Isabel Strychacz: "House of Thorns" (ARC Review)

Title: House of Thorns [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Isabel Strychacz [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2024
Age: 14+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Fresh, atmospheric take on the haunted/magical/evil house trope. Engaging (if sometimes flawed) characters.
Cons: The first section is a bit lackluster. There's some confusion about the protagonist's age. The addiction theme is ultimately brushed aside.
WARNING! Grief, panic attacks, anxiety/PTSD, drug and alcohol abuse (offscreen), near-drowning, death of a parent who no longer lives with the family.
Will appeal to: Those who like creepy, but not downright gruesome stories. Those who enjoy sisterly dynamics and a pinch of childhood-friends romance. Most of all, those who are fond of mysterious houses and shifting realities.

Blurb: Five years ago, the Peartrees fled their home - the infamous ancestral Brier Hall - and never looked back. But her oldest sister went missing that night, and there’s been no sign of her since. In the aftermath, the Peartrees are traumatized and get by however they can. Lia’s remaining sister Ali says yes to any bad idea, and Lia tries so desperately to be the perfect daughter that it’s tearing her apart. But as the five year anniversary of the night they left nears, Lia begins seeing her missing sister everywhere. When Ali disappears with no warning except a cryptic phone call, Lia is sure she’s gone back to Brier Hall. Lia must go home one final time and face what haunts her in an effort to find her sisters and uncover the truth of her past. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on Edelweiss. Thanks to Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (Simon Teen) for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

ON THE HOUSE

I've been reading so many supernatural (or in one case, multiverse) books with houses at their center lately, and yet each and every one of them has managed to bring something different (and creative) to the table. I can happily report that House of Thorns is no exception. I'll be honest...it's a bit of a slow burn, and at first I thought it was a fairly run-of-the-mill modern gothic story, but when the mystery about the house started to get unraveled, I was hooked. Told from teen and kid Lia's perspectives, with the interpolation of some chapters from Brier Hall's point of view (which is not a gimmick, but a narrative device that does add a pivotal angle to the story, plus it's really cool), House of Thorns is a novel that blurs the lines between the past and the present, the haunter and the haunted - and even the ultimately familiar trope at its core feels fresh and exciting (OK, a bit heartbreaking too) in this context. While on the surface a tale of (strained) sisterly relationships and childhood trauma, on a deeper level HOT is about the need to belong and to find someone who will fill our empty spaces, a need embodied by the emotional entanglement between a young woman and a house who loves her back - if in a twisted way. Which makes for a melancholic and creepy narrative that works very well with the supernatural, time-bending quality of the story and the sisterhood theme. [...]

THE HUMAN ANGLE

Of course, if Brier Hall's mystery sits at the center of the story, this doesn't mean that the sibling relationship isn't given proper attention. The double timeline not only serves the purpose of uncovering the mystery itself, but also enhances the familial angle, and shows how Avery's disappearance five years prior has driven a wedge between her two once close younger sisters, shaping them into the persons they are when the story starts - the black sheep (Ali) and the golden, yet tortured child (Lia) who resents both her sister and her own role in the family. I have but two gripes with this part: Ali's addiction seems to be in the story more for conflict's sake than anything else, especially since it becomes sort of a non-issue in the end (which isn't realistic - and no, its fizzling out doesn't have anything to do with the supernatural forces at play); also, there's a problem with Lia's age that didn't get fixed in the finished version (she should have been 13 when Avery disappeared, but at times she's said to have been 11, which is impossible to begin with, since she's 18 at the start of the book). Alongside the sisterly relationship, there's a rather sweet childhood-friends reunion with romantic implications, that thankfully doesn't take over the plot and doesn't go overboard when it comes to conflict (though it briefly seems to follow that route at first). The ending is powerful, emotional and smart, and leaves the door open (literally, you might say) for a sequel, while wrapping up the current events. All in all, House of Thorns is a peculiar "haunted house" mystery with lots of cool ideas, plenty of ambiance and strong sibling dynamics, and if you like your books creepy but devoid of gore, you should definitely give it a chance. 

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