A review by shawcrit
The House of Drought by Dennis Mombauer

5.0

Creepy house. Unsettling woods. Shady motivations. Unexplained disappearances....this book is a mind-bending horror tale that got under my skin and uses gothic tropes in fresh ways. The book itself is organized kind of like a haunted house where you never seem to be able to get your footing: it's disorienting, but in a gripping way that keeps you invested. The author plays with form so that readers get a taste of the dread and claustrophobia felt by the characters. There are a lot of threads in here if you sit with the novella and let it sink in: commentary on colonialism, on story-telling and who has the right to tell which stories, on climate change, on intergenerational and cultural trauma. At the same time, it's not a heavy-handed book, and it works just as effectively as a fun, creepy read with some brilliant and haunting imagery. Highly recommended.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.