#PBwkendread Review: The Hanging Tree by Michael Phillip Cash

Title: The Hanging Tree
Author: Michael Phillip Cash
Publisher: Red Feather Productions
Published: Oct. 6, 2013
Pages: 90
Genre: Ghost Story
Review: Paperback sent by publisher
Buy Links: Amazon, Amazon.uk 

Enter a world where spirits roam the earth in Michael Phillip Cash's haunting new novella, The Hanging Tree. Set amid the eerie backdrop of Long Island, an area famously steeped in old legend, two young would-be lovers contemplate their future while visits from those who have come before them reveal the lure of fate...and the power of free will. At seventeen years old, Arielle's relationship with her parents is slowly deteriorating. Angry and defiant, she is at a loss on how to cope with the tumultuous situation in which she finds herself. Arielle's only comfort is Chad, an eighteen-year-old young man who seems to truly understand her struggles. Arielle and Chad meet beneath the low-hanging branches of what the local community has nick-named the "Hanging Tree". An ancient and majestic landmark, it has long been rumored that the tree is haunted by ghosts. These ghosts span various centuries and vary wildly in age, but each one of them has one thing in common: their deaths are all somehow connected to the tree itself. As Arielle and Chad commiserate over their current situation and their precarious nature of their future, the spectral inhabitants of the Hanging Tree witness their conversation. One by one,the ghosts begin reminiscing about their own lives-and deaths- as they examine the inner demons with which their human forms long struggled. An eerie meditation on the oft-overlooked power of choice, Cash's The Hanging Tree will stay with readers long after they turn out the light.

I received this book to give an honest review.

This was a good ghost story I really enjoyed how we got a bit of back story from the ghosts that were within the tree. Arielle is seventeen and has issues at home so one night when she is with her boyfriend at "The Hanging Tree" this is where things go crazy. Now the ghost don't terrorize the kids or anything like that but they start telling their story on how they ended up at this tree. It seems everything is connected in some way and it will all end with Arielle. To me this wasn't scary at all I think the teens will enjoy this story more. Even though it was a short story I felt it was well written and the characters were well developed.

#PBwekendread 

Born and raised on Long Island, Michael has always had a fascination with horror writing and found footage films. He wanted to incorporate both with his debut novel, Brood X. Earning a degree in English and an MBA, he has worked various jobs before settling into being a full-time author. He currently resides on Long Island with his wife and children.