A review by bookishcookiemonster
Beneath the Stairs by Jennifer Fawcett

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.5

I wish I liked this book but it was so hard to get through.
For a book that is supposed to be in the horror/thriller genres it is SO SLOW and barely has any actual action or horror in it.
The plot meanders. There are so many scenes that don't add to the main story.
There were so many times I wanted to put it down but it just has so much POTENTIAL. I kept hoping it would pick up the pace and become exciting but it never does.
I'm upset because I really, really wanted to like this book. It could have been so scary and exciting. There were moments, especially with the

flipping of tenses, that it reminded me of Mike Flannigan's version of The Haunting of Hill House

, which is why I was so determined to finish it. 
A plot that had the potential to be so good, but was the most boring horror novel I've ever read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Misogyny, Self harm, Blood, Torture, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Confinement, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Miscarriage, Chronic illness, Car accident, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, and Child death

So much time/space is wasted on the main character, Claire's insecurities. One, or two sentences expressing her not feeling worthy of Mitchell, or not a good enough friend to Abby is enough in my opinion when she's around those two, but like LINE AFTER LINE OF HER AGONIZING "oh, he's going to reject me" or "she's going to hate me" it really gets old and annoying after a while