Osgood As Gone by Cooper S. Beckett Book Review

This is book one of a new series about a podcasting ghosthunter.

Osgood As Gone by Cooper S. Beckett

Released April 2019

Dark Fiction  |  Goodreads  |  Amazon 

Source:  Received for Review Consideration

Once an exciting up-and-coming star of the burgeoning paranormal investigation TV genre, now Prudence Osgood finds herself as a barely functioning alcoholic living in daily pain, both physical, from a car accident nearly twenty years ago, and emotional, from the loss of Audrey Frost, her partner and best friend, over an ill-advised hoax. When a random and cryptic email shows up in her inbox, she must begin an investigation that is far more sinister than it initially seems, and far more connected to the last two decades of her own life than she could ever imagine.​

Osgood As Gone cuts a trail from a lonely rest stop papered in missing posters, to a notebook full of symbols and sigils, to a band that could outsell The Beatles that vanished almost overnight. Can our intrepid hero Osgood follow the breadcrumbs, avoid texts from her one-night-stand Nora, make amends for the past, and still have a future? Find out in Osgood As Gone. 

My 2 Cents For Free!

Prudence Osgood once had a successful ghost hunting show but one terrible decision destroys her reputation and costs her the love of her childhood best friend. She hasn’t dealt with the fallout well at all and now heads a paranormal investigation podcast when she’s not too broken and too drunk to do so. She’s basically a hot mess who suffers from horrifying nightmares, chronic pain and chronic heartache and washes it all away with booze and sex with anonymous ladies she picks up while blackout drunk. After her latest binge, she receives a mysterious email that sets a fire under her butt to solve a long lost mystery and brings her back into contact with her old friend Aubrey which brings emotions bubbling back to the surface.

Osgood As Gone is a good read for those who enjoy a very flawed, very human main protagonist and for those looking for more of a strange occult mystery with some shades of horror. The majority of the story reads like an eerie mystery with clues strewn about here and there and connections that I never made because I am terrible at mysteries. The final few chapters morph into more of a surreal and bleak horror story and I loved that! Truth be told, I would’ve liked more of that but that comes down to my personal preferences.

The relationship between Pru and Aubrey is complicated and beautifully done. There’s pain and betrayal and loyalty and love and I felt it was all very well done. There’s also plenty of sarcasm and witty banter which I always enjoy. These characters felt like they knew each other inside and out. I would’ve liked to learn a bit more about Zack because I am nosy but I imagine that’ll happen in future installments of this series. I can’t wait to check out book #2 to see where it leads because it does end on a bit of a cliffhanger.

4 out of 5