family finds itself completely helpless against the sudden onset of paranormal activity in their quiet rural home. A knife embedded in a kitchen cupboard, crockery smashed by invisible hands, and blood-chilling growls emit from thin air. Caroline and her husband Neil search for answers as they try to protect their family from the unseen entity that seems determined to rip them apart. The biggest question looms over them like a dark cloud ... who is going to help us? There are emergency services for many things, but not of this nature. It might be easier to believe temporary insanity, if not for the vast amount of witnesses. Police, fire services, mediums, priests and investigators all become embroiled in the mystery. The family struggles to cope, and Caroline grows concerned for her husband's failing health as he withdraws from the world. However, the entity has only just begun.

The book certainly gets you attention. It's an entertaining story rather you are a believer...a totally absolutely no way disbeliever....or a maybe it could happen, individual. I love haunted house stories...so I was just wanting to be entertained, but since Caroline Mitchell wrote and published the book as a real life experience for her family...I had to ask some questions about the events. Okay... all of a sudden they had this uninvited guest raising hell in their home...didn't they for one minute consider this "thing" to be dangerous? Instead they tried to communicate with it in a variety of ways. It knocked, growled, threw things, constantly rang their cell phones, followed them around, and set fires... and generally made life truly unbearable. They left the house, BUT... they kept returning. They even invited it to the local pub where it knocked, raised tables and followed them home. Didn't DEMON ever enter their minds? No one would really help them try to get rid of it...not the church...not the investigators...everyone just wanted to see the activity and be entertained by it. It got to where they were playing games with whatever this was. This just didn't seem plausible to how anyone with this thing hanging out in their home would react. Never throughout the entire book did any one come close to telling them what it was...where it came from...or what it wanted. IF it was a true story, as was claimed, there remained too many questions and not enough answers. ( )

There were some scary stories here. The problem I had was that the writing didn't flow well which made the story hard to follow and hard to read. Sure a lot of what happened was hard to believe, I can deal with that. What I had a hard time with was the pub scenes, provoking the "intruder". I guess you never know how someone will deal with the paranormal, but some of their ideas seemed strange. An interesting read if you can stay with it. ( )

Reviewed for Bit'N Book Promoters & Ink of my Heart Book Blog. For full review and interview go here:
http://bitnbookpromoters.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/bite-on-this-book-review-for-par...
http://azgreen786.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/book-review-paranormal-intruder-by.html


I'm reviewing this novel on the basis that I believe in its authenticity and truth wholeheartedly. Haters and unbelievers be damned.

So this novel is actually more of a detailed account of a family terrorized by a mischievous (BIG understatement there) 'entity'. The novel isn't about trying to convince us whether it is this or that, but mainly just allowing you to see what the 'entity' is capable of. The author, Caroline, doesn't expect us to believe their story but even if I had been someone who didn't believe in the paranormal before this novel, I think I would have been convinced after reading it. Even just a little bit.

What I admire about Caroline and her family is their strength and grace. They carried on with life as best they could despite this evil presence under their own roof. It was horrible, entertaining and shocking to read but above all, it inspired hope. I enjoyed the accounts from both Caroline and her husband Neil, who seemed to take the brunt of the attacks. The 'entity' was physically harmful to him.

Even if you don't believe this is real, the story itself is really good, intriguing, enticing and scary. I know I had to pace myself because I didn't want to be reading it late at night. I'd start to get paranoid around dark shadows.

The writing itself was informative, simple and direct. It didn't contain any unnecessary detail or plot-filler. It didn't take its time getting to the point. The flow was smooth and constantly kept you on your toes. It was enjoyable. Not Shakespeare, but decent.

As for my opinion on what the 'entity' is, I'd go with what I believe, which is that it's a demon. Also known as a Jinn. The reason I think this is down to many things that the novel talks about, some of which I bothered to highlight.

Jinn are made of fire, which would account for the fire-starting. They're also very fast, incredibly strong and have powers that if we fully understood, would make the phone calls and tricks that the 'entity' perform seem reasonable. Not all are harmful or bad, but those that are, tend to be mischievous, prone to losing their tempers and being generally hot-headed, and many believe themselves superior to us because of their vast amount of abilities. I have read that they are meant to be filthy creatures, not all, just those that are evil in nature which is why they tend to hang out in graveyards, bathrooms etc. So it makes sense that they would piss on floors and let off supernatural stink-bombs or farts.

'His nostrils were filled with a pungent smell, like rotting cabbage. “Awe mate, is that you?” Neil gagged as the smell grew stronger.

Lee laughed at being accused of producing something so odious. “No it bloody well isn't. That's disgusting.”

Neil opened the back door and they both went outside for air.

“You have to admit, it's kind of funny... a farting ghost.”'

It is pretty funny. But gross.

The other thing that convinced me that it's a Jinn is that in the book it mentions 'Phil' a.k.a the entity, has a wife (who is to blame for the fires) and that they were born in the sixteenth century. Jinn do procreate (though don't ask me how, my guess is pretty much the same as we do). They also live much longer lives than us but they can die. They're not dead and they're not immortal. And there is never any mention that the 'entity' is a lost soul or has died. In that same page that this information is mentioned, they also ask the 'entity' if he wants to be their friend to which he knocks twice for YES. I can tell you now, he was playing them. He wouldn't be hanging around if he had a good bone in his ethereal body.

This statement is absolutely spot on – 'Mike has a theory that the entity thinks of us as inferior, here for his entertainment. It sees itself as way more powerful than us. The fact we would offer help is an insult.'

He is more powerful than us, strength wise and power and ability wise. But from what I know of demons, letting them in and more importantly FEARING them is what makes us weaker than them. Easier said than done, but if from the start Caroline and Neil had shunned his presence, ignored him and shown they had no fear and only had faith in God, reciting His name repeatedly in the house, I don't think things would have got as bad as they did. But that's not fair for me to judge. I'm not judging, honestly. No one can know what happened to this family.

Going back to the nature of demons from what I know, they tend to be pretty erratic emotionally. Anger is one big thing. But also jealously. Because of how often 'Phil' disliked Lee being in the house with Neil it had me wondering if 'Phil' was jealous of their friendship. I wonder how much 'Phil's' wife played in these attacks, and what her motive was. Perhaps she was jealous too, for other reasons. I've heard so many cases of demons being jealous of a man or a woman because they want to be with them. Odd, I know. But this book reminded me of those previous accounts I studied years ago. And when it mentions that 'Phil' is trapped, it had my thoughts racing. What is his motive? Is he bored? Is he just using the family as a cruel source of entertainment, like a child pulling of the wings of insects? Or is it something even more sinister, such as a fiery emotion like jealousy, anger or even hate? Or all of the above? Creepy to think about.

The whole thing with the family trying to seek out help at their church and beyond was the hardest thing for me to read. I felt so sorry for them. I hated the fact that for the priests, the family's going to church and listening to sermons was more important than their well-being. It was ridiculous. That scene where they go to church and Caroline pulls the Father aside and says that 'Things have been really bad': it's a precious moment where she's opening up to this so-called man of God and asking for his help, and he just brushes her off and says, 'Well at least it brought you back to the Church.' I mean what the fudge? How can he say that?

And then it gets worse when they finally go for the exorcism (took the priests long enough) and the priests are all up in their grill about renewing their vows or something and it's like, why can't they just help someone, no questions asked? Why does faith have to get involved? Does it really matter how often they pray, or go to Church or listen to sermons? No. It doesn't. I'm a religious woman. Not a Catholic, obviously, but if I was, I'd be as disgusted about that judgemental mindset as much as I am now.

Luckily, the exorcism seemed to do the trick and I don't think it was all down to the priests' “holiness”. I think it could be done by anyone who truly believes and says the words with complete sincerity, love and fear of God.

I will say one thing that surprised me. Mike, the investigator. Caroline mentions that during the time of the book, he converts to Islam. Now that interested me for obvious reasons. But I was also surprised that he never suggested getting an exorcism from that side of things. It is done. And also at the end of the novel, John says that he and Mike thought that from all the evidence they had collected, that the entity was actually a 'brag': 'an extremely dangerous elemental-type creature from the English folklore'. Which it could be. Though I think it's the same thing as a Jinn. Just a different name. Which it also says in the novel: 'the phenomenon itself is global – every culture around the world has different names for these creatures...' I'm just surprised it was never mentioned, or perhaps Mike didn't know about them at the time. *The author just told me after reading my review that he wasn't Muslim at the time of his opinions on the 'brag' and later suggested it could be, and recommend an Imam to come in and do his thing, to which the author declined as she didn't want to aggravate 'Phil' anymore.*

Anyway, let's move on from that road. And back to the book. As you see it did stir a lot of emotions in me, and I think it has and will for many. This book is doing very well on Amazon and has 100 reviews. Most of which are positive. From what I saw when I had a peek, only two of them were one star reviews, and frankly, their reasoning was stupid. Sorry, but it was.

So if you'd like to be chilled to the bone and be freaked out for several days afterwards, then go for it! It's not scary scary. It's not like BOO! In your face. But psychologically, it plays in your mind and you'll realize after reading it, that it's still there. Lurking behind you.

Many people may have different interpretations as to what happened to this family. And many may discredit the accounts. I don't really care. The book is good. And worth reading. The author and her family and friends suffered a great deal over something that may never be explained. It's sad. But it's nice to see someone taking the time to open up to world so just maybe, there will be someone just as unfortunate as them who will read this and say, “I'm not alone.”

I give this novel 4 out of 5 stars. And recommend it to anyone who wants something a little different.

Just a side note: the book cover is really striking. I love it. But oddly, when I first looked at it, I had extra-terrestrial on my mind.
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I am the author for this book, but I felt compelled to write a review. Naturally I am biased, but I feel this book deserves this review as it is a unique case, given the amount of witnesses and professionals involved. I have worked very hard to do this amazing story justice in the hope that it will encourage others to come forward and tell their stories also.
Every emotion has been poured into this book. There have been tears and there has been laughter, but most of all it displays the endurance of the human spirit in an unimaginable set of circumstances. I do hope readers enjoy this story and I welcome all contact both here and on my site. ( )