The Bookshop of 99 Doors
The Bookshop of 99 Doors
By: Jaime Jo Wright
[On my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2026]
“‘There can be good amid evil, but the good will always be tainted— haunted, if you will— until the truth sets us free.’”
My first Jaime Jo Wright book was Night Falls on Predicament Avenue and I really enjoyed that one. I was looking forward to reading another one of her books. Unlike Night Falls, The Bookshop of 99 Doors definitely drew me in more with the cover and the title- I love a good book about books and the idea of a secret door was very compelling!
Though this one is definitely still worth reading, I think I liked Night Falls a little better than this one.
They both were very atmospheric— Wright knows how to write spooky— and both were dual timeline stories.
They also both explore what seems to be a supernatural/ haunting type of situation.
If I had to say what gave Night Falls an edge on this one, I would probably point to the themes. Night Falls just felt deeper to me in its themes of grief and death and fear.
While fear and death were obviously part of this story, it seemed like the main characters were more so grappling with the existence and activity of spirits. It just didn’t feel as poignant to me.
The book is told in alternating chapters between the timelines until the climax of the story when the chapters have shorter segments within the same chapter as everything comes to a head.
I loved that the historical timeline was set in 1888, 25 years after the Battle of Gettysburg. It’s not as common of a setting like WWII, but it definitely adds to the eeriness when thinking about the nature of the Civil War and the wooded areas of the South.
Minnie Tipton is the main character of this part. She is afraid of four things: death, being without her father, losing her mind (like her father), and the unknown.
“Fear was an all-encompassing emotion. But it was an emotion, after all, and if Minnie had learned anything, it was that emotions could be wicked and unreliable. They doomed a person to shame, to assumptions larger than life, and to grief that overtook you. Emotions were not something to be followed or even believed. Emotions led one astray from the truth, from what was right and what was real. They betrayed you. They betrayed others. Just like Mama had betrayed Papa.”
Minnie’s father fought at Gettysburg and has never been the same since. When Minnie’s mother passes away she is left to care for her father in his unstable condition. He abruptly moves them to Ambrose Fields— an estate with a dark history.
The story goes that the woman of the house, Hetty Ambrose, and her housekeeper Mrs. Pickston, took care of sick soldiers after Gettysburg until one day a new arrival, a captain, went crazy and killed all the men there and then killed himself.
The captain’s spirit is said to haunt the mansion. Minnie’s own sanity hangs in the balance as she is forced to confront all four of her fears while living there..
The present day timeline is set in the same location. Triss Bellamy has just begun her work at Ambrose Fields— now a museum that boasts of its 99 doors— in the bookshop slash library where her job is to catalogue the collection of historic books left in the house.
Triss (short for Viatrix) has left home to escape her previous life of spirit-chasing with her brother, Casper (purposely named), and love interest, Beck and reinvent herself. Triss grew up with her grandmother telling her she was ‘a sensitive’ because of her ability to sense or communicate with spirits. Triss has regularly seen ‘shadow people’ in her life but didn’t understand it.
“If a person couldn’t explain, say, the existence of a spirit in the house, then how did one find any security in believing it existed?… She wanted the explained. She needed evidence to base her faith on— and more than just experiences. She wanted facts.”
Her budding faith has made her realize that it’s unwise to mess with the spirits. But her attempt to distance herself from the chase fails when Ambrose Fields, in an attempt to gain some publicity and more foot traffic to the museum, hires none other than Casper and Beck to come investigate the ‘spirit activity’ at the mansion.
Ambrose Fields has 99 doors…. that they can find. There are rumors of a 100th door, said to be, when opened, a portal for spirits to come and go as they please. A secret door hiding secrets.
Like Minnie, Triss is also forced to confront her fears and find the 100th door, if nothing else, to give her a tangible answer to an abstract problem.
In both timelines the question remains: are there spirits haunting Ambrose Fields? Casper and Minnie’s father exhibited similar symptoms and mental hallucinations in their ailments while staying at the house. Does the portal need to be found and closed or is something else going on here?
I liked the redemption arc of Triss with Casper and Beck. Triss left because her faith journey and new convictions compelled her not to mess with the spirits, and so she removes herself from the situation.
Casper and Beck express their hurt that she just abandoned them without much warning or communication and definitely not a forwarding address.
I like that while Triss was right to follow her convictions, she realizes that she still followed them in an unloving way. I was glad that she found some humility at the end without having to compromise her convictions.
I think the title is a little bit misleading because the bookshop itself doesn’t have 99 doors, the whole mansion does. The bookshop is just part of it. Granted a big part since it’s the room the soldiers were staying in while healing and where the gruesome murders happened, and has it’s own secrets, but I was expecting something a little different.
Wright seemed to attempt to create a little love triangle with Triss and Max and Triss and Beck, but I hope that wasn’t a major plot point for Wright because I’m not sure I really believed the Max side of that. There’s a pretty big chunk of the book where he seems to be absent— out of sight, out of mind— until he pops back in at the end.
I don’t really mind because I was looking for Triss and Beck to reconcile and wasn’t really sure what the deal was with Max anyway, but if that’s a major selling point for you, you’ll probably be disappointed in its minority.
I think Wright does a great job of exploring the supernatural and the spirit realm without getting sidetracked with it. She takes it seriously, because it really exists, but is realistic about it, not indulgent. It doesn’t really exist the way most people, and for sure most horror stories, depict it to.
“Contemporary culture often embellished history with what they defined as ‘entertainment.’ For in spite of what was real and truly meaningful, the paranormal was entertaining.”
This is true. Having recently read Scrolling Ourselves to Death I’ve been reminded with how intentionally and addictingly distracted our culture is with being entertained. It’s not really that interested in truth if it means giving up their entertainment.
Most who are preoccupied with the supernatural today don’t realize its dangers because they think it’s merely entertaining. While Wright doesn’t necessarily end the book with any sort of ‘doctrine’ on the spiritual realm, she definitely portrays it as something not to mess with.
I thought it was good that she also showed Beck’s dilemma in seeking truth. It wasn’t necessarily that he didn’t want the truth, but he was afraid of what finding the truth could mean:
“‘What if this is all there is… And the afterlife really is just wandering around aimlessly. Poking fun at the living who are on a fast track to join them in death.’”
I can see how this would be a real fear for people to have. It’s better to distract yourself than know for sure that life is meaningless.
But for any who are where Beck is, I would encourage you to take the faith journey that Triss is on and investigate. I think you’ll find that this isn’t all there is. You were created on purpose with a purpose and the afterlife is a real place where— for those who live for Christ— everything is made right, and you get to spend eternity not haunting other worthless souls, but with your Creator who loves you.
God says in the book of Jeremiah that if you are seeking God with all your heart, you will find him. (Jeremiah 29:13)
I’ll leave you with one more quote from the book:
“It was the insatiable human quest to seek what one could not hold onto, be it wealth or fame or legacy. These were the true ghosts. And the paranormal were the distractions that summoned the spiritually hungry away from what was already there and waiting.”
Recommendation
If you are looking for a good atmospheric book with spooky vibes that deals with the supernatural in a realistic and responsible way, then definitely check this one out— or any of her other books. I’ve only read one other one of hers but I gather that they all deliver similar experiences.
I’ve seen a couple reviews that liken her to Scooby Doo where it all seems like a terrible ghost story until a mask is removed and everything is revealed. I can see that correlation but I think a Scooby Doo reference sends silliness vibes and this book is not a silly book. It is definitely more serious and mature than Scooby Doo.
This is a Christian fiction novel and I think the faith values are a little more overt in this book than Night Falls but they are portrayed in an honest and exploratory way and I think people who don’t typically pick up a Christian fiction novel will still enjoy this read.
Jaime Jo Wright has been a nice author to find when I want some gothic tension and eerie history without going too far into darkness.
[Content Advisory: no swearing or sexual content; there is some investigation of the paranormal but no real interactions are described]
**Received a copy via Baker Publishing Group**
This book released in April, 2026. You can order a copy of this book using my affiliate link below.
Share this book review to your social media!