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A review by rereader33
The Animals at Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey
5.0
Oh my gosh, I finally read a fiction novel in 2020 that I deemed worthy of 5 stars...excuse me for a second, *walks off, sobbing with joy*
But in all seriousness, this was amazing! The horror elements, the characters, the story, the mystery, all of it was so good! While I do have my gripes (we'll get to those later), I did thoroughly enjoy this novel and highly recommend it.
First things first, though. Ordinarily I take issue with novels enticing readers with promises of supernatural suspense only to just as quickly erase any notion of the supernatural, but for some reason this didn't bother me so much in this novel. Maybe it's because, while the supernatural elements themselves were terrifying, the supposed "lore" wasn't fully explained towards the end and I had thus lost interest in it. Then the big reveal came and I thought to myself, "damn, this is more creepy and disturbing than the supernatural elements," so all was well.
For me, what made the horror and suspense so intense was the situation and context. Hetty temporarily living in a manor with a misogynistic dickweed of a man, a woman her age who is mentally unwell, and a collection of staff members who are either phenomenal assholes or useless gossips. On top of that, the manor itself has NINETY-TWO empty rooms and FOUR STAIRCASES. I don't get how that makes sense, but even if I was surrounded by the most loving people ever I'd be freaked out by this house. And, you know, there's also the sounds of something prowling around the house, specimens being moved around, weird sounds at night, you know, the usual horror stuff. All of this bundled together makes for a tight, unnerving atmosphere that was hard for me not to empathize with Hetty's situation.
That being said, one thing that bothered me about her situation is, when the final reveal happens, we don't get a lot of backstory explaining other people's involvements. I know that sounds weird, but I'm trying not spoil anything, but what I'm saying is that someone specifically was involved and there were a handful of people who must have had SOME idea that something was going on, but we never get their side of the story or and backstory on them. That would probably be because the final reveal happens within the last 80 PAGES and while interesting, is SO FUCKING RUSHED that readers are left putting some of the pieces together on their own. Not that I think it was poorly handled, but considering how much time was spent on Hetty moping, talking about specimens, and the general layout of the manor, I think some of that should have been cut to make room for more explanation.
After reading some reviews, I noticed a lot of people complained that little to nothing happened throughout the novel. While I can't argue with that, my counter would be that once the reveal is made, having anything else happen would have been difficult to explain due to certain limitations. Again, I won't go any further due to spoilers, but I think it's more realistic how the story was done as opposed to something crazy happening every other chapter. Speaking of crazy...
The biggest thing that sold me on this was the perceived downward spiral into madness due to Hetty's situation. As I mentioned before, what made this so horrifying to read was the combination of the tense atmosphere and Hetty's company. None of the staff members, save maybe Dorothy, are nice to her and even treat her like she's a burden or a troublemaker. Combined with the mischief being made around the manor and being isolated from her usual surroundings, Hetty's descent into paranoia and almost madness is understandable because she has almost no support. And the only support she does have is Lucy, but Lucy is mentally unwell because of the trauma she suffered as a child and into her adulthood. Hetty's struggles, and even Lucy's struggles as someone who has suffers from anxiety and night terrors, is almost painfully real and that's what makes it so scary.
Now, I feel the need to discuss the men in this novel, specifically the Major, but really their all just pompous assholes. It's 1939 when the story starts and follows WWII, how do you THINK men treat women, especially ones in male dominated fields AND their daughters? Seriously, just take use your imagination. Although, the one thing I will say is the Major fits very well with the theme of male dominance, predatory behavior, and the need for validation, specifically with trophies.
One finally thing, this is queer and I wasn't expecting it and I loved it. That's all I'll say, read the book for more.
Okay, I've ranted enough, but suffice to say, I loved this novel! This is definitely not going to be for everyone, but if you want a creepy, disturbing, Gothic horror with queer lovers, give this one a shot.
But in all seriousness, this was amazing! The horror elements, the characters, the story, the mystery, all of it was so good! While I do have my gripes (we'll get to those later), I did thoroughly enjoy this novel and highly recommend it.
First things first, though. Ordinarily I take issue with novels enticing readers with promises of supernatural suspense only to just as quickly erase any notion of the supernatural, but for some reason this didn't bother me so much in this novel. Maybe it's because, while the supernatural elements themselves were terrifying, the supposed "lore" wasn't fully explained towards the end and I had thus lost interest in it. Then the big reveal came and I thought to myself, "damn, this is more creepy and disturbing than the supernatural elements," so all was well.
For me, what made the horror and suspense so intense was the situation and context. Hetty temporarily living in a manor with a misogynistic dickweed of a man, a woman her age who is mentally unwell, and a collection of staff members who are either phenomenal assholes or useless gossips. On top of that, the manor itself has NINETY-TWO empty rooms and FOUR STAIRCASES. I don't get how that makes sense, but even if I was surrounded by the most loving people ever I'd be freaked out by this house. And, you know, there's also the sounds of something prowling around the house, specimens being moved around, weird sounds at night, you know, the usual horror stuff. All of this bundled together makes for a tight, unnerving atmosphere that was hard for me not to empathize with Hetty's situation.
That being said, one thing that bothered me about her situation is, when the final reveal happens, we don't get a lot of backstory explaining other people's involvements. I know that sounds weird, but I'm trying not spoil anything, but what I'm saying is that someone specifically was involved and there were a handful of people who must have had SOME idea that something was going on, but we never get their side of the story or and backstory on them. That would probably be because the final reveal happens within the last 80 PAGES and while interesting, is SO FUCKING RUSHED that readers are left putting some of the pieces together on their own. Not that I think it was poorly handled, but considering how much time was spent on Hetty moping, talking about specimens, and the general layout of the manor, I think some of that should have been cut to make room for more explanation.
After reading some reviews, I noticed a lot of people complained that little to nothing happened throughout the novel. While I can't argue with that, my counter would be that once the reveal is made, having anything else happen would have been difficult to explain due to certain limitations. Again, I won't go any further due to spoilers, but I think it's more realistic how the story was done as opposed to something crazy happening every other chapter. Speaking of crazy...
The biggest thing that sold me on this was the perceived downward spiral into madness due to Hetty's situation. As I mentioned before, what made this so horrifying to read was the combination of the tense atmosphere and Hetty's company. None of the staff members, save maybe Dorothy, are nice to her and even treat her like she's a burden or a troublemaker. Combined with the mischief being made around the manor and being isolated from her usual surroundings, Hetty's descent into paranoia and almost madness is understandable because she has almost no support. And the only support she does have is Lucy, but Lucy is mentally unwell because of the trauma she suffered as a child and into her adulthood. Hetty's struggles, and even Lucy's struggles as someone who has suffers from anxiety and night terrors, is almost painfully real and that's what makes it so scary.
Now, I feel the need to discuss the men in this novel, specifically the Major, but really their all just pompous assholes. It's 1939 when the story starts and follows WWII, how do you THINK men treat women, especially ones in male dominated fields AND their daughters? Seriously, just take use your imagination. Although, the one thing I will say is the Major fits very well with the theme of male dominance, predatory behavior, and the need for validation, specifically with trophies.
One finally thing, this is queer and I wasn't expecting it and I loved it. That's all I'll say, read the book for more.
Okay, I've ranted enough, but suffice to say, I loved this novel! This is definitely not going to be for everyone, but if you want a creepy, disturbing, Gothic horror with queer lovers, give this one a shot.