CONTAINS SPOILERS!
♫ Three blind mice. Three blind mice.
See how they run. See how they run.
♫ They all ran after the farmer’s wife
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife ♪
Did you ever see such a sight in your life
♫ As three blind mice?
Little girls, dolls, mirrors, ghosts, demons, Ouija board, and a nursery rhyme. Perfect combination for an alternative for caffeine. And I don’t drink coffee.
Be careful what you let in…
It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that got me sort of paranoid to the point of getting me to run from my room and look for people. From a loner like me, that means something. I literally bolted from my room a couple of times, maybe twice or thrice. My brothers are now probably doubting my sanity, assuming they don’t already.
Okay, let’s back up a bit. It was a rather gloomy afternoon. The sky was filled with thick grayish clouds. Temperature was lower than the past few days and it was raining. It was the perfect setting to lock myself in my room and get started on reading a horror novel. Few chapters later I was seen running like an idiot towards the living room.
THE BOOK
The book was awesome. I would have finished it sooner if I wasn’t such a coward or if I wasn’t nocturnal. The thing when reading during the night is that my room feels “safer” than running to the darkness. In other words, I got nowhere to run. Like running actually helps any.
Anyway, back to the book. The characters were rather cliche but enjoyable never the less. The characters each added to the mystery of the story and keeps the readers guessing on what exactly is going on. Dr. Brandt, for example, is a clearly questionable character which the 4 main characters would keep pointing out. The readers however, would be kept guessing and guessing for quite some time before they find out what’s up with him. It’s like this feeling of you know he’s up to something and you’re almost sure of what it is and all you need is the author confirming your theory in the next chapter or so while being on the look out of a possible twist. After chapters of agonizing over whether your theory is correct, twist or no twist, the relief of finally knowing what’s up with him is bliss. Same goes for the twins and pretty much everything else only some occurrences would be cleared up in one or two chapters.
The author, Michelle Muto, handled the story really well that I felt like I was a 5th kid in the group of 4 only I was the only one without a “gift”. Or I was one of the resident ghost watching them.. or I was part, if not the house itself. Having an over active imagination helps too.
OVERACTIVE IMAGINATION
Speaking of over active imagination, part of the reason I ran from my room was the fact that my grandfather just passed away recently and right here sitting in my room is his accordion and somewhere in our house is his piano. Now, there’s a point in the book where a xylophone is playing “Three Blind Mice” on its own. I tried to hum the tune to remember it and I somehow imagined the accordion and the piano playing on its own and my grandpa appearing out of nowhere.
My grandpa is in no way a scary dude. It’s the thought of seeing something I shouldn’t that scared me and of course the thought that those instruments would make a sound of its own. Thankfully, they didn’t. But I still ran anyway. Again, like that would help any. In suspense movies, it’s always the one who runs first that gets killed off. (I’m not really helping myself here now am I?) There’s also the fact that there’s a very missing porcelain doll in my room… or was in my room. Those kind of dolls scare me big time and I have no intention of asking my mom if she’s seen it in case she gives me an answer I don’t want to hear. Ignorance is bliss… sort of.
The nursery rhyme was a good addition to the story. It’s a rhyme with a grim background like most nursery rhymes. It also has this familiar tune that most of us know. The awesome part, with the power of association, hearing the rhyme might remind the you of this novel. 😉
FAVORITE CHARACTERS
Of the characters in the book, Siler House has to be my favorite. Yes, the house is a character. Deal with it! The house still holds mystery until the very end. Fire has mostly been an answer to scary things, making Siler House unburnable in a sense makes it even more awesome. Okay it’s not that you can’t burn it, it’s the fact that you shouldn’t. Yum yum. Way to complicate things. You know, maybe the house has gotten to me too…
Of the 4 kids, Allison has to be my favorite. Her paranoia and her questionable sanity adds a lot of flavor to the story for me. Somehow I wish there’s a version where it’s in her point of view. Just imagine how crazier things would sound!
ROMANCE
Since this is a NA novel, there’s romance in it and I’m not really a fan of romance unless it’s the comedy or suspense kind. This novel is no exception, then again I don’t really read YA novels and this is my first NA novel. Fans of the genre would probably enjoy it but I could do without it. A few hints here and there (or none at all) would be enough for me.
CONCLUSION
After reading this book, you might start covering your mirrors too…
This book is worth reading if you’d love a good scare or would simply like to read something from the NA, horror genre. It’s probably not that scary if you’re used to reading horror novels but it probably would be for those who are easily scared or have an over active imagination. But hey, even if you’re used to reading books from the horror genre why not give it a try and tell me what you think?
One thing’s for sure; if Michelle Muto’s going to write another horror novel, I’m definitely going to read it! I’ll probably go check out her other books too.
You know, the funny thing about this is that I’ve dealt with cadavers (dead human bodies) for 2 years yet here I am scared of ghosts.. well, mostly the demons. I quote my favorite mystery/suspense author:
The dead do not hurt you; only the living do.
– Tess Gerritsen [The Sinner]
I got my copy from Amazon. My first ebook thanks to my mom!
Side note:
The whole locked doors thing and Mrs. Hirsch with her keys reminded me of the movie “The Skeleton Key”. Some parts of the story also somehow reminded me of “The Cabin in the Woods”. If you haven’t seen those movie and would love a good scare then watch them, especially The Skeleton Key!
Whatever Reg 