The Haunting of Kinnawe House by Steven Rigolosi

 

THE HAUNTING OF KINNAWE HOUSE is a ghost story that spans two eras in American history. As the novel opens, 27-year-old Matthew Rollins, an aspiring pop singer, is watching his dreams rapidly swirling down the drain. His girlfriend has dumped him, and he’s suffering with terrible insomnia that is affecting his brain and his eyesight.

Then comes the email from a real-estate agent at York Village Realtors, offering information about Kinnawe House. This former preacher’s house, built in 1746, is now available for rent for the first time in its history. The offer is too good to refuse, so Matthew sublets his Hell’s Kitchen apartment and heads north to Agamenticus, Maine, where he expects to exorcise his demons, write songs, and get some much-needed sleep.

Matthew does not know of the connection between Kinnawe House and the Reverend Jonathan Edwards, who terrified the American colonies with his 1741 sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” For years, Edwards’ former lover, has threatened to reveal her child, Parthalán, as Edwards’ illegitimate son. When four hardy men from the reverend’s Northampton, Massachusetts, community ask Edwards to sponsor a new congregation on the rugged Maine frontier, Edwards sees the opportunity to rid his house of his blackmailer and the child who is a living reminder of his hypocrisy.
Edwards has reason to believe that Parthalán has chosen to study the dark arts, but he does not suspect Parthalán’s plan to build Cape Agamenticus, Maine, into a prosperous oceanside town that Reverend Edwards, and all God-fearing people of the colonies, would consider an abomination.

The narrative alternates chapters between the present, as Matthew struggles with failing health and increasingly violent delusions and hallucinations, and the past, as Parthalán populates his town, and his church, with a community willing to sell their souls for hearty meals and comfortable homes—until a mysterious family arrives to foment rebellion from within. Past and present come together as Matthew learns, little by little, of his family’s ties to Cape Agamenticus and Kinnawe House—and why Parthalán will not rest until the house has driven Matthew to take his own life.

I feel like I should have known with a synopsis this long (probably longer than my review) that this would be a convoluted story.

Matthew is a struggling musician who can't seem to catch a break. His mother is mentally ill, his girlfriend has dumped him, and his insomnia is so bad that he sometimes can not tell hallucination from reality. As if that isn't enough to deal with he has scars all over that mysteriously rip open and bleed profusely under certain circumstances.
When he is offered a stay in a beautiful secluded home on the peaceful coast of Maine if he will consent to be the caretaker it seems like a too good to be true opportunity where he can rest and relax and write some new music.

What he doesn't know is the horrific evil that has been present since the house was built, is still there, and waiting for him.

Told on two timelines that switch between the present day of Matthew and the 1700s when the house and non existent town were built we slowly learn the reason that Matthew never knew his father and the reason his mother went insane. 

Because of the dual timelines there are a lot of characters to keep track of, some of whom were part of a devil worshiping cult, and others who hoped to thwart their leader's evil plans.

It was a bit confusing at times because some of the characters also changed names to Americanized versions, and several characters from the 1700s are still with us in the present day, some wanting to protect Matthew while others want to drive him to suicide.

I do enjoy a good historical fiction and when you combine it with horror I enjoy it all the more. I would have preferred not to have the name changes. There are some genuinely creepy and well written occurrences that happen to Matthew but their connection to the 1700s was at times confusing.

3.5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy.

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About the author

Steve Rigolosi lives in Manhattan and is the author of the Tales from the Back Page series of mystery novels. The third book in the series, Androgynous Murder House Party, was released in June 2009. The premise of this series: Have you ever wondered about the stories behind the advertisements in your local newspaper—-those ads for fetish parties, transvestite boutiques, discount psychotherapy, wicca conventions, Gothic/Punk events, and lonely-hearts seeking to re-establish contact with a ship that passed in the night? Each book in the TALES FROM THE BACK PAGE series looks closely at an advertisement placed on the “Bulletin Board” of The Clarion, a community newspaper published on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.