Title: Ultrasound Shadow
Author: Thana Niveau
Publisher: BOTH Press
Genre: Horror, Fantasy – urban, supernatural
Book format: Digital
Sweet Strawberries: 
Description: After checking the test twice, there’s no doubt about it; Molly Landor is pregnant.
She’d always imagined having kids – someday – but she’d hoped it would be her choice. Planned. Not… an accident. Somehow she just knows – she has to keep it.
As the pregnancy progresses Molly’s behaviour grows increasingly erratic – she pushes her friends away, isolates herself and refuses to see a doctor. Eventually, even Molly begins to fear there is something unnatural growing within her.
*Free copy provided by publisher for review…
Review: This is a great, quick and creepy read! When Molly Landor does a pregnancy test, there is no doubt that the result is positive. Unsure if she’s ready to be a parent, especially as she isn’t the settling down type, Molly meets her friend Alice to ask her advice. But over the next few weeks and months Molly’s bond with her baby grows, while her relationship with Alice and her co-workers changes for the worse. Soon Molly finds herself periodically in horrific pain, could there be something wrong with her baby, or is she just imagining it?
I enjoyed reading this from the start and it was easy to get into right away. Given the image on the front cover and the blurb, you can kind of guess where this story is going, but it evolves in a way that I didn’t expect. As Molly’s pregnancy progresses, it’s obvious that there’s something wrong with her baby, she experiences terrible moments of pain and the further her pregnancy goes, the more erratic her life becomes. I don’t want to spoil the story by revealing too much as is a shorter read, at just over 100 for the whole book, but it is a good story and with an ending that was more shocking and dramatic than I expected!
The ending is satisfying and I liked how shocking the last part was and the brilliant twist at the end! The story fits in perfectly as a milder horror story with a supernatural twist and it’s made me keen to read more of the author’s work in future. There are just a few uses of the f swear word and a brief mention of something do to with sex but nothing at all graphic. The story doesn’t have anything too scary, apart from the immense pain that Molly is described as having at some point, and there is a shocking moment right near the end. I have to admit, I wasn’t too surprised by the ending of this story, but it’s the twist in the final lines that I just loved so much!
This book, being a book especially created for dyslexic readers means that it is much shorter than most books at just over 100 pages, making it also easy for any adult reluctant readers out there (which used to be me!). It’s also got some features that make it easier to read the text, even on the digital pre-publication copy I have, which makes it much easier for anyone with dyslexia or visual problems to read.
Although the story is a quick and a bit of a predictable one, it’s still a very good supernatural horror tale and with a great ending and final twist which I just loved! And being a quick read I’m sure many, both dyslexics and not, will enjoy this book for Halloween as well as any time of year when you want to read a bit of a spooky story!
What do you think of this book? Do you like supernatural horror stories? Let me know what you think in the comments below 🙂
The Strawberry Post 