This book was okay for me. Any lackluster feelings stem more from my hesitance with genre rather than the book itself. Horror really is not my thing, but I think this is an important and well done iteration.

This book teeters on the edge between paranormal horror and realistic horror, one moment convinced of a haunting and the next questioning the POV character's perception of reality. Maybe it's easier to live in a spooky story than

the realities of the hatred from others. I think the most horrifying part if this books isn't the ending, but the fact that it's believable.

This book is heartbreaking on a lot of levels. It really digs in to what it means to be a parent with trauma, who isn't sure of the space they take up in the world and is still unravelling their traumas from the past-- The desire to do better while being held back by your own injuries. It also discusses the complexity and resilience of siblings, as well as the horrors of racism in the US.

 Sometimes the prose itself lost me a little, but there are a lot of ways Ezri is a real breathing person, a painfully honest example of parenting with mental health issues. I love a story with a nonbinary parent lead. This is where it's hard for me because I think the tone of the book fits the POC character, Ezri, so well. I also didn't love it. It's one I'd recommend to horror fans but not one I'll reread.