The Poor and The Haunted - Book Review

The Poor and the Haunted by Dustin Mckissen is a  story of the strange happenings and evil that follows the children of Ronnie Lansford a man who is believed to have committed suicide by stabbing himself in the brain by way of an eye socket. Jimmy and his sister Kelly were the unfortunate offspring of Ronnie and Diane Lansford. Their parents were a pathetic pair of habitual drug users, constantly unemployed and who often violently fought with each other.
Jimmy and Kelly grew up poor and endured constant abuse from their broken mother and tyrannical father. Jimmy is tough, however, goes to college and attempts to live a healthy productive life.
In each chapter, Mckissen spins his riveting tale carefully unwinding a narrative that exposes the backstory to the strange happenings. Jimmy Lansford feels the evil descending into his space, into his world, or at least he thinks he does. The Poor and the Haunted examines the widespread phenomenon of eerie hauntings through inquisitive eyes.
When Jimmy grows up, he tries to leave the horrors of his childhood behind him. His lovely sister Kelly also appeared to be cursed, and there was little he could do about it. He goes to college and gets married and settles down to raise a family.  But strange things continue to plague him, and he is sure or thinks he feels its presence again; can an evil entity attach itself to a living being?   Is Jimmy’s haunting something supernatural or merely a manifestation of insanity? He has felt it or seen it in a hotel room, felt it in a storage unit and more. It was there for him.
Jimmy replaces his loveless life with loved ones - his own family. He swears to himself that he will not be his father. Jimmy wants to have a loving family with children that do not fear their parents. His home in Arizona is hundreds of miles away from what he endured on the farm in Oklahoma, will the distance help?  Will the evil that follows him possess his family also?
The spectral map Mckissen creates radiates out from a farm in Oklahoma spawned by painful realities and unsettled issues from the past. Mckissen weaves in experiences that seem overwhelming, mystifying, and even terrifying which are the seeds that father the paranormal activities that haunt Mckissen’s characters in his tale of possession.
The Poor and the Haunted is a gripping read and shows how hope and perseverance can prevail when fighting pure evil. A story of people, facing real-life struggles against forces that inhabit us deep in our psyche.