EricaO

Phwah!
I finished.
I'm glad.

It's October and, as so many of us have, I found myself with a hankering for scary stories. I wanted a ghost story and I wanted to try someone I'd never read. Bentley Little has a decent reputation so I gave this book a shot.

It wasn't to my taste.

To me, this seemed like a remade, updated version of "Poltergeist" with some themes coming scarily close - family moves into new house ( There were even three kids and the two parents only, in this case, instead of the youngest child being taken out of the picture for much of the story, it was the oldest child who wasn't there but did show up, in a way, toward the end. Also: ancient Indian burial ground built upon because developers wouldn't listen/Ancient evil the Indians warned against but nobody would listen) and weird things happen ; dad rescuing son from the muddy swimming pool hole/dad rescuing son from deep hole in dirt. You know. That sort of thing.
My sister and I discuss "Poltergeist" often; the thing that makes it scary even into adulthood is that it seems like something that could happen. Even if it really can't, it seems like it could what with the spirit world threatening the whole family, focusing on the children, tearing apart the house and NO ONE BELIEVES YOU except for the weird ghost hunters.
I never felt that with this book. I didn't get that, "OMG, what would I do if this did happen?" feeling, I never got that "We're alone in here" feeling (mostly because it seems everyone in the 'hood knows about the haunted nature of this house) Instead, I wondered why this family was so terrible at communication, something they'd apparently been fostering for years and years. It was almost like a parable: If you can't have earnest, heartfelt talks when you're married and you can't do so with your children, there's a good chance you're going to move somewhere and have your asses haunted and you STILL won't learn how to communicate and PEOPLE WILL DIE! Only there was no epiphany where the family learned how to work together and be a family. So I guess it would be a fairly lame parable.

In addition to not being scared, I was confused by the evil spirit. It seems this particular presence can break all corporeal boundaries but has a serious respect for emotional and psychological lines. Because here's the thing: If I were this evil spirit, there's no way I'd tailor my terrorizing to appropriate age groups. No, because I'm evil. I want to scare the crap out of every family member in the most horrific ways possible. I'm not going to be Casper The Pervy Ghost (Rated R) in the marital chamber but then text the teen girl to "take off your pants" (Rated PG13)and then give the even younger boy strange urges that have nothing to do with sex (Rated G). No, it's going to be equal all across the board. I'm going to put awful perversions in all their minds and watch them act it all out because I don't care who gets hurt. I AM EVIL, remember?
This entity, though, despite making people do some questionable things in the past, is fairly tame in this day and age. Also, it knows how to use modern communication devices, which is pretty hip. It's more like a rowdy teenage boy who has a little too much freedom than an ancient and terrible force full of mayhem and horror.
I think what I'm taking up way too many words to say is: I found the whole haunting situation to be a tad silly. And that's probably why it didn't scare me.
That's not what dropped it down to the two-star rating, though.

There was one message, one aspect of this story that really bothered me. It took me awhile to suss it out but I finally realized what made me so uncomfortable with this tale: SEX
I put that in all-caps because it's a popular word and gets a lot of attention.
Specifically, it was the messages about sex. I've already touched on how the parents are getting all down and dirty while the teenage daughter is getting pervy-but-not-dangerous text messages. She does see one of her little friends molested at a sleepover and the spirit leers at her when she's showering and stuff but it's all very ... teen-movie-ish. So there's something in the house that enjoys the idea of being a creeper to teenage girls, right?
The thing is, the parents are suddenly always horny since they've moved into their haunted home. That's great! Only, apparently, it isn't because it's mentioned a few times that oldly-weds don't ever feel this way so something is obviously wrong. Which...ok...yeah, oldly-marrieds who have a family and have jobs often stop being all in each others pants all the time. That's true for some couples. But then when this particular couple starts trying new things - like talking mildly dirty and having anal sex - that's when they know something is wrong, so horribly wrong. And to show how wrong this has all become, the husband even rapes the wife at one point and she doesn't even care. They never mention it again (remember: Poor Communicators) but there is one instant in which they have normal, old-fashioned, love-centered sex and it's all like it was and how it should always be and that was the one time they didn't feel like something was wrong. So the message I am hearing here is that old, boring couples need to focus on not spicing things up but should, instead, rely on tried-and-true methods to express their love. Always. Because it is deviant to do anything else and if you even start wondering what it would be like to ask your husband to perform cunnilingus upon your person without having washed first, well, that just means that you are possessed by something abominable and before you know it, PEOPLE WILL DIE! In addition, this perverse behavior is similar to sexually harassing a minor. IT IS ALL VERY GROSS and is all the product of the devil.
Yes, yes, I KNOW I'm reading waaaay too much into this. Way too much. I'm sure that message is not there at all and I'm making crap up because...well, because I do that, apparently. But at the same time, I felt sorry for a couple who can't have fun with sex, who has to have tender and meaningful, loving intimacy all the time because to do otherwise is a sign of being taken over by an evil spirit.
I think the quick-n-dirty sex moments were so not-in-line with the rest of the story that they grabbed my attention more than they would have. It's almost as if there were multiple spirits in the house, a malicious one, a pervy one, a teenage boy one, a old-fashioned spooky one that leaves random and scary messages...and in a way, I suppose that was true but it's not like the reader ever really finds that out.
I dunno. I sort of felt like I'd been in marriage counseling and learned that it's important to communicate open and honestly, not hide things from the spouse, and also, only loving, tender sexual relations are healthy. Everything else is demonic.
And on the ending: Does a person really just peacefully fade away half an hour after downing a bottle of Advil? Seriously? I'm surprised there aren't more Advil-related suicides. And also: No. Just, no. This ending? I rolled my eyes and sighed with the easy-out melodrama of it all.
Like I said, this just wasn't my cup of tea.