Book Review | The Haunting Scent of Poppies

I’m loving a novella at this time of year to try and reach my reading goal.

The Haunting Scent of Poppies
Victoria Williamson

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?

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I’m usually not one for a horror book, especially with a historical setting, there are a few exceptions, and after reading another of her books earlier in the year, I decided this author is one of them.

The Haunting Scent of Poppies is a short book that packs a punch, honestly, I’ll be thinking about this book for a while, it is an eerie and chilling story. I didn’t think that having a ghost story set at Christmas would be all that effective but actually, it is the perfect setting for such a story, the cold winter atmosphere and people generally being more good-natured works so well to set against what is happening to Charlie.

Charlie is an interesting character. He is a bit of a scoundrel, but I still felt bad for him when things started to go wrong for him, even though I also knew I shouldn’t. I liked that everything that happens is a result of his poor choices and that he is being forced to deal with the consequences in quite a terrifying way.

I also liked the way the memories of the War were weaved into Charlie’s reality. As it slowly gets worse and worse, it changes his mindset a little, though not enough to change his outcome.

Whilst it was a little gruesome for me at points, although perhaps not to a seasoned horror reader, I enjoyed the atmosphere that the author created in this story and I was captivated from start to finish.