The Bell Chime

Title: The Bell Chime
Author: Mona Kabbani
First Published: September 2, 2020
Publisher: Self-Published
Pages: 148
Genre: Horror, Psychological
Format: Ebook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Rating:


Synopsis:

"Can you hear the bell chime?"

A girl suffering from paralyzing night terrors finds a missing poster hanging from the door of her apartment building. On that poster is a photograph of a frighteningly familiar face.

It's her.

Only, she's never seen this photo before and something about its grin scares her. How its eyes seem to follow her no matter where she finds herself in the room.

Over a series of strange events to follow—events that will make her question whether her sanity is still there or fleeting—she must discover:

What is real and what is the nightmare?

Buy the Book: Amazon

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Review

The Bell Chime had so much potential, but it was an unfortunate case of “less is more.” The first half of the story was honestly unnerving and felt like a fever dream. It even ended with a satisfying, scary conclusion before hitting an intermission. If it had been left at that, this would have been a favorite short story.

After the intermission, the story changes gears and gives more back story about the main character and the events that lead up to the first half of the novella. This is where the entire work fell apart for me. While the imagery throughout was beautifully written and the first few scenes were fascinating, the third act devolved into a boring love story that I didn’t find at all convincing. The characters were edgy and unlikeable, they were the type of characters I would have found deep when I was a tween.

Kabbani reveals in the afterword that The Bell Chime was originally a short story, which is what made up the first portion of the story. I wished I could have liked this, as I have suffered from many of the same conditions that the main character experiences. A swing and a miss for me.

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