A review by shidoburrito
La maison d'à côté by Anne Rivers Siddons

3.0

Hmmm, I'm not sure how I feel about this book. There are some aspects to it that are a bit dated and didn't age well. Also, my level of sourthern is being near northern Kentucky, so a lot of this book's southern-ness was lost on me. Is it horror? Sure, in a vague sense. It's not any ghosts or demons haunting the house, more like an un-named, nebulous evil that preys upon the occupants (and involved neighbors') weaknesses. I guess that counts as a haunted house?
SpoilerWhat made me laugh was that in 3 of the 4 hauntings, the "scary" revealed weakness was infidelity. Southern baptists and catholics I'm sure were horrified!
If you, like me, are just trying to read a bunch of different haunted house fiction books, then add this to your list. If you are looking for something really terrifying and want a real good haunted house book, you could probably pass this one up.
SpoilerAlso, I feel the main character was really lucky, maybe even too lucky, to have the spouse that she did. Sure, the house and the ruination of each couple that moved into the house slowly wore on her, but having the husband that she did, Colquitt seemed to be able to bounce back pretty quick from a lot of stuff with some encouraging words from him and a good boink. Honestly, I think Walter is the hero of this story!