My Five Word TL:DR Review: Haunted House, Character-led Horror

I loved The Place Where They Buried Your Heart and in fact would say it’s my favourite by the author.  Henry manages to really capture the essence of the spooky, abandoned house where something terrible happens.  The story put me in mind of old school King, the writing was excellent and I really liked the characters.  The whole story is absolutely gripping.  The House is terrifying and the author manages to deliver a coming of age story with depth and emotional impact.

The story is told by Jesse, who years ago ‘dared’ her younger brother Paul to go inside the creepy house on the street.  Of course, Paul doesn’t want to go, especially alone, but he also doesn’t want to back down so he talks his two friends into going with him.  The result, is that one of the friends is very badly injured, the other is traumatised and Paul – well, he’s never seen again.

As you might imagine, Jesse lives with massive guilt, made much worse by the further tragedies that eventually play out that I won’t go into here.  She remains defiantly on the street, although other neighbours come and go, always in the hope that one day her brother will return.

Now, there’s much more to the story than the very brief outline sketched above but I prefer to focus on what really worked for me.

Well, the story really is gripping.  It hooked me within a few pages and quite literally didn’t let up.  The writing is so easy to get along with and the story just had me on the edge of my seat.  I could barely put this book down in order to carry out basic day to day necessities.

I don’t read a lot of horror and tend to be a bit picky as some really don’t work well for me – but this simply fit the bill.  It’s massively creepy, the way Henry writes about the house gives you a real feeling of fear to the extent that I didn’t want the characters to step inside because I was scared for them.  And, of course, there’s no shortage of horror in the backstory.  And yet this is all balanced by the whole emotional feel that the author delivers.  I loved all the family related issues and the found family that Jesse eventually finds herself surrounded by.  Not to mention that Jesse eventually becomes a mom herself and struggles with wanting to upsticks and run as far as she can with her new son and wanting to do the write thing, protect the neighbourhood, help her friends and keep others from falling into harm’s way.

As I mentioned, I enjoyed the characters, and in this story the House is a character itself.  It’s a place of evil.  The door will stand open, enticing people within, usually people who have already become obsessed with the place, and very few come back out.  Attempts were made over the years to burn the place down, or to demolish it, and yet the house still stands, impervious to such weak attempts.  And now, it’s power seems to be growing, putting out feelers in the neighbourhood and seeking new victims.  Jesse and a few of her stalwart neighbours do their best to guard the property and keep people away, but their attempts don’t always work.

There’s so much to enjoy in this book.  I really, thoroughly enjoyed it.  I think the only very small issue I had was the ending felt a little rushed.  That being said, and because I like to argue with myself, I also don’t think I would have liked a longer ending – go figure.

In conclusion – highly recommended.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 5 of 5 creepy stars