Review: Man of Mystery
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 1, 2012
Who is Crate Northgate? That is the question I've seen floating around the internet lately, part of the promotion for Bryan Hall's new novelette, The Vagrant (Southern Hauntings Saga) . It is the first in The Southern Haunting Saga that introduces Creighton Northgate, a man who is running from a haunted past...literally, because Crate Northgate has an unusual gift; he can see ghosts. Now some of you might think this would be an amazing gift to see, but see enough ghosts and enough of the wrong kind of ghosts, and you might be driven to drink.This is one way Crate has found to drive the spirits away, at least for a little while, though mainly he does it to escape one ghost in particular. He also stays on the move, helping others with their ghost problems. In The Vagrant, Crate is on his way to help someone, a paying client, when he stops at a convenience store to buy beer. On his way in he sees an unusual pair, a bum whose clothes are barely held together and a man that is well dressed. They make an odd impression on Crate who makes a comment about them to the store clerk. That's when he finds out that the bum is a local who claims to see dead people and that she doesn't see anyone but the vagrant.Sensing that the ghost holds animosity towards the man, he decides to help him. Crate thinks there is something in the stranger that reminds him of himself. What he discovers along the way is that some hauntings are brought on by the actions of the living and a lesson that some things are left better off alone.This is a quick read, I read it in under an hour, but very well written. The reader is given just enough information about Crate's past, his brother's death, his attempt to escape his ghosts, to make you want more and there will be more. The first novella in the saga, The Girl, will be released in August 2012. I for one cannot wait.  Who is Crate Northgate? A man of secrets and I look forward to learning them all.