Amy R. (AmyMarie) - , reviewed on 1/7/2021 + 46 more book reviews

Writers are supposed to show and not tell. And when it comes to horror, it's even more important that you slow down and give your reader atmosphere and relatable characters. You can't just say, "She was scared." You have to give us reason to BE scared.

Bentley Little fails at this on every level.

This entire book is telling, not showing. There are pages and pages and pages of narrative with no action and no dialog. And when Little does stop to show us something, it's completely inconsequential. For example, he spends several pages showing us his kids arguing over McDonalds vs Taco Bell for lunch, or giving us his opinion on protestors in the park (even though it has nothing to do with the storyline), but when an intruder shows up, scares the narrator into calling the police, and is subsequently arrested, the entire incident is narrated as a boring, matter-of-fact sequence of events in two or three paragraphs. Incident after incident in this haunted house, and yet Little never bothers to slow down and really give us a story we can sink into. The entire book feels very half-hearted, as if the author had a deadline but no real interest in the story or the characters. Very disappointing.

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