Joseph can’t live with the fact that he’s responsible for his daughter’s death. He checks into The Gate as his final destination, but after the disappearance of a guest, everything begins to unravel. Days go missing, people are acting strange, and nothing is what it should be. At every turn, he's reminded of this most painful mistake.
Joseph disappears down a rabbit hole of mysterious events, all the while keeping up the battle against his own inner demons. Now he is trapped inside a haunted hotel trying to find a guest that may not even exist.
My Thoughts:
Many thanks to the author for an eARC for review.
"At the Gate" is my first book by Trey and I can't recommend it enough. First of all, I must mention a few trigger warnings, the story deals with self-harm & suicide so keep that in mind.
We meet Joseph Podwall he's a travel writer but he's a broken man due to the death of his daughter a few years ago. He checks in at The Gate an old, weird-looking hotel. The strange vibe to start with is the receptionist called Bryan, a weird lanky looking boy, his room is on the seventh floor and the lift is broken. He starts to go up the stairs but the floor design starts to look strange, that's when it starts to get really creepy, room numbers do not add up, btw if the lift is broken then why does he hear the motors running on every floor he passes?
What I liked about the story was the different characters, we meet two police officers, are they really? which are always day and night sitting at the bar drinking!!. Time passes differently at the hotel, how long has Joseph been since he checked in? hours, days or maybe weeks? You have to read it to find out.
I was a bit unsure about the ending, it left me wanting more, however, I still recommend it.
About the author
Trey Stone grew up the youngest of three siblings, proving to his parents and all of their extended family that the third time is in fact the charm – that was until they decided to try yet again and have Trey’s younger brother, after which both parents decided to divorce each other because they couldn’t live with the shame of what they’d done (creating something so incredibly mediocre after something so very nearly perfect).
Trey grew up in rural Norway and always was fascinated with stories, choosing more often than not to sit still and read and write about adventures than to run around outside having them in person.
It does perhaps not come as a shock that Trey decided to get into archaeology which is nothing if not storytelling, -building, -making, -sharing, and -investigating, and spends his time working as a slightly shorter (but much prettier) Harrison Ford-wannabe.
In 2015, when he decided to take his love of writing seriously, he wrote The Consequence of Loyalty, a psychological thriller and his first book which was published in 2017.
He likes reading, playing the guitar, lifting weights, going for hikes, playing video games, and spending time with his gorgeous wife. He loves to travel if it wasn't for the fact that it's such a pain in the ass to do. Oh, and hates talking about himself in the the third person.
@TreyStoneAuthor
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