HORROR

The Perfectly Fine House

Grindhouse. Mar. 2020. 230p. ISBN 9781941918630. pap. $14.95. HORROR
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Imagine a world where ghosts not only exist but live in tandem with the living. Donna runs a profitable (but stressful) businesses based on the ghost economy: Her incorporeal clients can buy a living volunteer to experience physical pleasures for a short time. After she suffers a panic attack, her dead twin brother finds Donna the perfect weekend getaway, a home that is so off the grid it isn’t even haunted. But there’s something strange about this seemingly idyllic place. There, the siblings unknowingly unleash an unstoppable force, one that could consume the world as they have always known it, removing every ghost forever. Drawing readers in with a gimmicky premise, Kozeniewski (The Hematophages) and Young (The Magpie Coffin) deliver a thought-provoking tale set in an expertly crafted world, featuring a suspenseful mystery populated with fully realized characters. Both a fun and serious contemplation of how the world as we know it can change in the blink of an eye.
VERDICT Great for readers who love haunted house stories with detailed worldbuilding, such as Tananarive Due’s The Good House, and for fans of dark, speculative tales that employ unique twists on established tropes, such as Ben H. Winters’s preapocalyptic trilogy, “The Last Policeman.”
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