This was a story that was truly written for the "Ghost Story Junkie" if ever there was one! I love stories that have even a small grain of truth attached to them. The Island of Eilean Mor is in the Flannan Isles of Scotland. The island is notorious for its legends, one of which involves three lighthouse keepers who disappeared at the same time a century before, never to be heard from again. Nick is part of a metrological research team that decides to embark on a journey with his love interest, Rebecca. Once on the island, the team discovers something strange on the radar, a huge dark mass on the ocean floor, one that frightens away all sea life. Oh, but this oddity is just the beginning. Rebecca spots something moving in the snow, something that inexplicably draws her to an old, dilapidated chapel on the island. Inside, she discovers a journal belonging to Captain Dalemore, the occasional lighthouse keeper sent to the island a century ago to solve the mystery of his missing colleagues. Rebecca is in awe of the journal, but not half as mesmerized by what led her to the chapel in the first place...a white fox with five eyes. The rest of the team is skeptical of her story, but when Rebecca reads the journal aloud to them, strange events begin to occur such as an unexplained phenomenon that causes the sky to change into rippling waves above them. A mass of white matter that splashes out of the sea. A causeway suddenly that erupts from nowhere and takes form on the island. One member of the team is rendered catatonic from a sight he remains unable or unwilling to explain. The book is based upon true events that have been verified by more than one team on several different explorations. The story is creepy, eerie, and suspenseful and unexplained from start to finish. Alan K. Bates is a fresh burst of great writing as he alternates between the first-person account of Captain Dalmore’s journal and the omniscient storytelling of Rebecca and the team’s modern excursion. The book brings to light the true life “Flannan Isles Mystery” and explores the possibility of alternate realms, and how certain places on Earth, such as Eilean Mor, may lie on the thin border between those two worlds. The book is filled with ghostly encounters, freakish phenomena, and legends that have persisted throughout time. The story of Captain Dalemore and his three colleagues is dramatic as the captain risks his life to try and solve the mystery. The reader knows from the beginning the ultimate fate that awaits Rebecca and the team, a series of events that culminate into a mind-blowing ending. Are the events true? Who knows... and who really wants to risk going there to find out? Do I believe it? Can't say yes and can't truthfully say no either. The website is interesting and I'm including the link if anyone would like to see more about this strange place.
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/The-Eilean-Mor-Lighthous.... ( )

A group of scientist work in an island dominated by a lighthouse. A young historian accompanies them and witnesses some strange events. She finds a mysterious book in one of the buildings of the island and they are able to learn that in earlier times the lighthouse keepers of the island has some frightening experiences that seem to be happening again. Although the author manages to create a menacing atmosphere, the story becomes very predictable and towards the end, once the source of the mystery' becomes apparent, it becomes quite boring. ( )