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Book Review: Whispers in the Dark: Real-life Ghost Encounters and Indian Folklore by Sourav Rana

cover art for Whispers in the Dark by Sourav Rana

Whispers in the Dark: Real-life Ghost Encounters and Indian Folklore, by Sourav Rana

Independently published, 2026

ISBN: 979-8194194773

Available:Illustrated paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Amazon.com

 

 

People that appear to be alive suddenly disappear; strange screams shatter the quiet; spirits wrestle with and attack their victims; dead men march in lines; and shapeshifters wreak havoc. This might sound like what to expect in the latest horror novel, but they are actually part of Sourav Rana’s creative nonfiction ebook.

 

In this spooky collection, Rana describes actual encounters with ghosts and demons in India. The stories focus on lonely rural locations that become terrifying after dark. The threat of danger or actual danger is real, and although some of the stories describe similar experiences, Rana’s brief descriptions of the victims, their situations in life, and the particulars of their environment provide background that supports the authenticity of each story.

 

In addition to the details the victims are able to provide, Rana includes interesting context. We learn about the characteristics of the rural Indian landscape, the variety of occupations there, and the superstitions and religious beliefs of the villagers. We also gain insights on the culture’s folklore.

 

Each story is very brief, usually not more than a page or two, and gets straight to the surprising events while still building some suspense and providing a compact storyline. The end of this chapbook also lists descriptive, informative definitions of Jin, The Ghost Procession, Human Spirits, Raakshas, and Betaal. According to the people in the book, it is not totally unexpected that these entities could show up in everyday life, but they were still shocking to experience.

 

It seems possible that a full-length book could be developed from this version by adding stories, expanding the types of encounters, and perhaps by grouping them and adding more specific information about Indian mythology and Hinduism, with more detailed explanations. It would also be fascinating to find out how prevalent these stories are, if they tend to be connected only to specific parts of India, and if there has been any scientific evidence collected on these occurrences.

 

One thing is for certain, lives are changed when these ordinary people come face to face with what most people have only read about in mythology. They quickly decide not to be out and about after dark following these incidents, they learn that there are sacred boundaries that protect human beings from actual contact with the undead, and their mysterious adventures give credence to ancient beliefs about the thin line between the human and the supernatural.

 

 

Reviewed by Nova Hadley

Posted on October 10, 2026 by , Reply

Book Review: Gravebooks by J.A. White

cover art for Gravebooks by J. A. White

 

Gravebooks by J.A. White

Katherine Tegen Books, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0063082014

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook

Buy:  Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com

 

In this sequel to Nightbooks, Alex Mosher wakes up trapped in a nightmare of a strange graveyard of stories, commanded, mysteriously, by the witch Natacha (who kept him captive and died during his escape in the previous book), and her jackal friend Simeon. Each of Alex’s unfinished story ideas are buried in a grave.. Natacha tells Alex he needs to dig each grave up and open the coffin. Inside each coffin is a blank book. Alex has to take the book out and jump down into the grave world to finish the story. When he finishes, the book bursts into flames, but the text of the story is transferred to the world above as the grave world crumbles. Telling the story causes a flower to grow: the better the story, the more unusual the flower.

 

Natacha and Simeon kidnap Alex’s friend Yasmin to threaten Alex into doing his best work, but he makes a deal with them that if they leave her alone, he will write them stories every night.. Yasmin feels responsible for Alex’s situation, and seeks out another fairytale witch, Maria Goffell, doomed to cut the hair of the dead. Maria tells Yasmin  she will need objects that represent Yasmin’s greatest fears, and Yasmin realizes she will have to return to Natacha’s apartment, where she and Alex were imprisoned in Nightbooks. Yasmin finds items in the apartment she can use and is able to defeat Natacha, finally. Maria and Yasmin finally trap Simeon, and Alex is able to escape, resurrect his friendship with Yasmin, and defeat his writer’s block, for the price of a story read to Maria.

 

This had a slow start, but picked up fast, and was a great companion to Nightbooks, which I cannot recommend enough to horror-loving middle-graders. J. A. White knows how to write nightmares.

 

White also name-checks the authors from his dedication: Bradbury, Matheson, King, and Jackson are all Easter eggs in the book, making this a fun book for adults as well. It’s a great book for horror-loving parents to read with their kids. Nightbooks was made into an excellent movie: I hope Gravebooks gets a similar treatment. Highly recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on July 21, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: I Am Margaret Moore by Hannah Capin

I Am Margaret Moore by Hannah Capin

Wednesday Books, 2022

ISBN-13: 9781250239570

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org  )

 

 

In comparison to the other two books I’ve read by Capin (Foul is Fair, retitled Golden Boys Beware, and The Dead Queens Club) I Am Margaret Moore is more experimental, slower- moving, and more pessimistic. Margaret Moore has attended the same naval-themed summer camp with her friends Flor, Nisreen, and Rose for nine years, and what happens at camp is supposed to stay at camp. Margaret breaks that rule when she falls in love with a boy from a wealthy family, resulting in an inconvenient pregnancy. Now there are stories that she drowned in the lake from heartbreak.

 

Her friends have uncovered most of the story, including the name of the boy responsible, who has faced no consequences and is admired in the camp. They decide to tell what they know but it backfires on them. Flor and Nasreen, who are in love, are separated, and the names of all four girls are stricken from the camp records.

 

Margaret’s ghost narrates most of the story and isn’t great at keeping track of time or stringing events together coherently. It is unclear through most of the book how much time is passing until the end (62 years). Figuring out what actually happened is complicated by the changing stories about Margaret the campers tell as time passes as well as the jumping around in time and Margaret’s unreliable memories and interpretations of events.

 

This was not an easy book to read, not just because the characters felt ephemeral, the stream-of-consciousness style of writing or because the topic was difficult and heartbreaking but because it took time to piece together what actually happened and how. In many ways this book is as much about the way we tell stories and how they change as anything. Those readers looking for a fast-paced, straightforward narrative aren’t going to find it here.

 

Margaret and her friends are made to feel small, worthless, erased for the convenience of the entitled white guys in this timely book. The story at the center of the book takes place in 1957. That abortion wasn’t an option for Margaret Moore leads to tragedy. It could not be more timely, with today’s Supreme Court decision at hand.

 

Recommended, for readers willing to take their time.

 

 

 

Posted on June 24, 2022 by , Reply
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