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When your most haunting memory from childhood has a death grip on your adult life, sometimes you have no choice but to confront your past\u2026<\/p>\n
Clare got out as fast as she could.\u00a0 As soon as she was able to move away from her hometown and move on with her life, she jumped at the opportunity.\u00a0 Her childhood was not a particularly happy one; her mom died from cancer when she was in elementary school, and she never could really connect with her father.\u00a0 Her once simple friendships gradually became more complicated as they reached high school age and started to become involved in activities that were riskier than their innocent movie nights and sleepovers.<\/p>\n
One night, things go too far.\u00a0 A seemingly harmless trip to the town\u2019s weirdly shaped \u201chaunted house\u201d changes the trajectory of everyone\u2019s lives when a childish prank goes terribly wrong.\u00a0 The trauma experienced by all involved was enough to shatter their seemingly carefree lives.<\/p>\n
Years later, Clare is called back by Abby\u2019s (the target of the prank) mom.\u00a0 Clearly haunted by her past, Abby has tried to commit suicide, and her mom appeals to Clare to come back to see Abby in the ICU and speak over her troubled daughter in a vegetative state.\u00a0 This forces Clare to confront her own literal and figurative ghosts that have been haunting her since that fateful night.\u00a0 As she tries to make peace with her past, she is also forced to process what happened and how her life changed in an instant.\u00a0 Was what happened in the house real?\u00a0 And if it was, how could she possibly move past it when she feels forces beyond her control pulling her back beneath the stairs?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Why I read it: recommendation in an online book group<\/p>\n Trigger warnings:\u00a0suicide, death, horror, sexual content, language, violence, psychotic episodes, murder, alcohol, drugs<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What a ride!\u00a0 This book was intense!\u00a0 I love a \u201cpeel the onion\u201d book that reveals more and more as the reader turns each page.\u00a0 I also loved the way the author gave clues as to what was behind everything happening as this whole story was told in 3 totally different time periods.<\/p>\n I loved the imagery.\u00a0 I could picture the characters as well as the setting.\u00a0 I have never seen a house in the shape of an octagon before, but I had a clear view of what it looked like thanks to the author\u2019s descriptions.\u00a0 I loved the story telling.\u00a0 Even though it was told in 3 time periods, it was so easy to follow, and I was never once confused.<\/p>\n The reason I didn\u2019t give this book a solid 5 star rating was because there was one scene that made me incredibly uncomfortable.\u00a0 I think you will know it when you come to it.\u00a0 I understand the author was going for creepy and even a shock factor.\u00a0 There was just something about it that just didn\u2019t sit well with me.\u00a0 A lot of times, I am able to overlook scenes like this\u2026but this one stuck with me, and I couldn\u2019t let it go.<\/p>\n With that being said, it\u2019s a great, spooky read that kept me guessing until the end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"