Title: The Haunting of Sorrow’s Leap

Author: Chris Sorensen

Release date: November 28th, 2025

Over the last number of years, I’ve devoured everything Sorensen has released – be it his wonderfully dark Messy Man series, to his two creature features, ‘Suckerville’ and ‘Bee Tornado’ – both of which you need to absolutely read!

 Sometime in early 2025 – I can’t remember when – Chris reached out to me about beta reading his next novel. Unfortunately, I was swamped and couldn’t give it the time it would need. When the book was announced, I made sure to buy the Kindle edition, excited to dive in. *I will add here – unbeknownst to me, Chris actually sent me a physical copy of the book! So very kind and unexpected!* 

Funnily, at least to this reader, I didn’t make any connections between this and the Messy Man series. But sure enough, upon cracking this bad boy open, there was Ellen Marx. Now, I will say – you can ABSOLUTELY read this without having read the Messy Man trilogy. In fact, I’d almost suggest if you read this one first, you’ll get a deeper experience if you pivoted and then read Messy Man, but either way, you’re in for a treat.

What I liked: The story picks up years after the end of the events in the Messy Man series. Ellen’s ‘gift’ has faded, her ability to see dead people and connect through touch with people diminished to the point where she questions if it ever was really much of a gift. She’s hawking product at a horror convention, selling candles and pictures and crystals and trinkets. It’s here where she has an odd encounter with a girl named Zivy, and from there, herself, Zivy and two other ‘gifted’ individuals are selected. 

Their reward? To travel to a reclusive authors mansion. Why? They don’t find out until they arrive. And once there, they learn that they’ve been invited to try and un-haunt the mansion. Renovations have been hampered because ghosts and spooks are terrifying the workers, and James Utter, the author, is sick of the delays.

Sorensen weaves a multi-layered tale where things are never really as they seem and as we get more details from Utter’s right-hand-man Carter, we learn that there are off-limits areas. Then, an event happens, a gathering of shadows of sorts, which really opens up the story and gets those others chosen – JJ and Quan joining Ellen and Zivy – working as a team.

I’ll add – on their way to Utter Hall, Ellen purchased ‘Sorrow’s Leap,’ one of Utter’s last big bestsellers from a roadside convenience store. This comes into play in a number of ways, both with an world on the other side they need to deal with, but also with some nifty elements that I can’t share due to spoilers. But it gave it a really solid aspect of over here/over there that felt very 80’s-esque, but in the best way possible.

The lead up to and the finale itself were a lot of fun, with the group figuring out how to use their gifts as chess pieces, becoming moving pieces themselves to try and triumph over the ghost who has taken up residence in Utter Hall.

What I didn’t like: This actually relates back to the Messy Man series, but Ellen and her mom’s relationship morphed here. Whereas in the Messy Man series we dealt with Ellen’s mom’s horrendous behavior and narcissist ways, here it became an odd toxic reimagining where Ellen somehow appears to be the bad guy at times with how she treated her mom in key moments at the end of her mom’s life, while we know – and even see within the pages of this book – that her mom was a horrible, horrible person and treated her daughter with nothing but abuse.

Secondly, I found there was too many attempts at levity and humor within, especially when the ghosts arrive and things take a sinister turn. Every time something serious would begin to unfold, I’d expect a one-liner or set up for a joke to occur and it would. It was as though Paul Rudd was casted to be the comic relief. I could’ve handled far less of that – but I’m also a reader who doesn’t typically enjoy humor in his horror.

Why you should buy this: Overall, this haunted mansion tale was a ton of fun and another solid story from Sorensen, who has a knack of creating quickly relatable characters and dark, dark worlds. 

‘The Haunting of Sorrow’s Leap’ was a tense, fast-paced story that forced quirky, socially awkward characters to work together and overcome huge obstacles and that’s always something that makes for an entertaining read.

Hey Andrew.

A year already. Time really never stops marching on, does it?

A year ago, Amanda, Auryn and I went to the museum here in Edmonton, checking out the exhibition (I think it was the Cambodia exhibition, which was really amazing) and trying to get back into a routine, as school and work was about to return. I’m lucky in that my workplace closes up shop around Christmas until the start of January. Fortunate.

On our way home, we stopped at No Frills to grab something and that’s when our good friend Randall messaged me. Fuck. Really, fucking fuck.

I saw the news come across Bluesky and IG and then watched as my notifications exploded and I showed Amanda Randall’s message and put my phone in my pocket. I’d deal with all that shit later. Typical guy, eh? Bury it fucking deep and maybe revisit it later. Like a trunk novel, lol.

By the time I got home the reality of what the news was saying and all the messages and notifications were saying, hit hard and boy, I tell you, I fucking bawled. Amanda kindly allowed me to cry like a baby for a bit, Auryn even coming to make sure I was ok. Even though he’s never read any of your stuff, I think you just might be one of his favorite authors. Side note – Auryn thinks I’m famous because I’m an author, and that’s adorable. I think it’s because you were famous and I met you. And I’ll take that.

I finally took my phone out and saw even more notifications and another five emails, one from a mutual friend of ours and four from Toronto-based newspapers asking for comment. Comment? From me. Like what the hell. It kind of hit home then that I’d maybe succeeded in making my love of your work known. If it’d become so widespread that even the news folks were reaching out to ask me for a few words about you and your books, then I guess I did a pretty good job.

I remembered once how you said that the Toronto Star was always nice to you and treated you with respect etc. etc. and Janet’s email was the most ‘real person’ of all of them. She sounded like she was genuinely sad that you’d passed. So, I emailed her back a few things and she kindly framed my initial sorrow in her piece well. If you didn’t get a chance to read it yet, here you go – https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/andrew-pyper-toronto-writer-of-literary-thrillers-dead-at-56/article_fe3b18fa-ca33-11ef-aaa2-d7555a69d849.html

This past year has been a wild ride. I’ve said it almost monthly to Amanda, that something pops up and where I’d immediately message or email you, I’m not able. And boy, does that ache like a son of a bitch.

January passed in a fog, and when February arrived, I flew out to Toronto for your memorial.

It was lovely and I was very honored to be included and welcomed. Randall and Damir picked me up from the airport – gents those two. We headed to McConvey’s place – Joel amazingly let me crash there for the two nights – and then we went to dinner nearby. It reminded me so much of when I came out for the celebration of The Demonologist. Just… we were missing you.

Your memorial was wonderful and overwhelming and I’m not too proud to say that I kind of made fool of myself by hugging Heidi twice. Hopefully she won’t hold that against me. Jesus Christ is Ford tall. Even since I saw him last. And Maude. I think she was even taller than Ford. Your children are so kind, Andrew. Both of them even thanked me for coming and it speaks to how great of a job you (and Heidi) did in raising them. For them to embrace me and thank me for coming when in reality, in their eyes, I’m just the guy who posts your books a million times a week, says so much about them. Your brother’s were also very kind. I forget which one it was, but after we were talking and I said I was out from Edmonton, he thanked me for the online archive website, which was a nice moment.

Your memorial also happened to coincide with the Super Bowl and guess what – Kendrick said the line! Oh, buddy, you would’ve howled. He looked right at the camera – a bajillion viewers tuned in and said the line. Checkmate, Drake.

I also dove into an unreleased novel of yours. I gotta say – a joke you made to me (about this particular book that ‘didn’t exist’) on our ride out to DreadCon came racing back and I laughed. Out loud. Sitting by myself in the airport waiting to board. That’s one easy way to make sure nobody sits around you.

Some updates on my end for you – Atomic Monster never pursued ‘When I Look…’ The director of Annabelle did, but couldn’t get anything going and it fizzled. Wump wump. But your help and guidance there will always be appreciated.

I waited a bit to reach out to Kirby and Heidi regarding our re-release of ‘Kiss Me’ for the 30th Anniversary of it, but it was agreed to not go ahead with it. Totally fair. And I get it. But boy did that hurt. It even put me into a writing depression of sorts. I don’t think I wrote a single word for almost two months. I canned my plans of expanding/launching Black Void Publishing.

You know what got me going again? Auryn and I worked a bit more on some poems and he wrapped up his illustrations for our release. I think you’d have really loved seeing what we did. And though I know you weren’t a huge poetry guy, the poems inspired by ‘William’ are some of the most fun I’ve ever had writing poetry.

In May I did another edition of Pyper-May-Nia! And wow did the wider community come out in spades, man. Fuck, did they ever. It was wild to see and emotionally overwhelming. The stories and quotes and memories that people sent in for me to share… even now thinking about them, brings me to the brink of tears. I’ve been trying to figure out what to do for this year, but I don’t know if I can ever top 2025’s. But if I don’t do something in 2026, that’s a downer. I’d be thinking about how I’m letting you down everyday. So, I’ll need to figure something out.

At the end of May, our family went to Vancouver for a week-long vacation. I wore my ‘Read Andrew Pyper’ shirt on the trip out and while we waited to board, a guy came up to me to ask about the shirt. He said he’d read ‘Lost Girls’ and ‘The Trade Mission’ years ago and loved them. I gave him a few more books recommendations of yours to read and he thanked me warmly. Amanda and Auryn teased me, naturally, but I felt good knowing that maybe that man will discover all the rest of your wonderful books.

In June, we had a repeat of 2024 with the Oilers getting to the finals against Florida and a near identical repeat of them losing. This time, instead of seven games it was in six. I imagine we would’ve had some hilarious back and forth banter over that.

Also in June, the third Oracle audiobook was released. It was wonderful. Craig did a phenomenal job wrapping up this series. He was kind enough to do an interview with me about it and he mentioned that you were very happy with what he’d done off your outline. Joshua Jackson is Nate, yeah? If this does become a series for Amazon, I sure hope he plays Nate. Either way, I was just happy to see this arrive in the world.

At the end of June, Mitch Marner left the Leafs in a sign-and-trade with the Golden Knights of all places,  hours before free agency was to open. He seems to be doing ok in Vegas, though Vegas isn’t dominating this season, but still high up the standings.

In September, Exiles arrived and boy was I happy to see so many posts out in the social media realm about it. Kristen from Penguin was kind enough to send me an ARC of it, as was an author pal of mine, Colin, who has a bookstore. With two in hand, I had to do a giveaway and spread the word on Exiles! Our friend, Sam, actually won, which was awesome. Exiles continues to crush readers, Andrew. I think you’d be beyond proud about the reception for it.

Then, in October, the Jays went on a magical run. Game seven of the World Series magic. Sadly, they couldn’t pull it off. But what a series and what a run.

So far, the Leafs are struggling – currently out of a playoff spot – and though the Oilers got off to rocky start, they’ve turned things around and yeah, McDavid is doing insane things on the ice.

Christmas here was good. We’ve been dealing with a cold, snowy December into January thus far. Which was nice to have a white Christmas.

And on the 1st, I celebrated your collection ‘Kiss Me’ turning 30. THIRTY! I can’t believe that and I know you said you couldn’t believe it’d been almost thirty years since it’d came out the last time we chatted about the plans for the release. Those stories. Timeless and phenomenal, Andrew. I still hold out hope that we see them return to the world again soon.

Speaking of new books from you – I see your third Coile book has been soft-launched, but even calling that is a bit short.

I got the ISBN notification and found it quickly. I shared it widely – you know how I do that, lol! – and then I was kindly asked to delete my posts. I did, of course, but I’m excited to share this release to the wide world. I can’t wait to see the cover. The synopsis has me stoked and I have the eBook and hardcover preordered – which probably doesn’t come as a surprise to you!

Heidi’s been active with your IG – which really freaked me out the first time I got a notification saying ‘Andrew Pyper liked your post,’ lol. As always, I’ve been posting like a fiend and I’m sure she now understands about when you probably complained about all the notifications from myself you used to get. But, hey, at least you’re getting a break from all that annoyance! 🙂

My brother-in-law, Devon, made me a COILE wood-cut name plate to match my PYPER one for my shelves, which was amazing and lovely. I’ve got a few more foreign editions of William on the shelves now, though the Korean edition has been next to impossible to track down. I’m going to dedicate a bunch of time in January in finding it and getting it on my shelves.

And I don’t know if you remember that novel I spoke with you about on that drive out to DreadCon? The non-horror one about the two brothers. You gave me some amazing advice about how to approach it and guess what? At DreadCon, I connected with an agent, I signed with her and in a few days that novel is going out to a bunch of publishers on submission. Thanks, Andrew. Your guidance on that one truly helped me attack something far outside of my comfort zone. And every book of yours I’ve read where you utilized the landscape as a character inspired my own approach to writing this one.

If a publisher picks this one up, I’ll be raising a glass to you.

I’m currently doing a series on your English hardcovers. Took a break over the Holiday’s, but will be back posting in the next few days. I just finished doing The Damned. Love that novel. The Only Child is up next.

I think that’s about all I got. I know, it’s a lot, but you know in every DM and email I sent you just how much I blab on and on and on. And the fact that it’s been a year – a fucking year – since you left us all… well, I had a lot saved up.

So, my friend, wherever you are, I hope you know there’s a whole lot of people here who miss you.

I know I miss you every day.

And I’m just me. A guy who posts a bunch about your books.

And somehow that guy became your friend.

And your friend misses you.

So, until we see each other again, take care, Andrew.

Onwards!