Sci-Fi & Scary

The Seance in Apartment 10 begins with a forthright, if bland, title and it sets the tone for the rest of the book. The story is told from the viewpoint of Tori, a young college student, who has decided that anywhere is better than living in the dorms over the summer. So she ends up in a crappy, run-down and mostly abandoned place that most people wouldn’t do more than side-eye. Needless to say, it’s creepy and it’s not long after she moves in that creepy stuff begins to happen.

I’ve read Ambrose Ibsen before, and know that he’s capable of better work than this. The Seance in Apartment 10 is, as the tagline suggests, a ghost story. (And a little bit more.) Its easy to read but if it were a meal for the mind, I’d call it a cheap diet perpetually-on-sale microwave dinner. Technically nutritious, but completely unsatisfying. The only bit of pleasant seasoning comes when there is finally the first true confrontation with the entity.

Unfortunately, it’s a dash where a cupful is needed in The Seance in Apartment 10. (Er, I have no idea why I’m stuck on food, sorry.) And because there was nothing to drag me into the story, it felt more like checking items off on a plot list rather than reading a novel. “Okay, we’ve had R, S, and T. Now we have to have a minor confrontation for U, a supposed escape at V…” etc. Even the ending, which should have been a slightly uneasy note to send the story on was a “And one last bit o’ spook to wrap it up, and we’re done! That’s a wrap, folks!”

Definitely not one of Ibsen’s better works. Technically competent, but completely lacking in personality, The Seance at Apartment 10 is a story that fades from your mind almost as soon as the words are read.