The Spooky Life by S.E. Harmon

Narrated by Kirt Graves

When we last saw Detectives Rain Christiansen and Danny McKenna – at the end of Spooky Business – they’d narrowly survived being murdered by a vengeful ghost, and just got engaged. When we encounter them again here, they’re well into planning their wedding… or rather, Danny’s mother is well into planning it and is insisting on dragging the two of them (kicking and screaming metaphorically at least) into it as well. Like the other books in the Spectral Files series, The Spooky Life combines a supernatural mystery with the ongoing development of the central relationship, but although Rain’s snarky voice is as entertaining as ever, the mystery feels a bit thin and the whole wedding-planning-thing seems, at times, to have taken over. That trope – the everyone-else-wants-to-plan-our-wedding one – is one I have little patience with; not only do I not understand why people spend a fortune on weddings, I don’t understand why two grown men in their late thirties can’t – politely – tell everyone to just butt out and let them do it their way.

Rain is on a visit to a possible wedding venue with Mrs. McKenna and quietly wishing the ground would open and swallow him up, when he notices a woman walking around under a decorative arch, a lonely ghost who seems to be in a world of her own. Managing to escape from his prospective mother-in-law and the very eager venue manager, Rain makes his way over to the spirit and introduces himself; to his surprise she doesn’t speak – usually the ghosts who find Rain won’t shut up – so he thinks that perhaps she’s ready to move on but is stuck for some reason and decides to help her to do so. When that doesn’t work, Rain realises that perhaps she can’t move on because of unfinished business and wants him to go somewhere. Sigh.

The ghost can’t speak but manages to spell out her name – Hannah – and a request “find Cherry Parker” by drawing letters onto Rain’s palm; clearly she must want to say goodbye to a friend. It’s not too difficult to track down Cherry’s address, so Rain and Danny – accompanied by a silent Hannah – drive to the address and are greeted by Cherry’s husband, who tells them he hasn’t seen Cherry since she walked out on him and their kids seventeen years before. Lee Parker paints a picture of an unhappy marriage – although he couldn’t believe Cherry would just up and leave their kids – and when Rain and Danny question her sister and her children, it quickly becomes clear that there’s more to Cherry’s disappearance than an unhappy woman just taking off.

The book starts strongly, setting up an interesting mystery and also, in the background, dropping hints of something more sinister going on, what with Rain’s dreams and visions and that he’s suddenly unable to remember having complete conversations with colleagues who insist he spoke with them – but it moves so slowly – because it’s constantly interrupted by stuff about the wedding or about the contractors working on Rain and Danny’s house, or… something else – that I was in danger of forgetting where the mystery had got to by the time the next clue or piece of evidence turned up. The domestic scenes between the couple are great – I love Rain’s snarkiness and Danny’s long-suffering deadpan reactions – and I liked that Rain is much more at ease with his supernatural abilities and is now willing to explore them and train them, but there are so many inconsistencies and unanswered questions (How come Hannah can do what she can do? Can all ghosts do it? Why did Cherry’s daughter not divulge important information or display any interest in the reason for her mother’s disappearance? What was that whole thing with the ley lines in the back garden? Why didn’t Danny realise something was up with Rain? Why didn’t Rain tell Danny about (spoiler)? And lots more!) that the story became hard to follow – and hard to swallow.

I was also disappointed that the darker tone taken in the previous book isn’t really followed up on here. There’s an event near the end in which the ghostly Hannah reveals her true colours and abilities, and things take a pretty unsettling turn (all I’ll say is that Rain is kidnapped) – but because the story is told entirely from Rain’s perspective and he’s effectively out of action for a four days, all we get is Rain waiting around and worrying about what might be happening. Then, after he manages to escape and makes his way back home and it looks like things have gone from bad to worse – everything is hand-waved away without Rain having to explain anything and the tension completely fizzles out. The ending is sloppy, and there’s no real resolution or reaction to what happens to Cherry.

I’ve enjoyed the Spectral Files, but this is the weakest of the set, and if it’s the last one, it’s a shame the series has limped to such a disappointing finish. Kirt Graves’ narration is The Spooky Life’s saving grace and is what kept me listening whenever the pacing lagged; he’s always a pleasure to listen to, and I think this is the best performance of his I’ve listened to yet. It’s well-paced and clearly differentiated with strong characterisation across the board, and his wonderful portrayal of Rain has been consistent throughout. The deadpan snarkiness that characterises his dialogue and internal monologues is perfectly judged, his comic timing is spot on, and he conveys Rain’s quieter, more introspective side very well, too. The deeper tone and slight gruffness he gives to Danny provide a good contrast so they’re easy to identify aurally, and he does a great job of conveying the depth of their affection for one another and the strength of their emotional connection.

Even though The Spooky Life was something of a disappointment overall, I enjoyed seeing how far Rain and Danny have come, and liked seeing them as such a solid couple. There’s plenty of humour and plenty of steam in their scenes together, but the plot is a bit of a mess and full of holes. If you’ve listened to the other books in the series, then you might want to pick one this up for completeness – and for Kirt Graves’ excellent performance – but I can’t really offer anything but a very qualified recommendation.

Caz