BEYOND STONEBRIDGE

Set in 1959 Virginia and blending romance with psychological horror, the sequel to Griffin’s Stonebridge (2023) continues the storyline of Rynna Wyatt, haunted by the ghost of her dead husband.

With her abusive husband dead—after a tragic accident—Rynna and her unborn baby are finally free of Stonebridge Manor, a sprawling, spooky property that’s been in her family for generations and is the site of her husband’s death. With the help of her dead husband’s cousin (and love interest) Ted Demeray—confined to a wheelchair from debilitating arthritis—the two marry less than a month after her husband’s death and set up house in a neighborhood close to the university where Ted teaches geology. While still under a cloud of suspicion that the two were somehow complicit in her husband’s demise, Rynna and Ted begin a new life together. But when her baby is born, the duo find they can’t break free from the past so easily. The ghost of Rynna’s dead husband begins to beset the house with “minor annoyances”—flickering lights, sounds in the night, slamming doors, etc. As Rynna’s sanity begins to unravel, Ted attempts to help her. Together, they try to find a way to somehow communicate with, and remove, their ghostly visitor. The elegant Georgian manor makes an intriguing setting with its dark Gothic atmosphere, which blends decadence and decay: “Stonebridge was beginning to resemble the proverbial sinking ship.” Readers looking for a compelling work of supernatural fiction, however, will be disappointed by the subtleness of the paranormal subject matter. Most of the scary moments take place in Rynna’s dreams, which makes for a detached and decidedly low-intensity experience. The two main characters also come across as needy, dysfunctional, and emotionally unstable, constantly doubting the validity of their relationship.

Fans of romance and ghost stories will find the respective genre elements diluted.