When obituary writer Dmitri Petrov lands a gig covering the reportedly haunted Aspinwall Mansion, he finds himself in the middle of a family mystery with maybe a few too many coincidences.

I went into Poe with limited expectations, having read mixed reviews of what some term a novel rife with “sophomoric humor.” Poe feels like a young adult novel in terms of voice, though not with regard to content. The blurb talks about gruesome murders, of which there are a couple scenes that yes, are a little disturbing. Is it horror? I wouldn’t say so, but the other book I’m reading right now is Joe Hill’s NOS4A2, which is. Poe is horror lite at best, sarcastic and more of a supernatural/paranormal novel than anything else.

This is a fun read that doesn’t take itself too seriously. There’s a pretty big cast (lots of minor characters to keep track of), of which Nachiel tripped me up the most (not only because I’m not a fan of any name that close to “nacho” but because I didn’t know where he came from). I think by that point I was in the midst of a serious case of “character soup.” The book goes back and forth through time (dream/wake/now/then), but the storyline flows with only minor hiccups.

Would I recommend it? Sure. Just don’t expect something it’s not (dark horror) and if you’ve read it and enjoyed it, Poe reminds me a lot of Matt Schiariti’s Ghosts of Demons Past. Another book full of sarcastic wit with an antihero lead character, Ghosts touches on a lot of the same themes. ( )

All in all, I have to say I enjoyed this book and all its tangled threads. But, still, there's something about it that just didn't appeal to me in the end. I think this is definitely a case of YMMV.

(Provided by publisher) ( )

Ok. I enjoyed this book! It just wasn't my favorite.
The main reason why this isn’t a 4 or 5 star book: I feel the ending was rushed and answers weren't given which makes me feel as if this was going to have a sequel. If I had known it would be a sequel; I probably wouldn’t have started to read this, as it is hard for me to commit to any sort of a series.
I enjoyed Dimitri has a character, he was awesome, although a bit immature and adolescent, I thought he was adorable. Honestly, I wasn't too fond of Lisa, in fact- she annoyed me a bit and wouldn't have minded if she got killed off.
Other then that, I enjoyed the book. It was an interesting concept and I liked the use of demonology, although it didn’t go too deep into the history which I may have enjoyed a bit more if a little research was done on the back history of this specific demon.
( )

This was a book that had it all ghosts,haunting and a good murder mystery. This was the authors first book and could be confusing in spots. The title is a little misleading since this book has nothing to do with Edgar Allan Poe. I think it could have used some fine tuning, but I'm sure as this author writes more she will improve.
***I received this book in exchange for an honest review**** ( )

Dmitri wants to be a real writer but, so far, all he’s done is write obituaries for a local rag. When he’s given the assignment to cover a séance in an abandoned and supposedly haunted house, he jumps at the chance. However, things don’t go quite as planned and Dmitri ends up dead. Fortunately, he wakes up in the morgue several hours later and before he is embalmed. Unfortunately, things just keep getting weirder for him. He is haunted by an entity he calls Poe, he is being stalked by a serial killer who may really be a demon, he may be related to Rasputin, and he is falling in love with a strange girl he met at the séance. As the bodies begin to pile up, Dmitri must solve the mystery if he is to save not only himself but his new girlfriend and maybe the human race.

Poe was a fun horror tale. It wasn’t perfect. It was at times very convoluted and the story didn’t always run smoothly. However, the sense of humour that runs through the tale goes along way in mitigating these sins. Not to say there weren’t plenty of scary and/or creepy bits and lots of twists and turns but I can’t say that Poe gave me chills or kept me up at night reading. It did, however, keep my interest throughout and it made me laugh out loud more than once and that was plenty good enough for me. ( )