What Stayed

Looking for a creepy ghost story to kick off spooky season? Aurelie Duncanson’s new novel, What Stayed, is exactly what the occasion calls for.

Elena grew up experiencing things she couldn’t explain. Strange encounters and moments that blurred the line between real and imagined. Her mother always seemed to know more than she let on, but as Elena got older, she pushed those memories aside and moved on with her life.

Years later, her mother vanishes.

Elena heads back to the apartment she grew up in, searching for any sign of what happened. Doors and windows are open, as if she just stepped out for an errand. Her mother’s things are all still there. The longer Elena lingers in that space, the harder the past is to keep at arm’s length.

What Stayed keeps you on edge from start to finish. Elena’s predicament is genuinely tense, and Duncanson ratchets up the dread with sharp prose. Something dark is watching. And it wants something from Elena. The question is what, and why.

Duncanson’s writing grips you with lines such as, “Then I would wake. The old lady would be standing in the doorway,” and “We stood in darkness. From somewhere down the hall came the soft sound of a woman humming.” It’s the kind of quiet, creeping dread that gets under your skin.

Half the fun here was trying to puzzle out what the entity was after, right alongside Elena, as she strings together broken memories and her mother’s cryptic warnings. This book is packed with details that feel genuinely fresh and unnerving. You’ll never look at a closet the same way again. Her mother’s clues come as notes on cards, scattered like breadcrumbs, and piecing them together felt like doing detective work alongside the character.

There’s a moment that still sticks with me: “Whatever had been standing in my doorway all those nights was not only watching me. It was waiting.” And another, from one of those cryptic cards: “If she comes back, do not let her open it.”

Solving the mystery of her mother’s disappearance means Elena has to face the very thing she’s spent years running from. Fans of supernatural suspense and paranormal thrillers, don’t skip this one.