The September House

The tone of this book was a pretty immediate "no" for me. It'll work for you or it won't, I think. I can like a comedic horror movie (Werewolves Within feels pretty comparable), but the comedic tone here was more annoying than anything. The joke of the mom scolding the daughter for cursing ("Language!") got old really fast.

What I will give the book credit for is the slow reveal of the husband's abuse. I had not picked up on it with how Margaret talked about Hal at the start, and I was surprised when it became clear. I think Margaret was compassionately written. The author was trying to get the reader to see how a person might slowly succumb to the situation, especially if the reader's tendency is to judge people who stay with an abuser.

But the tone just didn't work for me. Especially at the end, there's some really horrific imagery, but it just doesn't hit when the dialogue is like "Oh my heavens!" There's also a drawn out action sequence which could have been interesting to see in a movie, but in a book it just dragged. There's no tension because I don't have any real fear for Margaret or Katherine's lives. There isn't much satisfaction in it either since Master Vale is largely an unexplored villain. What he did feels tangential. I had a hard time keeping all his ghost victims straight outside of Elias and Fredericka, so their revenge at the end feels pretty hollow.

Chunks of the story also felt very repetitive and dull. There's a stretch where Margaret is trying to hide the supernatural elements of the house from Katherine, and it's just the same thing over and over again. I wasn't even sure why Margaret thought Katherine would see it given how the priest couldn't see it. Then all of sudden Katherine and the police can see it, just because?

I was also baffled as to why the police, upon starting a missing persons case for Hal, didn't at some point search the entire house, including the cellar?? Would that not be standard?

This has a pretty high average GR rating, so clearly I'm in the minority on this one. :P