Review: Rip up the floorboards
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 6, 2013
It takes guts to write a haunted house story, and it takes originallity to make it stick out. This author has such guts, and the Mourning House does stick out.  In the opening scene an unforgettable gypsy-type woman will reach out of the book and touch your arm. Tragedy strikes that will touch your heart, and you can feel the grief when the main character feels compelled to live in a solitary shack.  Soon enough, the house comes alive, and the main character rips the floorboards of his inner psyche open.  The house in this case does seem more of a shack, which fits, because unlike a family being haunted as in most 'haunted house' stories, the mourning house is about one man being haunted by a history of death and tragedy. He retreats inside himself, and the house changes and devolves along with his inward journey. The reader, like the diner waitress who is of the few to be able to spectate, is lucky enough to witness.Yes, a strong review, right? Yet, I didn't feel compelled to keep reading this. The book didn't speak to me when I wasn't with it, which is what I typically want for a 4 or 5 star. The ending demands some conjecture from the reader, and I completely respect the author for doing such, but I wish he had done some more work as well and met us further than halfway. That said, I suspect this novella won't let folks down.