This was a book club read, and not one I probably would have picked up on my own. It was a 2023 Horror Goodreads award winner, so that’s something!!, but it was a bit slow going for me in the beginning. Nevertheless, we carry on… and in the end, I’m glad I did (other than the fact that I had no choice – I can’t be getting any “0’s” on the reading list…).
Highlights:
Family hires a newly sober young adult to babysit their 5 year old. They put the babysitter in the guest house that once housed a murdered woman. Suddenly, the 5 year old starts drawing creepy pictures. Everything is totally fine….
What I thought:
This guy started off a bit slow. Typical young woman trying to convince the “perfect parents” that something is, in fact, not perfect. Throw in the [also] typical, young religious woman trying to convince atheist parents there’s an evil spirit, and we have our plot! Towards the middle it actually started getting a bit creepy, but also more irritating, and at that point I switched to my Kindle. I’m not sure if it was the switch in format or the turn of events in the story, but… OH MY GOD THE ENDING. From the halfway point on this book just went full throttle. It had not one, not two, but THREE different twists, and I honestly don’t even know which one shocked me the most. The ending saved this book, even if it was a bit much, but I’m going to say it was just OK overall. If you like ghost stories, which I do not, you might want to give it a look. If you’re not a ghost story person, you can skip it – the ending was crazy, but not enough to make up for the whole thing.
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