Today's post is on In the Shadow of Spindrift House by Mira Grant. It is 200 pages long and is published by Subterranean Press. The cover is shades of green with a house in the center and a woman standing water with tentacles coming up to her. The intended reader is someone who likes Lovecraft, horror, and playing with tropes. The story is told from first person close of the main character Harlowe. There is some mild foul language, talk of sex and sexuality, and no violence in this novel. There Be Spoilers Ahead.
From the dust jacket- Nature abhors a straight line. The natural world is a place of curves and softened edges, of gentle mists and welcoming spirals. Nature remembers deviation; nature does not forgive.
For Harlowe Upton-Jones, life has never been a straight line. Shipped off to live with her paternal grandparents after a mysterious cult killed her mother and father, she has grown up chasing the question behind the curve, becoming part of a tight-knit teen detective agency. But “teen” is a limited time offer, and when her friends start looking for adult professions, it’s up to Harlowe to find them one last case so that they can go out in a blaze of glory.
Welcome to Spindrift House.
The stories and legends surrounding the decrepit property are countless and contradictory, but one thing is clear: there are people willing to pay a great deal to determine the legal ownership of the house. When Harlowe and her friends agree to investigate the mystery behind the manor, they do so on the assumption that they’ll be going down in history as the ones who determined who built Spindrift House—and why. The house has secrets. They have the skills. They have a plan. They have everything they need to solve the mystery.
Everything they need except for time. Because Spindrift House keeps its secrets for a reason, and it has no intention of letting them go.
Nature abhors a straight line.
Here’s where the story bends.
Review- This novel was very well-written, playing with some interesting tropes, but something about it just fell flat for me. Harlowe Upton-Jones wants to keep her friends together and thinks that if they solve the mystery of who owns Spindrift House and get the money for doing so, they will not need to get adult jobs or move away. But Spindrift House has been waiting for Harlowe and once they walk into the house nothing will never be the same. Grant plays with the teen detective tropes well; with the smart one Harlowe, the fighter Addison, the anxious one Kevin, and the one with common sense Andy. They know they roles and they stick to them. But Spindrift House does not care what roles the teen played, only in who they bring with them. This is not really very scary story at all, it is more just an interesting haunted house story. I would have liked the house to be present in the whole story but it only really comes to talk in the end and those are the best scenes in the book. It would be interesting to see more of this world because I wanted more from this novel but it ending is just fine. If you like Grant and Lovecraft then you try this novel.
I give this novel a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.
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