I got hold of this novella from the local library because it's on a list of haunted house stories I've been reading my way through. Thing is, it's not really a haunted house story. There's a murder, and a body in the well, and a guilty husband who becomes aware of some creepy shit involving rats - I hate rats - in his house. Yet, "twist" ending aside, it's not so much a haunting as it is a slow mental deterioration, I think. I never really got the impression that anything supernatural was actually happening - not that I'm complaining about that! Some of the finest horror stories in the world go this route (see: "The Yellow Wallpaper") and I'm always happy to read it because when it comes to horror, what humans do to others and themselves is often far scarier than any ghost or monster could be. And on that note, the pact here between father and son to get rid of wife and mother is, as it has to be, the starting event that twists and destroys all their lives.

That being said, neither mother, father, nor son was that likeable, although I did feel a bit sorry for the latter as he was a kid who was manipulated into murder. However, when the most sympathetic character is a literal cow, there's not a whole lot of emotional response can be drawn from the family tragedy on show here.