Well this was certainly creepy.... MJ Holliday is asked by her ex to help his fiancee's brother who is being haunted/possessed by a very evil spirit. In the midst of trying to free the young man from the malevolent spirit MJ is brought face to face w/ a series of murders of young women, all within the same neighborhood....

This was pretty disturbing, especially the parts where the demon seemed to follow MJ and take over the men in her life & those who were convicted of the previous murders...

The ending was very interesting and had a redeeming twist.....

I STILL Do NOT Like MJ's best friend & sidekick Gilley..... He's a blatant Bitch, in fact he's what one would see as a negative stereotypical caricature of a Gay Drama Queen and I for one find this to be distasteful. Minus 1 star for her distasteful portrayal. ( )

The Ghoul Next Door is the 8th book in the Ghost Hunter Mystery series.

This is the 5th book I have read in the series and must say I think it is the best. A very engaging and exciting book.

M.J., her boyfriend Heath and Gil have just returned from overseas after filming some shows for their Ghoul Getters TV series and looking forward to relaxing before they need to start work on the next season.

But before they can Steven, M.J.'s ex boyfriend, stops by and asks for their help with his fiancée's brother, Luke, is apparently possessed by an evil spirit. M.J. is all for saying no to helping, but Heath and Gil change her mind. It seems Luke has some kind of spirit that is occupying his mind and can barely function and has moved in with his sister. M.J. and Heath set up their cameras to watch Luke as he tries to sleep. Hopefully they will be able to get some clue as to what kind of spirit it is. As they watching Luke sleep, it suddenly gets up and leaves the house. They attempt to find Luke, but can't and head back to the house. A short time later returns covered in blood. Thinking Luke had been attacked they start cleaning him up and call 911. When the police arrive, M.J. learns that there has been a girl just killed nearby. Luke is arrested for the murder and M.J. and Heath are considered as accomplices for a while. M.J. and Heath feel that Luke is innocent of the murder set off to learn more about the spirit. They soon find that there have been several murders in that area and some that have never been solved. It's when they find a connection to a certain address that M.J., Heath and Gil's lives are put in danger.

This book is not particularly gruesome, but still will cause the hair on your neck to rise. Definitely a hard book to put down.

Looking forward to continuing with the series. ( )

As I was reading this book, several small issues presented themselves to me with regard to story line and plot, and I thought to myself "3 / 3.5 star read for this one - not my favorite of the series" while making a mental note to mention these issues in my review.

I'm finished with the book now, and I can't remember a single damn one of the things I meant to mention. While I'm certain that doesn't say anything good about my apparently sieve-like memory, I'd also like to think that it does say something good about the overall quality of the story; I was able to forget the not-so-great and get caught up in a rollicking good ghost story.

M.J. and her boyfriend/partner Heath are mediums and the subjects of a cable tv series about ghost busting. I quite like M.J. and Heath, but I have to admit that her best friend and partner/research assistant, Gilley, is not my favorite member of the series cast. He's meant to be flamboyant and over-the-top, and most of the time I can appreciate that in a character, but he's too over-the-top and often times he's insensitive and selfish. But to give credit where credit is due, he's MUCH better in this book than he has been in previous books. He's much less a drama queen and the story is all the better for it.

Most of the books centre on each of their filming locations, but The Ghoul Next Door has them back in M.J.'s home city of Boston on filming hiatus. Her ex-boyfriend comes to her asking for help with a possible possession case and before they can help the victim, there's a murder and he's implicated. Events and circumstances compel them to continue their research and investigation into the possession, stumbling on a much more complicated story than a mere possession.

As I mentioned in the beginning of my review, this plot is not without it's inconsistencies. Others may have a better time remembering them than I did, but I'd rather have such a good time reading a book that I forget about it's flaws, than put a book down at the end with only the flaws leaving their imprint behind. In the acknowledgements, Ms. Laurie is very upfront about losing one of her dear friends to ALS while writing this book. A recurring character in her series (and a major one in this book) is based on him and I can't imagine that wouldn't impact what we read here, so if the plot isn't flawless, well, it's hard not to understand why that might be so.

If you are a fan of horror, terror, books that give you nightmares or books you can't read while you're alone at home, I can only recommend this book as perhaps a relaxing sedative replacement. If you're like me and you stay away from all of the above but occasionally like spooky ghost stories that are almost scary, the kind that almost-but-not-quite give you goosebumps, this is the book (and series) to try. These are really fun ghost stories that will make your heart speed up just that little bit. I can't wait for the next one. ( )

“The Ghoul Next Door” by Victoria Laurie

Don’t worry, this book is only about a bunch of ghosts. Well, maybe you should worry a bit, ghosts connote happy spirits. The ghosts in this book are not them.

Psychic medium M.J., her psychic boyfriend Heath, and her childhood friend and partner in ghoul-hunting Gil (the team), are all targets for one evil entity. So evil, in fact, the murders go back about thirty years. And the three of them need to find out how one is related to others.

M.J.’s ex-boyfriend Steven is now engaged. And his fiancée Courtney has a brother Luke, who’s in trouble. It seems he’s being haunted and intermittently possessed by an evil entity that relishes the taste and smell of blood. And it all starts and ends with one house on Stoughton Street.

Luke thinks he’s going crazy when furniture is rearranged at his rental on Stoughton. Then he sees shadows. He can’t sleep or eat, so Courtney intervenes. Steven talks M.J. and her entourage into helping Luke. The team sets cameras up and watches Luke while he’s sleeping. Nothing happens until he suddenly gets up, stares into the cameras like one possessed, and quickly leaves the house before they can get to him. A woman ends up being murdered a few doors down and Luke is accused and arrested for crime.

M.J., Heath, and Gil won’t give up. They know (hope—they go back and forth in their thoughts here) Luke is innocent and set out to prove it. But their tools of the trade—bubble vests, magnets, and stakes—may be not enough to protect the evil from invading their minds while trying to stop it from taking over and killing again.

What a fun book! It’s witty and a quick read. If you haven’t picked up Laurie’s work yet, I suggest you do!

Reviewed by Starr Gardinier Reina, author of “The Other Side: Melinda’s Story” ( )

In Laurie’s paranormal mystery novel, psychic medium M.J. Holliday, her boyfriend Heath and best friend Gilley are on badly needed down time from their TV show, Ghoul Getters. They are back in Boston trying to recuperate from all those months in Europe when M.J.’s ex approaches them about a case of possession involving his fiancé’s brother. They set up surveillance on the young man only to discover something far more sinister than they had ever encountered before. Together they must unite to face this demon before anyone else dies at his hands.

A delightful addition to the A Ghost Hunter Mystery series. Laurie has done it again! ( )