Review: I’ll Be Waiting
I always applaud - and am impressed by - authors who write in different genres. Especially when they’re known for one genre and try something new. Sometimes that means I don’t read their next book because it’s not my preferred genre but as long as they’re writing something that makes them happy? That makes ME happy! It was with all this in mind that I gave I’ll Be Waiting by Kelley Armstrong a try. I’ve really enjoyed her Rockton series so thought, well, let’s see what her horror-type book is like. I don’t know if it’s something horror lovers would enjoy but I can confirm it’s not the kind of book for me!
Here’s the book’s description:
Nicola Laughton never expected to see adulthood, being diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis as a child. Then medical advances let her live into her thirties and she met Anton, who taught her to dream of a future… together. Months after they married, Anton died in a horrible car, but lived long enough to utter five words to her, “I’ll be waiting for you.”
That final private moment became public when someone from the crash scene took it to the press—the terminally ill woman holding her dying husband as he promised to wait for her on the other side. Worse, that person claimed it wasn’t Anton who said the words but his ghost, hovering over his body.
Since their story went public, Nicola has been hounded by spiritualists promising closure. In the hopes of stopping her downward spiral, friends and family find a reputable medium—a professor of parapsychology. For the séance, they rent the Lake Erie beach house that Anton’s family once owned.
The medium barely has time to begin his work before things start happening. Locked doors mysteriously open. Clouds of insects engulf the house. Nicola hears footsteps and voices and the creak of an old dumbwaiter…in an empty shaft. Throughout it all she’s haunted by nightmares of her past. Because, unbeknownst to the others, this isn’t her first time contacting the dead. And Nicola isn’t her real name.
That’s when she finds the first body....
I work with someone at the library who’s a huge horror reader and advocates for the genre just as I do romance. We often talk about what we’re reading, not because either of us are going to read the other’s choices but so we can be better at our jobs. So, it’s with her in mind that I wonder, “Does I’ll Be Waiting qualify as a horror novel? And what would she think of it?” Why am I mentioning all this? Well, I think you already know this book was outside of my comfort zone. The tone of this review will be very much, “This may be a good book but it’s certainly not a book for me.” So please keep that in mind while you’re reading this review!
I ended up listening to this one on audio and, my word, Jennifer Pickens did such a great job. I think I was more unsettled with the story thanks to her narration. She really nailed the pauses, wavering voices, creepy sounds, and the like. I’ll definitely check out other books she’s narrated.
How do you feel about authors who take on a disease when they themselves don’t have it? This was something I pondered while reading this book because Nicola has cystic fibrosis, but Armstrong does not. She did note at the end of the book that she had someone she talked to about the disease, a sensitivity reader of sorts, which I do appreciate. I wondered if I was being too…precious? Wanting Own Voices in too many ways? All that said, I was happy to see a character with CF and a book that was spreading awareness of what the disease looks like these days. I could have used a little less repetitiveness with all the gear Nicola has to travel with and her therapies and medicine. Some mention? Absolutely. Multiple mentions of the exact same info? A bit much.
As for the ghost story…I was both spooked and totally disbelieving of it. I refused to read the book before bed, had to finish it to find out what happened, and was over the mystery by the end. It was an odd jumble of feelings. But the fact that I was feeling all those things meant something - and was probably what pushed me to finish the book. I really did NEED to know what happened. Armstrong hinted at something that happened 22 years before the book took place and it took far too long to get to it - it was about 40% in when things finally started being revealed. I’m not entirely sure I buy how all the characters fit into the story and how the haunting really worked. But was I supposed to? I’m not really sure.
I’ll Be Waiting was, personally, not a winner. But I’m very aware that it could be that it’s not my usual type of read. I’d be really curious to see what horror and ghost story readers think of Kelley Armstrong’s latest book!
*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Minotaur Books, via NetGalley. All opinions are honest and my own.*