Flash: The Haunting of Barry Allen by Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith

Speeding through Central City, Barry Allen is met with a startling sight the Flash, older, battered, and badly injured. Before he can speak, the doppelgänger is gone. Then Barry begins experiencing glitches in his powers – moments that leave him ghostly and immobile in the middle of missions. When a group of his enemies including Pied Piper, Weather Wizard, and Peekaboo chooses this time to launch a new assault, the Flash seeks help from his most trusted ally. Oliver Queen …the Arrow.

I absolutely loved this book, it had the same amazing energy as the show and I cant wait to read the second book in this crossover series. Reading the book is like watching an extended edition of the TV show. It has all the favourite characters present and has a really interesting and exciting storyline.

The Haunting of Barry Allen is set around the beginning of the second season of the TV show, and it starts off with Barry seeing another Flash that looks a lot like an older version of himself, but before he can say anything to the other Flash it disappears. Barry then starts to experience problems with his powers when he is using them on his different missions. Then when Pied Piper, Weather Wizard and Peekaboo gang together to try and take down the Flash, he has to ask the Arrow to help him take them all down.

Flash is one of my favourite TV shows ever. I was a fan of Arrow when it started but lost interest as the series progressed, but with Flash I have always been a fan. So I was a little worried that I wouldn’t recognise the Flash that I am used to from the TV series when reading this book. But I was completely wrong, because the Flash and the other characters in this book are an exact copy from the show. They are all interesting and so well developed, its hard not to picture the characters from the show while reading this. In some cases I think that the writers have developed some characters a little more than the TV show and its nice to see them with a little more to do.

The storyline for this book is really exciting and I could definitely see something like this being used in the TV Series. The plot is very action packed and will leave you on the edge of your seat throughout. I have had bad experiences in the past when it comes to reading TV tie ins of books, but I can honestly say that this is one of the best tie ins that I have ever read. The plot is new and different to plots that have already played out on the TV show and I liked how there was quite a few different enemies in this story, rather than just the one. It made the stakes against Flash a little more greater and made it a little more believable when Arrow showed up to help him.

Both the writers have studied the show and the characters and managed to transfer them all into this book without losing the characterisation from the TV series. Sometimes the authors like to change or add things to characters to fit in with the plot. But it seems to me it was the other way round in this book. The plot was adjusted to fit around the characters. While reading you cant help but visualise the characters as they are on the show because that’s how they are written, and I think that’s why I enjoyed reading this book so much because I could play it all out in my head.

I would highly recommend this to all Flash and Arrow lovers because if you want to read a book about your favourite TV superheroes, then this is the book you have to read. I have not read the second book in the crossover, Arrow: A Generation of Vipers, but I am sure it will be as good as this book, which will make this a must read crossover for all DC fans.

I rate this book 5/5 stars

***I was sent a copy of this book by the author to review. Everything in this review is my own honest opinions.***