Reviews

Thank you to Titan Books for sending me a copy of this book for review!

For the most part, I really enjoyed this book! The book takes place between two main locations - Harry and Gabe’s flat, and Mr Castillos large Manor House. Harry has been hired by Mr Castillo as a house cleaner, and comes three days a week to clean the house from top to bottom. It’s a fairly normal, quiet job when she first arrives, but slowly strange things begin happening around the house, and a dark threat starts to reveal itself.

The book is told mostly through Harry’s point of view, showing her present day life, as well as jumping back to both hers and Mr Castillos childhoods. Harry was probably my favourite character in the book, and I especially loved her interactions with her son Gabe - their conversations in the kitchen of their flat were some of my favourite chapters, I think the author displayed their mother/son relationship beautifully!

Mr Castillo was also a very interesting character - a highly awarded Horror film director, living alone in a large house filled with props and posters from the various films he’s made throughout the years. He’s living the life of a recluse after the disappearance of his wife and son a few years before the start of the book. I warmed to him early on in the book, but as the story progressed, and he seemed to come out of his shell a little more, I found that I really disliked him, even though he didn’t necessarily do anything wrong - I think his character was written really well, and I loved how the story ended for him.

Without going into too much detail, the horror aspects of this book were pretty great - nothing that’s going to keep you up at night, but enough to give the house a really menacing aura. My main (and only, really) issue with the book is that it felt like it all wrapped up too quickly at the end. I would have loved the final encounters to last just a little bit longer. I did still enjoy how the book wrapped up, even if I would have loved to see how everything turned out for Harry and Gabe.

Overall, I’ve given it a 4.5 star rating, rounded down for Goodreads.

kyillme's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

colleenlovestoread's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

shaleyflowers's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny informative mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

kiikiiz's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

amy_alwaysreading's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

Thank you @berkleypub and @prhaudio for the free #gifted copies of this book and including me on this book tour.

Single mother, Harry, has instilled two things in her son: 1) Respect and kindness are required. 2). There’s nothing more entertaining than a good horror movie.

After struggling to find work, Harry landed a cleaning job at an old house owned by a former horror movie director and overflowing with horror movie relics, and it didn’t sound like a bad option.

But then, as they always do, unexplainable things start happening.

With a slow build into the action, Henry took her time in painting these characters. We get a deep dive into Harry’s mind- the struggles of being a single mom, the hardship of living at near-poverty levels, and I found myself easily cheering for her and her son, Gabe.

As with most haunted house storylines, this house has a heartbeat all its own. There’s a creepiness that emanated from the movie props, making them feel as though living entities. Eeriness seemed to loom in the air of the house, but the plotline never quite reached the sense of foreboding I craved.

Though this is labeled a horror read, I found it to be more horror-light or even horror-adjacent. With no gore and little action until the last chapters, this book felt creepy rather than downright scarry. It would be a great starting point for anyone wanting to give the horror genre a try.

🎧 Narrated by Lisa Flannigan, I felt as though I was right there in Harry’s mind. From her instincts as a mother to her determination towards what’s right, Flannigan brought the essence of Harry to life. Her depiction made this a quick and easy read.

shanblackman's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

More...