Review: Horrid

Discussion

I don’t think I was the right audience for this. In fact, I know I wasn’t the right audience for this. So I’ve been trying to determine how to go about this review, for over two weeks.

Here’s the thing, I really didn’t like this. But I don’t think it is a bad book per se. I’ve seen this referred to as a good “gateway” book into horror, and I completely agree. As a teen/preteen I think I would’ve been all over this spooky setting with its traditional horror scenes. Maybe it’s the contemporary factor, but for me it read quite predictably, relying heavily on horror tropes and ultimately felt direction-less and rudder-less.

There wasn’t a lot of time spent on plot development, character development or the conversation on mental illness and grief that I was expecting after reading the blurb. It did deliver some nice, cold, autumnal atmosphere and plenty of creepy noises, “faulty” lighting, and a delicious crumbling, eerie, old mansion. Unfortunately this scary story didn’t quite deliver on the scary and instead served up a platter of all too common “scary” plot elements. I felt the overall story struggled to find its rhythm or direction, waffling between a contemporary trying to discuss grief & mental illness and a straight up paranormal ghost story, but never marrying the two. A plot that meandered, was repetitive, and eventually just headed nowhere, characters that couldn’t be told apart, little description, plot lines and characters left abandoned and an ending that just … well, ended. Not for me, but then I’m not sure I was ever the target market.

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Sadie

Written by Courtney Summers

Published by Wednesday Books

You can find it here: Bookshop.org