Laurie and Mark live on the sixteenth-floor of a block of flats in the north-west of England. She’s a cleaner at the university, Mark a security guard at the nearby power plant. One random day in May, Mark goes missing, leaving his phone and keys at home. Laurie tells no one for several weeks, carrying on with her life as normal. Visiting her dementia-suffering father and his Ukrainian carer as if nothing untoward has happened, eventually revealing the news to her work colleague. When the police finally find out, they are suspicious. Why did it take her so long to report his disappearance?

This is the first of Jenn Ashworth’s work that I’ve read in long form, everything prior to this novel was a couple of her short stories in various anthologies (all of which I’d enjoyed). Ghosted is an absolute masterclass in how to balance literary fiction with the implication of genre writing. Right from the start we’re plunged into the life of Laurie, a fascinatingly complex young woman living a rather unglamorous life. Ashworth teases us with subtle suggestions of her being an unreliable narrator. Or at least providing enough information to indicate that something in her past has had a dramatic impact upon her relationship with Mark. Also fractious is her relationship with her father, who is in the throes of vascular dementia, brought on by a stroke; his memories and the truth of the past fading like handprints on glass. There’s a strong sense of regret in their scenes together, of Laurie’s frustrations at how her father behaved towards her late mother.

Is this a crime novel or a ghost story? There are telltale signs of the supernatural – or are these just manifestations of Laurie’s stressed mind? She is certainly haunted by something, even if it’s her own psyche. The narrative structure unfolds like that of a crime novel, even with mention of a past murder in the area – apparently already solved – on the news. We begin to suspect that things are not quite as they seem. And we’d be right.

There’s an honesty about Ashworth’s writing that feels intimate and real. The characters’ flaws, the narrator’s acknowledged selfishness, is of the highest calibre and you feel compelled to follow this story through to its conclusion. Ghosted is heartbreaking, scary, funny and intensely moving. Jenn Ashworth has become one of those authors whose entire output I will seek out. This is a stunning novel and it comes highly recommended.