curiouslykatt's Reviews (1.12k)

“Maybe lucky places were haunted, the rest were just forgotten.”

Mara is 26 and floating through life with little aspiration. She feels like a bit of a leftover in her own family. Her cousin who is a tv host of a home renovation haunted house show offers her a job as an assistant. So while Mara is amping up the haunted houses scares, she is facing a haunting of her own. 

I didn’t even think labelling something cozy horror would be accurate but here we are. It has classic supernatural horror elements but there’s no gore and nothing viscerally scary about this one but it still can’t be fully removed from the horror genre. Think Casper the friendly ghost as an angsty teenager, that’s what this novella felt like.

An easy and fun, cozy horror novella, this is one where certain story elements shine in audio. It is a full cast narration and there are transcripts from the episode Mara is helping film sprinkled throughout. It was a delightful little romp through the behind the scenes of a tv home improvement show with the quirky fun of a ghost hunting reality show. 

Are the haunts real? Do they just need a little coaxing to come out? Do the ghosts think your millennial grey aesthetic might be what sends them over the veil? 

All roads lead to Crooked House. 

This is the second instalment in the crooked tales series, and book two picks up right where book one left off. 

I appreciate the little reminder opener at the start of this because book one had a lot going on towards the end and felt rushed to finish so it was good to have a little mini overview. Harrison has such a strong talent for writing prologues that get me super excited to read his books. Book two felt more focused than book one but I do feel it needed a heavier hand in editing. You can see where Harrison has experience in the film industry and has an eye for setting the scene, but in writing that ultimately leads to books being a bit too long and feeling drawn out without delivering enough substance for readers to sink their teeth into. I think some editing could reel in some of the excess and allow Harrison to shine in creating more opportunities to connect with the characters. 

I appreciated the deeper dive in Peter’s story here and found him to be my favourite character, the addition of the Father as well was a nice touch and inevitably made me think of the exorcist. I also loved the use of Crooked House as an anchor to bring all the characters together. 

Much like book one where a lot of Easter eggs are thrown throughout for movie fans, Harrison delivered here again for the horror fans.