Review: The Weejee Man

4 stars. An absolute blast. I highly recommend this fun, spooky, atmospheric novella for fans of ghost stories. It's Irish as hell and full of twists and turns, and altogether inappropriate to read during an East Coast heat wave. But I gobbled up every word.

Rick Rooney, former prolific horror author, travels from London to his rural hometown in Ireland to embark on a digital detox and tackle his crippling writer's block. An evening in the local pub turns spooky when he's goaded into using a spirit board - and things only get spookier from there. A creepy encounter in the fog, the appearance of a strange, dark figure... Rick attempts to investigate a local legend in the hopes of finding answers, but the haunting escalates in dark, dangerous directions he never could've imagined.

An author protagonist suffering from writer's block? But Kelly! You may gasp, in terror. That's your pet peeve! Yes, it absolutely is, and I didn't care so much this time around, because it doesn't actually drive the story all that much. All is forgiven... this time.

Honestly, what the heck happened here though? Where can I find some theories and interpretations? I love that this went somewhere I truly didn't expect, and I love some well-placed ambiguity/unanswered questions, but I'm dying to talk about it. There's a lot packed into this little book, and I want to know more! All I can think of is some sort of... supernatural justice for messing with things you absolutely should not.

For fans of: Irish mythology, Irish folklore, Irish horror, horror tropes, detailed descriptions of Irish cabins and pubs, brandy, epistolary clues, graveyards, spooky lakes. 

The Weejee Man on: Amazon | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph