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octavia_cade 's review for:
It Came Back
by Samantha Lienhard
This is an interesting twist on a haunted house story - it's not the house that's haunted, but an object inside it. When Luna's parents die, she goes back to the house she'd been so determined to escape. While organising its sale, she comes across a packet of letters that tell the story of her grandfather, and how he found himself targeted by a creepy, white-eyed figure. Previous victims turned up dead, and two generations later Luna has to research her way to safety, trying to figure out what her grandfather and his colleagues did to stop the haunting.
I really liked the research aspect of this, the searching through libraries and old letters, but the story hinges on the fact that this supernatural threat is contained so long as no-one reads those letters in the first place. And all I can think is: So, Grandad, you chose to hide this lethal crap in your house, even knowing your little grandchild was tempted by the parts of the house you told her not to explore? (She failed to find the letters then, not for want of trying, but there was always the chance she'd succeed in the future - and of course she does, as an adult.) At the very least stick them in a lockbox and bury them in concrete ten foot down or something. It seems like a half-arsed means of keeping away your own supernatural stalker, is what I'm saying.
I really liked the research aspect of this, the searching through libraries and old letters, but the story hinges on the fact that this supernatural threat is contained so long as no-one reads those letters in the first place. And all I can think is: So, Grandad, you chose to hide this lethal crap in your house, even knowing your little grandchild was tempted by the parts of the house you told her not to explore? (She failed to find the letters then, not for want of trying, but there was always the chance she'd succeed in the future - and of course she does, as an adult.) At the very least stick them in a lockbox and bury them in concrete ten foot down or something. It seems like a half-arsed means of keeping away your own supernatural stalker, is what I'm saying.