Review: The Edge of the Cemetery by Margaret Millmore

Published: May 2016

Synopsis: “When San Francisco and the surrounding area are suddenly plagued by rogue groups of ghosts and demons, who appeared to have a leader of sorts, a 17th century musketeer demon, the Watchers know it isn't random, nor was it the usual form in which ghosts and demons prefer to haunt. These monsters were also possessing their victims and forcing them to hurt others, and once the ghost killers arrived, the demons directed their human weapons on them. The question was, who was this musketeer demon and why was he directing these attacks?

As George, Billy, Phil and the Watchers investigate, they discover the 17th century demon is teamed up with a teenage boy, who they come to realize is a powerful ghost killer himself and more importantly, they believe he is being controlled by the demon and is now using its energy to kill people at will. Their search for the teenager and his demon lead them to the discovery of an enemy from their past and a mysterious prophecy. As they decipher the true meaning of the prophecy, they uncover a plot for murderous revenge involving a secret vault containing numerous malevolent souls and a plan to return those wicked dead to human form as directed by Satan himself. Unfortunately, they also discover the true purpose of the demon musketeer's involvement, which is to become one with the powerful teenage ghost killer, creating a monster that cannot be defeated. With the clock ticking against them, they must find the vault and destroy it before it can be opened and kill the demon and his teenage host.”

Rating: ***

I received a free copy of Edge of the Cemetery in exchange for an honest review.

My initial concern was that this wouldn't be as good as its predecessor; What Haunts Me, and unfortunately this was the case. I found the plot of Edge of the Cemetery jumpier and didn't seem to flow as well. It was nice t re-meet all of the familiar characters and there were handy summaries of What Haunts Me dotted throughout.

The prologue served as a succinct reminder of what had happened in the previous book, or equally as a good introduction to the backstory if you hadn't read What Haunts Me. There were brief snippets of information dotted throughout the book which referred to the previous book meaning this could be read as a standalone novel, as the plot still made sense without the reader's prior knowledge.

I didn't think there was as much character development as in the previous book, which is probably because the characters have already been introduced and been developed. I was pleasantly surprised that throughout, George retained his humanity and remained such a likeable character.

As with What Haunts Me, this was incredibly well written and showed Margaret Millmore's mastery of language and writing. I will definitely be reading more of her work in the future.