Elaine White's Life in Books

I really enjoyed this book. As well as being spooky and entertaining, as it tells the story of Ben Scott and his venture to start the City of the Dead Tours, it gives an accurate history of Old Edinburgh and its experiences with ghosts.

The book skirts the line being being flippant about ghosts ever existing and being completely convinced that ghosts are real. This is probably Bloody Mackenzie's fault, the poltergeist of the narrative. He is sometimes ludicrous, sometimes playful, sometimes downright spiteful and sometimes he disappears for months on end.

However, I'm a firm believer in respecting what you don't know. I've seen a ghost and although it didn't frighten me, it cemented my already open mind in a position of 'Just because you can't see it, doesn't meant it's not there'. That, to me, is how this book reads. There's a lingering respect for the supernatural world, a flitting, in and out of belief and disbelief. Just as I'm sure there is with Ben Scott. Sometimes it's only too easy to believe that a lingering spirit is being malevolent, and sometimes it seems silly. But at all times, the possibility is there.

And that's what really spoked me with this book. The more I read about Blood Mackenzie, the more I'm convinced that ghosts are real. Some of them are just too nice to make themselves known; some like Mackenzie just like the limelight too much to give it up.

This is the second book I've read by Jan-Andrew Henderson. I also read her The Town Below the Ground recently and both have proven to be fantastic. The more I read of this author, the more I'm looking forward to what they write next.