Ancient Illusions

Publisher's Summary

A long-lost diary, a rare book of ghost stories, and unrelenting nightmares combine to send archeologist Michael Rempart on a forbidden journey into the occult and his own past.

When Michael returns to his family home after more than a decade-long absence, he is rocked by the emotion and intensity of the memories it awakens. His father is reclusive, secretive, and obsessed with alchemy and its secrets - secrets that Michael possesses. He believes the way to end this sudden onslaught of nightmares is to confront his disturbing past.

But he soon learns he isn't the only one under attack. Others in his life are also being tormented by demonic nightmares that turn into a deadly reality. Forces from this world and other realms threaten madness and death unless they obtain the powerful, ancient secrets in Michael's possession. Their violence creates an urgency Michael cannot ignore. The key to defeating them seems to lie in a land of dreams inhabited by ghosts...and demons.

From the windswept shores of Cape Cod to a mystical land where samurai and daimyo once walked, now filled with the eerie ghost stories of the strange author, Lafcadio Hearn, and the frightening "suicide forest", Michael must find a way to stop not only the demons, but his own father. Yet, doing so, he fears may unleash an ancient evil upon the world that he will be powerless to contain.

©2018 Joanne Pence (P)2019 Joanne Pence

Not as good as book 1, better than book 2:)

In the third installment of Ancient Secrets we finally meet Michael's father and find out quite a lot about their family secrets.

This time the story takes us to Japan, giving us a chance to learn a few Japanese legends and bits of its culture and heritage. As a background for the story it turns out to be intriguing and more than scary at times.
The plot, however, revolves around Michael's relationship with his father and his father's obsession with the philosopher's stone and gaining immortality. And that's a really scary path to follow... It's dark, full of deceit and hatred...
The plot is fast, definitely faster than in book two. There's also a new female character, much stronger this time, an equal partner for Michael again, maybe not in scholarly terms, but when it comes to character and decision making. There are still some slower parts which may feel a bit lengthy but these are few and far between, luckily.

As a whole, it's a book that keeps you listen on, again very well interpreted by Tim Paige, who does male voices excellently, doesn't overdo female ones and keeps the tension in narrative parts at the right level:)

DISCLAIMER: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.