Hello, everyone! Today I have the pleasure of participating in a TheWriteReads blog tour for The Haunting Scent of Poppies by Victoria Williamson. This book is available now from Silver Thistle Press, and you can add it on Goodreads by clicking on the banner above.

A spine-chilling winter ghost story set in the months after the Great War. Perfect for lovers of MR James and Susan Hill.

The War is over, but for petty criminal Charlie his darkest days are only just beginning.

Charlie Briggs is never off-duty, even when a botched job means he’s forced to lay low in a sleepy Hampshire town for the holiday season. Always searching for his next unwitting victim, or a shiny trinket he can pilfer, he can’t believe his luck when he happens upon a rare book so valuable it will set him up for life. All he needs to do is sit tight until Boxing Day. But there’s a desperate story that bleeds beyond the pages; something far more dangerous than London’s mobsters is lurking in the shadows.

Could the book be cursed? Why is he haunted by the horrors of war? Can he put things right before he’s suffocated by his own greed?

***Thank you to TheWriteReads and the publisher for providing a copy of the book. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.***

I was immediately sucked in by the writing in The Haunting Scent of Poppies. It was beautiful and set the ambiance of the story perfectly. I never thought I’d love a ghastly ghost story set at Christmas, but it really worked. The book was short with a steady pace, and I devoured it in one sitting. There were some times that the plot felt a bit repetitive because the same hallucinations kept happening to the main character over and over. However, the author managed to always make things seem like they were moving forward despite the repetition of certain images/situations.

The characterization in The Haunting Scent of Poppies was quite good, as well. Almost immediately, I detested Charlie. He was greedy and self-absorbed, and all he ever did was take advantage of other people. The more I learned about him, the less I liked him. After he stole the book, he slowly began to realize that his greed results in consequences. He did exhibit some growth, and I began to feel sorry for him as the horrors of his haunting unfolded with some pretty gruesome ramifications. However, I’m not sure that he truly took the lesson to heart because even his drive to correct his wrongs seemed mostly motivated by self-preservation.

The events in The Haunting Scent of Poppies were vividly described. The horrors of war were illustrated in grim detail through Charlie’s hallucinations/flashbacks. The scenes from the trenches were tense, and the haunting sequences were thrilling and and had me on the edge of my seat waiting to find out Charlie’s fate. I do wish, however, that we’d gotten to see a bit more period-specific content. The historical aspects, other than information about the war, didn’t really do much to identify the time period of the setting. Nothing was out of place, though. I just didn’t get as good of a sense of the period as I’d have liked.

Overall, The Haunting Scent of Poppies was a short, but impactful, look at the horrors of war and the destructive influence of greed. It’s definitely not a happy holiday read, but if you’re looking for something tragic and spooky set at Christmas, this story is definitely worth a try. Therefore, I rate it 4 out of 5 stars.