This slow-burn haunted house horror story has an unusual lead character, a building sense of dread, and an interesting setting as the world is emerginThis slow-burn haunted house horror story has an unusual lead character, a building sense of dread, and an interesting setting as the world is emerging from COVID lockdown. The creepiness builds throughout, and having a struggling single mother as the point of view character makes the challenges and fears feel immediate and personal. A terrific read....more
A sweeping, romantic story of love across time, time slips, ghosts, and hauntings! I loved this book, with its twisty mysteries and seductive romance.A sweeping, romantic story of love across time, time slips, ghosts, and hauntings! I loved this book, with its twisty mysteries and seductive romance. Great read!
Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley. See full review at ....more
I love Mira Grant's writing, and this book is no exception. She uses words to create a strange and creepy world, and I truly admired the artwork of heI love Mira Grant's writing, and this book is no exception. She uses words to create a strange and creepy world, and I truly admired the artwork of her language in this story. That said, I think the plot itself went over my head to a large extent. Haunted house by the sea, strange creatures taking over people... well, I get that it's Lovecraftian, except never having actually read any Lovecraft, I felt like I was just missing something....more
Similarly to her work in the terrific , in The Agony House author Cherie Priest tells a gripping story with comic book illustrationSimilarly to her work in the terrific , in The Agony House author Cherie Priest tells a gripping story with comic book illustrations mixed in to tell a piece of the tale. When Denise discovers the hidden comic book in the creepy attic of her new house (which she bluntly refers to as a "craphole" at all times), the book seems to be a clue to the unexplainable events happening to the family as they try to make the old place livable once again.
Denise is a great main character -- clearly very smart, devoted to her family, but unhappy with being dragged away from her friends back in Houston and forced to live in this awful house. As she settles in and gets to know some of the teens in her neighborhood, we get a picture of the devastation left by the Storm (as they refer to it), even after so many years. The book deals with issues around economic hardship, gentrification, and privilege, not in a preachy way, but by showing the struggles and resentments of the characters and the new understandings they need to reach in order to get along. The social lessons here feel organic and important to the story, and I appreciated seeing the characters come to terms with one another in all sorts of interesting ways.
I'd place The Agony House somewhere between middle grade and young adult fiction. The main characters are high school seniors, but the events and the narrative would be fine for younger readers, middle school or above, so long as they're okay with ghosts and spookiness. I really enjoyed the comic book pages and how they relate to the main story, and thought it was all very cleverly put together. As an adult reader, I saw the plot resolution twist coming pretty early on, but that didn't lessen the satisfaction of seeing it all work out, and I think it'll be a great surprise for readers in the target audience....more
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