This cover caught by eye, and then I read the synapsis–WOWZA! It really has it all: haunted woods, and isolated haunted house, the ghost of a “Sad Lady”–I’m sold! And then I started reading it…whomp whomp whomp.

This book was bad, y’all. We’re dealing with an “unreliable” main character who really didn’t make any sense at all. In the first chapter, we learn that she’s suicidal and homeless. Next, she cons her way into a nanny job and miraculously turns into a highly functional caretaker of two children. Huh? And what I thought would be a spooky ghost story filled with Nordic folklore really just turned out to be a convoluted cautionary tale preaching against the environmental dangers of home building in the wilderness.

I agree with all of this; however, I really get annoyed with authors trying to teach their readers a lesson under the guise of a horror novel. This is probably an unpopular opinion, especially given the state of our rapidly declining planet, but I’m just keeping it real, folks!

I’m here for the fictional escape into a haunted forest, not a finger-waggling cautionary tale. I know that in this crazy world we’re currently living in, it’s hard to not try to push an agenda to get into the readers’ psyche, but that’s just not what I’m here for. I’m just glad I borrowed this from the library and didn’t regret spending money on such a yawner. Some call this a slow burn, but I don’t recall this story even reaching a simmering boil. If you want to read a book about a creepy kid who sees dead people, check out ‘The Shining.” Heck, even “Hidden Pictures” was spookier than this, and it was hardly even a horror novel!