Following on from last Tuesday’s post I reached a decision I will review the two books I have read together in order to give a balanced opinion I will also post evidence to back up my negativity towards one of the books as you will see that way you can decide for yourselves whether or not a poor review is justified.
The first book I read was Ghost Hunting with Derek Acorah and I really enjoyed this one. The book gives a general overview into Derek’s life as a medium, his work and some personal experiences.
If you are looking for in depth behind the scenes information regarding his time with Most Haunted you will be disappointed what you will get are some more personal, less high profile experiences and a guide to what the spirit world comprises of in terms of types of haunting. It is a really easy read and one can hear Derek’s voice as you read it guiding you through his journey. He does however give you some interesting insights to his beliefs regarding the souls of animals and it is still a really good read. The books does discuss briefly his early experiences with the psychic world and how he developed his abilities.
I will be honest this is more of a beach read than in depth research material, written in alight conversational style and not getting drawn in to the fine details makes it a very easu enjoyable read and I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
Now onto the second book Haunted Britain & Ireland and what a let down I had.
First I will say given that Derek was involved with a TV series with a similar name I expected the book to relate to his experiences with the locations he had visited but I was sadly very mistaken.
The first few chapters were written by Derek explaining different types of hauntings and spirits and some simple logical advice about when to visit and what to take with you but that was as far as it would seem any personal involvement ends. The book crams in as many locations as it can possibly manage, right at the start Derek states he has not personally visited many of these locations and cannot vouch for whether they are actually haunted or not only repeat stories that have been told. There are plenty of books around which do this already and I was annoyed that a medium with as much influence as Derek Acorah would add his name to one that did not actually contain locations he himself had visited or could give any personal experience of but it was actually worse than that. Many of the entries were not only extremely brief almost to the point where ghosts were hardly mentioned but it was almost like a glorified business promotional book., with many being restaurants, hotels and tourist locations, just to show what I mean this was a typical entry.
If it were just the details of how to find each place or their address fair enough but it actually reads as an ad for the place. I cannot say if Derek Acorah is responsible for the whole book or just gave his name to someone elses blatent commercialism but either way it has left a sour note taste in my mouth especially given it has a £7.99 price tag which could have been significantly reduced if these ‘ads’ were financially motivated.
I give this one 1 out of 5 and that is for the introductory chapters.
Was I justified in giving this a harsh review? You decide…
Paula Acton 
I’m tempted to say you’d have been justified on giving that score for both books combined but in fairness I haven’t read the first one. The second one for me is much more believable, not just because I saw Mr. Acorah’s performances on the Haunted show and found it dire, but because this book is exactly as you describe, a series of advertisements back to back that look as though he’s offered to plug an establishment in exchange for profit. it seems sleazy rather than informative.
Having seen the 3 Medium’s tours I often wondered what he had on the other two to get himself included as he doesn’t have the sincerity of the other two. Whether you believe in the spirit world or not you need someone halfway convincing to show you. Colin Fry he’s not. In the end I decided the other two must have kept him on as the comedy crowd warmer. A book like this one shows he has little integrity and as you say, it’s overpriced for a book of ad’s.
xx Hugs xx
LikeLike
You have every right to give such a review, Paula. I find it sad that Mr. Acorah would put his face and name on something like that. I met a medium once, by chance. She was telling me about a ghost hunt she was asked to attend and she said she never gets paid for her services. Sometimes people will donate money, but she never asks for it. The way she put it, “God gave me a gift. It’s only fair for me to give back in some way.”
LikeLike
i have no problem with them being paid for things such as ghost hunts the companies that run them have to cover costs obviously and make enough to get new equipment etc but this was so blatant as to be laughable
LikeLike