Review: A QUICK AND FUN HAUNTED HOUSE STORY!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 26, 2013
I enjoyed this one so much I wish it had been longer than it's 70 or so page length. The Mourning House is more psychological thriller than straigh forward horror and I guess that is my only real complaint. I was expecting this to be more horrific. But still this was a fast and fun read that had me in suspense on a number of occasions. It seems that I enjoy DarkFuse's novellas more than their novels. Of course, now that I think about it, the novella has probably always been my favorite medium for storytelling. I think one of the strong points of this story is how Malfi was able to capture the tragic and ruined life of the main character, Dr. Sam Hatch. Hatch's grief and heartbreak are really explored in this one.Basically, this story is about Dr. Hatch giving up his house and career, after he accidently fell asleep behind the wheel while driving and killed his wife and daughter. Distraught and grief stricken, he becomes a wanderer and eventually stumbles on this "mourning house" that is out in the middle of nowhere. He buys it, moves in, makes repairs, and then come the weird and spooky occurences: things moving to different places when he isn't looking, seeing things moving out of the corner of his eye, strange noises..... he finds that something or someone is haunting the house. Something is in the walls and under the floorboards. But what? Read it and find out! Now, horror fans don't mistake this story as a gruesome shocker because it's not. It's more of the quiet variety. There's not even any real scares that I can think of. But as I said earlier, this is more psychological thriller than anything else and it works.... I just wish there had been more horror in the mix. Anyway, you really can't go wrong with this short, sweet and tight little novella. The biggest thing to remember is this: It was a whole lotta fun to read! 4.25 stars out of 5 or an 8.5 out of 10.