Man, Fuck This House

For all that it is imperfect, I'm really glad I read this. It introduces some truly novel and fun ideas to the haunted house genre. (And answers the question “why don't they just leave” in a daring and remarkable way!) Plus the introduction of the specter (most specifically, its exit - I'll say no more) was wonderfully unique, Weird, and unsettling!

This could qualify as horror, comedy horror, or bizarro fiction. It takes the age-old concept of the haunted house and tries some cool new things with it. While most of the supporting characters range from pure trope (but with an entertaining, winking embrace of their tropiness) to a completely over-the-top creepy child, daughter Michaela comes across more as a real person, and main character Sabrina is fully fleshed out and sympathetic, even among the absolutely looney events of the plot.

The writing quality was good - I found myself highlighting key passages and frequently chuckling at clever phrasing. However, it was hampered by some missing content (at one point there's reference to an incident with a dead mouse in a cabinet that never occurred, we're not told what state the story is set in, which seemed like a deliberate decision, until it was mentioned in the last chapter, and suchlike) and some typos/mistakes. I think with better editing, this would have been a solid 4-star read. So 4 stars for the ideas and general writing quality, 3 stars for the finished e-book product, which may involve some editing mistakes and/or problems with conversion to a Kindle e-book, and so I don't think it's fair to lower my official rating.

All in all, this had me asking “what the fuck did I just read?” in the best way