Old Blood by Karina Halle Series: Experiment in Terror #5.5
Published by Metal Blonde Books on June 23rd 2012
Pages: 111
Goodreads
A haunting novella from the Experiment in Terror Series...
From her harrowing introduction in Darkhouse, the spectre known as “Creepy Clown Lady” has been a constant fixture in Perry Palomino’s life. But beyond the horrid makeup and piercing stare lies Pippa, a woman just like everyone else.
Well, not quite.
When Perry discovered Pippa’s message to her and Dex on the EVP recordings, she thought she heard the last of the old woman’s message. She was wrong. In the novella Old Blood, Pippa relays the tale of her troubled and tortured past, revealing how an aspiring actress and loving mother fell into madness and how an unfathomable betrayal led to her untimely death.
For Perry, the repercussions of her message are life-shattering.
Old Blood is a novella from the POV of Pippa (or the Crazy Clown Lady) who in the last book On Demon Wings we found out was once Dex’s nanny.
**SPOILER ALERT – HIGHLIGHT TO VIEW**
Pippa is also Perry’s grandmother – who was thrown into an asylum by her mother and father and eventually died there – alone and forgotten.
**END OF SPOILER**
Pippa’s tale is a sad one. She too shared Perry and Dex’s ability to see ghosts and this ‘curse’ is what eventually led to her being committed. It begins with Pippa as a small child becoming aware that she can ‘see’ things no one else can. Years later, after running away to Stockholm to become an actress, she ends becoming involved with a handsome but selfish young actor called Ludwig.
This relationship will culminate in the birth of a daughter but will eventually become her undoing. Pippa too is visited by strange apparitions [including the spirit of a ginger-haired teenage boy calling himself Jakob – could this in fact be Maximus Jacobs or am I clutching at straws here – I just feel there is much more to that ginger douchecanoe than meets the eye??.
In Old Blood we see Dex as a young child and this insight into what his young life was like was both fascinating and troubling. His family…is disturbing…to say the least and Pippa is the only stability this young boy has.
Not necessarily essential reading (you could skip it and not miss out on too much) but it definitely enriches the backstory behind the series and I would recommend fans of the series to pick this up.
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