A review by ninjabunneh
Amity by Micol Ostow
3.0
Growing up on Long Island, it always tickled my horror loving brain pink that The Amityville Horror story basically took place almost in my backyard. For those who don't know the background, a quick recap. In the 70s, a seriously fucked in the head asswipe murdered his entire family, siblings included. He later claimed that the voices from the house told him to do it. A new family eventually moved in, lasted about a week and ran away claiming some evil presence. Thus, The Amityville Horror money train was born. When I came across Amity on NG, it was like ringing the nostalgic dinner bell complete with Nutella for dessert.
Here are the necessary ingredients:
One haunted house full of fucked up scary shit - check.
One creepy boathouse complete with randomly banging door - check.
One basement that no human being in their right mind should ever enter - check.
A few fucked up teens - check, check, check, and check.
Group of mostly shitty adult parental figures - quadruple check.
Amity takes place in a sleepy tiny town, complete with rather unfriendly citizens, rendering the occupants' of Amity rather isolated. Connor has moved into the house with his parents and sister, Jules. It seems Connor isn't quite right in the head and the family needs a bit of isolation to keep him on the right track. The perfect place to do this? A house with an evil presence, of course! Connor travels down a dark path that can only lead to not very good things.
Gwen is a seemingly normal teen girl, who moves into Amity a decade after Connor's family. She isn't a normal girl, however, and has been through her share of shrinks and diagnoses.
What follows are two different POVs told a decade apart. Both lives and the lives of their families intertwined by Amity. This book was creepy, and damn I was sucked in right away. Then slowly, but surely, the too convenient conveniences slipped silently in. Predictability reared its ugly head. The ending was brought on way too quickly and fizzled completely. A tiny bit of redemption came in the twisty epilogue, which rode in on a white horse to save the day.
Much to my dismay, what started out with a BANG! went out with a whimper.
3 Ninja-Bunnehs-Chopping-Wood
(Arc received in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are subject to change upon final release.)
Here are the necessary ingredients:
One haunted house full of fucked up scary shit - check.
One creepy boathouse complete with randomly banging door - check.
One basement that no human being in their right mind should ever enter - check.
A few fucked up teens - check, check, check, and check.
Group of mostly shitty adult parental figures - quadruple check.
Amity takes place in a sleepy tiny town, complete with rather unfriendly citizens, rendering the occupants' of Amity rather isolated. Connor has moved into the house with his parents and sister, Jules. It seems Connor isn't quite right in the head and the family needs a bit of isolation to keep him on the right track. The perfect place to do this? A house with an evil presence, of course! Connor travels down a dark path that can only lead to not very good things.
Gwen is a seemingly normal teen girl, who moves into Amity a decade after Connor's family. She isn't a normal girl, however, and has been through her share of shrinks and diagnoses.
What follows are two different POVs told a decade apart. Both lives and the lives of their families intertwined by Amity. This book was creepy, and damn I was sucked in right away. Then slowly, but surely, the too convenient conveniences slipped silently in. Predictability reared its ugly head. The ending was brought on way too quickly and fizzled completely. A tiny bit of redemption came in the twisty epilogue, which rode in on a white horse to save the day.
Much to my dismay, what started out with a BANG! went out with a whimper.
3 Ninja-Bunnehs-Chopping-Wood
(Arc received in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are subject to change upon final release.)