{"id":7124,"date":"2026-08-25T11:21:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T11:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=7124"},"modified":"2026-08-25T11:21:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T11:21:00","slug":"the-ghost-hunters-oath-by-john-d-lawton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=7124","title":{"rendered":"The Ghost Hunter\u2019s Oath by John D. Lawton"},"content":{"rendered":"

A mysterious dagger unlocks a world of ghosts and secret societies for a grieving young woman in this gripping paranormal fantasy.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Grief weighs heavy on Gabbie Kress, but that doesn\u2019t stop the world from carrying on.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been almost a year since Gabbie\u2019s mother was hit by a car. A year of Gabbie just getting by\u2014avoiding things she needs to do and burying herself in archival work, a passion she shared with her mother.<\/p>\n

With her mother gone, the apartment she was raised in\u2014provided by the museum her mother worked at\u2014has sent its final notice to vacate. Sure, Gabbie works there too, but these apartments are for senior staff, something Gabbie is not. She has just quit her degree program in the wake of her mother\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

While packing up her apartment, something in the air vent catches her eye. Upon retrieval, she discovers an ancient stone dagger covered in Sumerian symbols and a collection of her mother\u2019s journals. This discovery is strange, but it\u2019s even stranger that mere days before, Gabbie noticed graffiti written in Sumerian in the subway. What is this ancient language doing in the subways and on something her mother clearly was trying to hide?<\/p>\n

As Gabbie considers the dagger, she attempts to translate the symbols as best she can, but as soon as she recites the translation, something shifts. There\u2019s an odd flash of light and a rush of energy.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018What did you get yourself into, Mom?\u2019 she muttered. \u201cThe words hung there. The dagger didn\u2019t answer, but its weight seemed to shift slightly, as if reacting to the sound of her voice.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Elias and James are ghost hunters, members of the Keepers of the Veil, a secret group that has taken an oath to protect life from the veil between living and dead. While following the purple flame of their ghost-tracking lantern, they come across a specter, an entity summoned by a ghost to do its evil biddings, in the subway. And the specter is pursuing a young woman: Gabbie. After fighting the specter, the men have questions: how does this woman have a Keeper\u2019s dagger? And how can she see ghosts, a skill that hunters must train to obtain?<\/p>\n

In just a few days, the world as Gabbie knew it crumbles around her. She\u2019s thrown into the middle of a supernatural war, waged between the Keepers and the Order of the Rift, a society in the ghost realm. Both groups are dedicated to the veil, but in different and opposing capacities.<\/p>\n

The Keepers believe that the veil could tear the universe apart if ghosts keep coming through. They are driven to eradicate all ghosts who are caught in between the veil and true death. The Order believes that with the right tool, they can wield the necessary power to free all the trapped ghosts.<\/p>\n

Hunter Elias takes Gabbie under his wing, answering her questions, explaining this new world to her, and protecting her from the Order of the Rift, who are desperate to take her mother\u2019s blade from her.<\/p>\n

But Elias and the other Keepers aren\u2019t the only ones looking after Gabbie, because after a close encounter, Gabbie has accidentally tethered the ghost of an ancient knight to herself with her blade. And with Kaelthorn in her head and the Keepers in her orbit, Gabbie doesn\u2019t know who to believe about the veil.<\/p>\n

The Ghost Hunter\u2019s Oath<\/em> is an adventurous, emotionally charged story of supernatural secrets and found family. It\u2019s a testament to the gray area of life\u2014the way the world is not simply black or white, good or evil. It\u2019s a story packed with action, balanced with a large cast of characters who are real and raw in their growth.<\/p>\n

The worldbuilding of The Ghost Hunter\u2019s Oath<\/em> is unlike anything you\u2019ve read before. Not only are there ghosts, specters, Keepers, and the veil, but there are also clear explanations of their history and their science that toes that line of supernatural. The world is captivating and fed to the reader effortlessly despite the complexity of multiple dimensions and entities, like specters built on the left-behind hatred of those who have passed on completely.<\/p>\n

The Ghost Hunter\u2019s Oath<\/em> will lure you in with occult mystery and keep you close with the emotionality of its characters. This book is heavily populated, and yet each character stands on their own\u2014fighting their inner battles alongside their outer battles and navigating relationships. Gabbie in particular has an empowering story, as she copes with a preexisting anxiety on top of the anxiety induced by her new life. It\u2019s touching to see Gabbie find family in the world of the Keepers with the loss of her mother still so near to her.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d recommend The Ghost Hunter\u2019s Oath<\/em> to readers who love ghost hunting, secret societies, and ancient mysteries mixed with character growth, deep bonds, and prose that grabs you.<\/p>\n

The post The Ghost Hunter\u2019s Oath by John D. Lawton<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A mysterious dagger unlocks a world of ghosts and secret societies for a grieving young woman in this gripping paranormal fantasy. Grief weighs heavy on Gabbie Kress, but that doesn\u2019t stop the world from carrying on. It\u2019s been almost a year since Gabbie\u2019s mother was hit by a car. A year of Gabbie just getting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7124"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}