But Bridget, although she doesn’t know it, has yet another problem on her hands. Rospetroc is haunted by the ghost of nine year old Lily Rickett. Lily, the cause of a good deal of the mess and general unpleasantness Bridget must deal with, is a very angry little ghost. A scrappy street urchin evacuated from London during World War II, she was abused and neglected by the family who was forced to take her in and who, ultimately, were responsible for her death. Lily’s story is told in flashback chapters spaced throughout the book and while this adds to the suspense, at times it proves disorienting, due to the fact that the entire book is written in present tense.

While Lily is seen from time to time, the fact that she’s a ghost doesn’t seem to occur to anyone and she and Yasmin become playmates, of sorts. Perhaps it’s because she’s a child herself, or maybe it’s the fact they share a history of abuse, but Yasmin begins to develop a definite, and at times frightening, connection with Lily.  Will Yasmin become possessed? Will Lily lure her into danger? Or will Lily’s distrust of adults cause her to become violent toward Bridget?

Soho Press, the book’s publisher, has listed it as a mystery. To me, that was the biggest mystery of all. Hold My Hand is a very suspenseful read, but someone looking for a traditional mystery or—if they were to take literally the quote on the book’s back cover, likening it to Daphne DuMaurier’s  Rebecca—a gothic romance, may be disappointed.