Review: Good schlocky fun
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 24, 2014
I purchased this about the same time I purchased the prequel short story, The Girl from the Blood Coven. Like I said in the review for that one, read the short story first. It doesn't spoil anything for this book but it does ramp up the anticipation to discover what is going on in this house.I have to say that while this wasn't a perfect book, it was an incredibly fun read. This is kind of the book equivalent of eating pixie sticks and popcorn while watching an old 70s or 80s horror movie. The one I kept comparing it to in my mind was Night of the Demons, but I'm sure that each reader will probably make their own comparison. (It does seem to channel more of a 70s horror vibe at times than 80s, though.)What makes this work is that we get into the action fairly quickly and stay there for the course of the book. We have a little character development, but ultimately the main thrust of the book is that we have a bunch of people in a house where bad things happened. And still happen. And are happening right now in various bloody and disgusting ways. I have to admit that at times I wanted to have a little more of the house's inherent eeriness brought out, but I'm pleased with what I found here. It'd make one heck of a movie, that's for certain. There are some great visuals here that could work well in a visual format.The ending didn't strike as strong as a chord with me as I wanted, but it was OK. I think that part of this was because the ending's resolution was part of a plot thread that hadn't been as well investigated as I wanted it to be. I think that this was partially due to the story's perspective switching between the characters, which worked well in some instances but not necessarily in showing all of Sarah's past. It didn't ruin the book for me obviously, but it just felt a little anticlimactic after everything that had happened so far. I still definitely recommend this to anyone interested in schlock horror, though.