A review by vanmeers
Mouse Trap by Caryn Larrinaga

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

Mouse Trap follows Dakota as she travels back to her childhood home in Astoria where her older brother has been found dead. Dakota has to, alongside her parents, arrange her brother’s funeral and find arrangements on what is to happen to her childhood home. While her parents travel back to their city, Dakota stays behind and slowly uncovers deep dark secrets that lurk in the darkness of the home - a home that was once a place of happiness and joy but which turned into a place for grief and sadness when her younger brother died twenty years prior. Now grief and sorrow finds itself in the house again and Dakota has to fight the urge to fall into the grief. 

I read Mouse Trap in two days and the only reason I had to spend two days on it was because of adult responsibilities such as a “full time job”. If I had had the ability to sit down and read it all at once, I would’ve done it. This is a book that you do not wanna put down when you first start it. Thankfully, the beauty of Mouse Trap is that this book is exactly short enough for you to do so without it ever feeling too short or that there’s anything left unturned when you reach the last page. 

It’s quick paced and manages to snatch your attention from the first page and the author does an exceptional job in describing grief and how it affects you deep down in your bones. Even if you haven’t experienced the grief that the main character, Dakota, has experienced, you will be able to fully immerse yourself in it all thanks to the descriptive and detailed nature of the writing. The book explores grief through the supernatural and I think it’s done it quite well. Mouse Trap is definitely a book worth reading if you like slow creeping horror, trauma and grief, and want a quick read that leaves you stirring in your own feelings afterwards.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Timber Ghost Press, for the digital review copy!