The chill intensified, and Archer opened his eyes to see the candles extinguish one by one …
PSI – Paranormal Surveyance Ireland – are in deep water. When the operators of a luxury cruise ship ask for their help with a series of unexplainable events, Raven and the team are hopeful that this case, for once, won’t endanger their lives.
As they try to blend in with the wealthy passengers, it quickly becomes clear to Davis, Fionn and the others that there is more lurking in the shadows than they've realised. With the eerie encounters escalating and rising tensions threatening to tear the team apart, time is running out for PSI. Can they save the ship – and themselves – before it’s too late?
About the Author :
Amy is a writer from Dublin, Ireland. Her non-fiction writing is often on the theme of chronic illness and identity, and has been featured in Sonder Literary Magazine, Rogue, and Dear Damsels. What Walks These Halls was her debut novel. It was shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards Teen & Young Adult Book of the Year 2023 and nominated for the Yoto Carnegies 2023. Her second novel, Who Watches This Place, was published in 2024.
She can generally be found by the sea, drinking coffee, talking about her dog or asking people what their favourite ghost story is.
Review :
PSI are back and they're making a brave splash in the third installment! Clarkin's ghost hunters are as charming as ever, and the spooky stakes have never been so high – both professionally and interpersonally. The cruise isn't the only ship in danger of sinking...
highly original and deliciously chilling
Clarkin has a knack of both terrifying her readers and creating a beautiful sense of belonging, weaving together themes of friendship and found family, with continued important representation of queer and disabled characters, alongside spine-chilling moments. Readers will be gripped.
Amy Clarkin's paranormal investigators return for their third ghostly adventure, Where the Shadows Hide which sees the team aboard a luxury cruise ship … Without resorting to caricature, Clarkin deftly notes power imbalances and points to the ways, minor and major, in which workers are often exploited or dehumanised. Also striking is the depiction of chronic illness, with Eabha still recovering from the physically wearying events of the previous book … Writing about ongoing health difficulties - and Clarkin explicitly links these symptoms to ME, which she has explored in her non-fiction work - can present a challenge plot-wise. As readers, we are used to resolution at the end of a text a tragic death, a successful recovery. In a supernatural setting, there's the temptation of a magic cure of some kind, but that can feel disheartening or frustrating if one is concerned with representing particular experiences in an authentic fashion. Here, then, the conflict is not quite Eabha versus chronic illness, but Eabha versus other people's responses to the condition. Boyfriend Archer means well with his overprotective stance and seemingly helpful suggestions (vitamins and yoga inevitably pop up), but ultimately makes "her feel like he thought she wasn't trying hard enough to get better". Her journey is not to overcome or positive-think her way out of illness, but to "learn how to exist within the parameters she had now", which involves hope and grief. This thoughtful representation is moving and empowering.
Amy Clarkin has created something quite special with her PSI (Paranormal Surveyance Ireland) series, mixing ghost-hunting plots with strong, believable characters. In this latest instalment, the five paranormal investigators are invited on board a luxury cruise ship that is experiencing ghostly happenings. They try to blend in with the rich passengers and work out who or what is haunting the ship, while also dealing with their own friendship and relationship problems. The perfect Halloween read!
As a creepy setting this is unusual but as chilling and cinematic as they come … If the paranormal elements of Dublin author Amy Clarkin's third PSI novel are multilayered, they have nothing on the complex, ever-fluctuating relationships between its diverse cast of characters. A ghost story with plenty of bite, its paranormal plotline is sufficiently strong to prevent it being submerged under the weight of emotions, including trust and betrayal, examined via its young adult protagonists. Eabha's fatigue may be due to a previous encounter with a homicidal ghost, but it allows for a deep dive into attitudes to chronic illness, while the characters' diverse range of sexuality and asexuality explored here will allow many young readers to feel truly "seen"
a tale that will keep readers turning every page until the chilling end. Clarkin’s excellent character building, and her unrivalled plot crafting builds on the solid base of the previous books in the series. Clarkin continues to create the same eerie atmosphere and exciting string of events that keep readers entertained. The growing sense of unease as the story unravels, paired with the team being stuck far from home, adds to the ever-growing dread that this story contains. As it builds and builds to a dramatic conclusion readers will be on the edge of their seats. Clarkin weaves themes of friendship and found family into a plot filled with spine-chilling ghosts, moments of familial warmth, and continued important character representation. She continues to represent queer and disabled characters in a realistic way so that readers who might not see themselves often in books can see their experiences reflected in these stories. Clarkin has a knack of both terrifying her readers and creating a beautiful sense of belonging at the same time. A story about friendship, sticking together in the face of adversity, community, and an excellent scary read
