Before I jump into the conversation I have to say that I loved this as a story. It seemed to reverse, in interesting ways, a number of horror story tropes (the poor single woman who buys the haunted house—not tricked into it at all, the kindly neighbors a little too interested in the haunted house—actually kind neighbors, etc.). This was a great listen for me.
I also have to say that I’ve worked with the victims of domestic violence (mostly helping them obtain restraining orders) and this ghost reminds me of far too many of the men I’ve met in court. So this story hit a little close to home, but, for me, it had a much happier ending than too many of these situations do in real life. It may make me a bad person, but I was cheering Cory on at the end and I think I’ll keep this on my iPod for the drive home after particularly frustrating days in court.
That being said, to ElectricPaladin’s point about a story from the ghost’s point of view, I didn’t read (hear) this as a horror story for Cory I read this as a horror story for the ghost. (Obviously not from his POV). When the story ended I had a good feel for who and what the ghost was – I had a sense of his rage and hate and misogyny, his sense of owning Cory, and I could imagine what it would feel like for him to impotently watch as she lived her life with another man on the ghost’s grave. For that ghost I can’t imagine a more horrific fate. To me, it seemed like the twist at the end wasn’t that the ghost was the monster, but that it, in a twisted way, had become the victim. And I think that’s what really did it for me, the story had me empathizing with the abuser and what he was suffering (or would suffer) while I had been, and in many ways still was, cheering Cory on.