Discover Petras Ghost Composed By C.S. O’Cinneide File Readable Copy

Ghost is, as you'd expect from the title, a ghost story, However, the the true beating heart of this entertaining tale of pilgrimage is the theme of redemption and its many, often incomplete forms,

Admittedly, I went into this book not having ever heard of the Camino de Santiago, an ancient Spanish pilgrimage route, C. S. O'Cinneide draws here on her own experiences while walking the route in, and I need to point out what a fantastic job she does bringing the route to life, using real life locations and details that add realism to the story.
The main character, an Irish expat named Daniel, is a well drawn out figure of grief and guilt over the recent cancer death of his wife Petra.
Daniel has come to the Camino to spread Petra's ashes and to perhaps find something in the pilgrimage for himself,

Daniel soon meets Ginny, a girl from California who immediately proclaims him as "different", and an older Dutchman who takes on the role of wise sage.
They're soon besieged by a mysterious entity that seems to follow them along the path, The book from this point assumes the dual roles of horror and travelogue: Daniel and Ginny visit many historical locations, festivals, and inns along the path, interspersed with encounters and far off sightings of the entity.
Throughout the book, I found myself comparing certain sections to M, R. James' classic "'Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad'", I can give no higher

praise as I consider that one of my favorite ghost stories,

I'd imagine Petra's Ghost will rank fairly highly on my year end book list, Grief and guilt can be as terrifying as actual apparitions, but as one character succinctly puts it: Not all ghosts are out to harm you, but they all carry messages.


I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, My thanks to Dundurn. After reading this book, I want to walk themile Camino de Santiago aka the Camino Way myself, They say there are three parts to the Way during the first part of the walk you find your body, along the second laborious trudge you find your mind and during that final homeward stretch you find your soul.
It sounds extremely appealing sitting here on my couch reading about it from a distance but I can tell you if I ever do get the chance to walk the Way, I will be very lucky to find my way to theth mile marker much less theth withindays.
lol

Anyway enough about me, this is a very compelling story that explores the figurative and literal ghosts that two walkers encounter during their journey.
Needless to say, the setting is pretty powerful and there are a lot of interesting historical facts bandied about, I would describe the story itself as kind of a slow continuous burner in which the suspense builds and builds and builds until it reaches that final climatic showdown at the end of the book, and at the end of the Way.


A definite must read!

I received this ARC from NetGalley and Dundurn in exchange for an honest review, Thank you!

The Camino is on my bucket list so this book held a lot of interest for me, It had the right amount of Camino lore combined with characters that I hated to let go of, Spooky at times with a few laugh out loud bits as well, The book is a bit of a mystery, a bit of a ghost story, and a bit of a journey of selfdiscovery, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, Growing up as a Lutheran, my religious education was very no frills, No saints. No transubstantiation. No relics. No pilgrimages to see said relics, But C. S. Cinneides novel Petras Ghost, gives me a glimpse into what motivates a person to undergo physical hardship to travel miles, to visit a holy site.
This novel shows us a variety of those motivations: a grieving husband who is looking for the perfect place to put his wifes ashes, a woman running away from her past, a Dutchman who really wants to make it all the way this time, and dilettantes who are not in the most pious mood and really just want to visit the wineries and clubs along the way.
. .

Read the rest of my review at sitelinkA Bookish Type, I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration, This book should really be called Daniels Journey on the Camino, I felt like the plot was not so much a horror but rather a literary fiction about the Camino trail, Were the cultural and historical stories fascinating Yes, Were the details about the Camino trail itself interesting Yes, But it wasnt scary or creepy or really anything to do with horror, . I found myself waiting and waiting and still waiting for the ghost aspect to arrive, It was too little too late, I received an ARC on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, A very engaging story from start to finish, The characters are very relatable, and the description of the journey makes you feel like you are travelling with them, Well done!! Ms. OCinneide has a wonderful eye for detail and a gift for creating a strong sense of place, Only someone who has walked the Walk Camino de Santiago could create such vivid and compelling prose, The storyline is intriguing, effectively straddling the horror, mystery, and literary genres, In addition to facing the challenges of a gruelingmile pilgrimage, grieving expat Daniel Kennedy must also deal with personal demons and the ghosts that populate this wellwritten, characterdriven novel.
I highly recommend setting aside large blocks of uninterrupted reading time, Ghosts on the Camino Santiago As I kept reading this murdermysterytravelogue, I kept thinking: is nothing sacred The story is well written and it has plenty of interesting characters.
Unfortunately, I've spoken to too many people who have walked the Sacred Way and heard their glorious stories, and it was hard to picture a frightening ghost on the same trail they traveled.
Spoiler Alert: There is a macabre twist at the end,
This book was definitely not for me, but it is will definitely be an entertaining read for dark mystery lovers, . Immediately I'm drawn in by the main character Danielhis voice has a lovely Irish liltand his journey to recover from grief and spread his wife's ashes.
His pilgrimage along the Camino becomes informed by the people he meets and their griefs, There's a bit of Stephen King horror to the ghosts he encounters that I didn't feel added to the poignancy of the story and the ultimate conclusion.
Otherwise it's a wonderful story to be reread, /

“We all have our ghosts, Daniel” Rob says “The question is not if they exist, it is what message do they bring.
”

This beautifully haunting debut by author C, S. OCinneide had me immediately intrigued with its premise, yet still surprised me with how deeply I ended up enjoying it as a whole, I was lucky enough to receive an early copy via the publisher, in exchange for an honest review, Let me tell you: its one of the best ARCs Ive read this year,

We follow Daniel as he walks the Camino, the famous pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella, carrying the ashes of his recently deceased wife Petra, in order to scatter them at his final destination.
Along the way, he meets Ginny, a bubbly Californian girl making the same solo journey, and the two of them decide to continue together, Both find themselves haunted by the perhaps literal ghosts of their pasts along the way, and we slowly find out that both of them carry more than just the weight of their backpacks on their shoulders on this journey
Petras Ghost reads like a travel journal, it reads like a psychological mystery thriller and like a gothic novel all at once.
At times it reminded me of sitelinkThe Salt Path by sitelinkRaynor Winn which I loved, mixed with sitelinkMelmoth by sitelinkSarah Perry and something else, that I cant quite place.

It was the Pilgrimage to a loved ones final resting place that originally drew me in, as I feel like I can relate to it, albeit on a smaller scale than thekm Camino.
I believe the author herself has walked the Camino before, and she does a great job of conveying the atmosphere and “personality” of the trail.
The same can be said for the effect that the protagonists mood has on his experience of the trial, Grief can put a weird, almost surrealist and dark filter over things, which was portrayed wonderfully with the hint of horror/thriller elements along the way.

Speaking of which: it was the mystery that kept drawing me back to the book as soon as I put it down, Often with stories like this, I feel like either the mystery or the protagonists emotional background is tucked in as an afterthought, In Petras Ghost, the two entwine perfectly with each other, as well as with the previously established atmosphere,
Lastly, it was the ending that delivered the final emotional punch to make this book memorable to me, It was brave without being sensational, and emotional without being dramatic, A very fitting ending to this story,in my opinion,

I do have one piece of criticism, probably aimed at the publisher, more so than the author, There is a line in the synopsis of the final copy of the book that wasnt in the description of the ARC, which gives a major clue to one of the final reveals.
To me, this actually made it very predictable, and spoiled the potential of surprise in the end, If that line hadnt been in the synopsis, it would have taken me longer to figure it out,

If you have the chance to read this book without reading the full synopsis in detail, that might be something Id recommend doing.

All in all, there were a few things that kept this from being a full five star to me: mainly a few inconsistencies in pacing, and some of the mystery elements being a little predictable.
That being said, this is one of the strongerdebuts Ive read so far, and I feel its both a book and an author to keep an eye on.


Many thanks to Dundurn Group for providing me with an early review copy, .