My Five Word TL:DR Review: Another Excellent Haunted House Tale

I’m loving haunted house tales and luckily they seem to be popular at the moment so it makes me very happy to be able to get my fix! Plus I’m loving the twists that some of these authors are coming up with and Worry Box is no exception. Don’t worry – I’m not going to explore the twists, you’ll have to find them out for yourself.

This really is a fantastic story. It had me totally hooked. I was in its tenacious clutches and I could barely put the book down. I’m still thinking about it a few days after putting it down. It was that good.

We have a really wonderful family. The Martins, the mum and dad, Alison and Nathan, their daughter Dru and Lailah who they are in the process of trying to adopt. They find a fantastic house, a bargain to be honest, in a great neighbourhood and although they might have liked a little more room they can’t believe their luck. The house is perfect.

Now, to be fair, it is a difficult book to review, because (and although this may seem like my constant refrain at the moment) I really don’t want to give anything away.

So, we have a number of povs. In fact, all the family have their own chapters and this is so good. No unbalanced, possibly unreliable narrator here – or is there? Plus, there is an additional narrator with a very interesting point of view.

In terms of the family. Alison and Nat are great parents. Dru is a crazy, very outspoken, punk rock loving, 8 or 9 year old. Lailah is 12 years old, she loves this family and is desperate to be adopted so she doesn’t have to go back to the neglectful life she hopes to leave behind. Leilah has intrusive thoughts, she is undergoing therapy and she uses a box to write down her thoughts and hopefully expel them. I will say, she has some very worrying thoughts. I don’t think I’d be able to sleep at night – and, of course, when things start to go wrong in the house, this makes Lailah a natural target.

How did I feel reading this. Well, it gets off to a wicked start with the prologue. Then it pretty smoothly introduces the key players and moves into the house. Everything feels idyllic, the whole family have a good feeling living here and the only fly in the ointment is that as the adoption process hangs in the balance Lailah’s condition seems to be escalating. Then, a new baby comes along, suffering from terrible colic and the parents begin to feel the strain. Cracks begin to show, arguments become heated, accusations are made and sides are taken. The family is coming undone. Slowly but surely.

On top of this Panatier really ramps up the tension. I tell you, I was reading with ever increasing horror not to mention some scary episodes that gave me the heebies. I should probably also mention that earlier in the book there is mention of animal cruelty and although these scenes are not gratuitous at all they are shocking and upsetting to read – so, if you don’t think you can cope you need to be aware of that.

This becomes steadily more horror laden. It seems like one horrible things happens after another and I was reading wondering where this would go next. But, there are twists to this tale. This is a haunted house story with a difference and its absolutely compelling.

Anyway, I’m going to leave it there for fear of letting something out of the bag.

To conclude, perfectly plotted, paced and executed. I can’t give this book enough praise. It had me gripped.

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 stars