Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
‘Gaslit’ by R.R. Haywood follows disgraced former cop Mike Humber, as he takes up a security guard job in a small town, protecting a sprawling mansion belonging to the wealthy Huntington family. The property is under legal dispute, and Mike’s job is to keep everybody out, including the Huntingtons.
Divorced, disgraced, and barely hanging on, Mike takes the Huntington job as a last shot at getting his life together. But when your workplace comes with unlimited fancy booze, sobriety doesn’t stand much of a chance. Soon, the house starts acting strange, and Mike can’t tell if it’s the alcohol, a ghost, or someone trying to scare him off. Or maybe he is just being ‘Gaslit’ to question his sense of reality.
The first half of ‘Gaslit’ is easy to read and engaging, with lights going crazy in the house, creepy music playing by itself, and Mike’s clothes arranging themselves, giving readers plenty of reason to believe there’s either a ghost in the house or someone stalking and terrorizing him. What makes this stretch especially funny is that it’s pretty clear someone is messing with the former cop, but he’s too drunk out of his mind most of the time to even care what’s happening.
Things get more interesting when Mike meets a beautiful young woman named Tess while grabbing coffee at a local joint. To his surprise, Tess is openly friendly, flirty, unlike the cold reception he gets from the rest of the town, including an especially aggressive groundskeeper named Cooper. As it turns out, Tess is a journalist, new to town, and keen on digging up dirt on the Huntingtons. However, as a reader, she never quite feels like a reliable character and for good reason.
Where ‘Gaslit’ begins to lose its grip is with a somewhat forced romantic angle involving Mike and a local woman, along with his lingering interest in Tess. Sure, he’s an ex-cop in a small town with limited options, but two women being interested in an alcoholic ex-cop with no evident charm feels a bit pushed. Especially when Mike keeps insisting how terrible he looks, you’re almost forced to assume he’s probably very handsome (and just doesn’t realize it) with low self-esteem, because otherwise, he really has nothing going for him.
In fact, Mike often comes across as an idiot, bumbling around the old house, rather than the seasoned cop he’s supposed to be. Although when he starts investigating all the weird activity going on in the mansion, he starts to find credible clues that indicate someone is trying to sabotage his job and drive him away. A possible angle about dubious activities going on the in the Huntington house becomes a primary plot of intrigue in the novel. And of course, Mike sets out to solve everything with some help from those around him.
In the end, the reader might feel a little “gaslit” by the unexpected turn the story takes, even if most of the twists are fairly predictable.
Overall, the novel’s easy readability makes it a decent one-time read.
Rating: 3 on 5. Gaslit is also on Kindle Unlimited.
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