The Suffering by Rin Chupeco 

Published: September 8th 2015

Over the last year I’ve gone against faceless women, disfigured spirits, and grotesque revenants. Some people keep dangerous hobbies; skydiving and driving at monster truck rallies and glacier surfing. Me? I cast my soul into the churning waters of potential damnation and wait for a bite.

It’s been two years since Tark Halloway’s nightmare ended. Free from the evil spirit that haunted him all his life, he now aids the ghostly Okiku and avenges the souls of innocent children by hunting down their murderers. But when Okiku becomes responsible for a death at his high school, Tark begins to wonder if they’re no better than the killers they seek out.

When an old friend disappears in Aokigahara, Japan’s infamous ‘suicide forest’, both must resolve their differences and return to that country of secrets to find her.

Because there is a strange village inside Aokigahara, a village people claim does not exist. A village where strange things lie waiting.

A village with old ghosts and an ancient evil – one that may be stronger than even Okiku…

OMG! The cover is exactly like the The Ring! Which, I learned was the publishers intention. So, I applaud them–they certainly nailed the creepy vibe they were aiming for.

I really enjoyed this book. It was genuinely scary, especially for a novel targeted at a YA audience. I loved the blending of myth, folklore and past and present. This book was utterly brilliant. That is not an easy statement to make about horror novels, and I firmly stand behind my bold words.

This story explores who both spirits and the living navigate through emotion. Pretty cool huh? Finally a story that actually depicts ghosts as beings with humanity instead of just vengeful ghouls.

Okiku is such a lonely and lost soul, as a reader it is impossible not to fall in love with her. Yes, even with the fact that she is a ghost with a possible dark side.

I loved the storyline of the history Tark and his friends had to unravel and solve in order to get out of their rather unfortunate situation alive. Taking Tark to Aokigahara in Japan for a journey that is definitely comparable to Frodo’s (Lord of the Rings…) A huge land of trees and forage in a mountain landscape where there is a sense of foreboding and melancholy existing at the same time.  The Suicide Forest. This is a popular spot for people to hang and kill themselves. A century ago, the forest thrived as a village. A village that just so happened to dabble in dark rituals. That my friends, is a pretty mystifying premise!