Review: Did we read the same book?
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 22, 2013
I don't understand some of the rave reviews for this book. The idea behind it is great but I wish less had been given away in the seller's description because I would've loved to be surprised. The story takes on a different twist than most haunted house stories.Sadly, the execution of the story-telling is less than stellar, a bit choppy in some places and rushed in others. Okay, I get that the victims are put on display and they're gory. But what happens to Nettie doesn't make sense. She is seen brushing her hair and her hair is falling out in clumps and her skin is frothing off of her face and this is supposed to be ... terrifying? It doesn't match the goriness of what happened to the other two victims.Several reviewers said that the murders are justice killings and to them I would ask, Did we read the same book? The house owners' surname is Justice, yes, but their victims did nothing to earn their killings. It only states that they are all their best customers.The ending is confusing. I admit that I'm not very trendy but I had to read it twice to see if I understood correctly. I think the point was that more victims would be forthcoming, that the boy reading the text message is cheating on his girlfriend, finds Ariel attractive and will therefore, probably be the next victim. But if you have to read it twice then the reader fails to feel any chills associated with the scene.The beginning of the book says that this was published by Orange Otter Publishing House, which is dishonest. It's a self-pub job trying to pass for a professionally published book.A glance at the seller's description says this is a 29-page story but that's not so. The back contains 4 excerpts from the author's other books. Really, the story is only 11 pages long. Just a small pet peeve of mine about these types of books.The characters could've been fleshed out in greater detail and I agree with one reviewer who said that the reason for why an entire family would turn into psychopathic killers could have had a backstory. Obviously, none of the victims had any family. You'd think a missing person's report would get the attention of the thrill-seekers. One of the victims arrived in a cab and yet, that cab driver wasn't turned away by the family so as to hide their crime. Little logical mishaps like that set off alarms for me. But then, this is a gory short and not a fully fleshed-out novel. In more capable hands, it could've been so much more.