Book Review
Title: The Haunting by Natasha Preston
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Horror
Rating: 3.75 Stars
I have never read a Natasha Preston book before but I have heard some amazing things about her young adult thrillers and horror books. That being said, I have always preferred adult horror and thrillers because they can often go places book for teens can’t but I was intrigued by the premise of the book.
The bare bones of the plot is that the year prior to the opening of the book something happened that changed their lives forever. Our protagonist Penny has to watch as her boyfriend, Nash’s dad is arrested for the murders of several of their classmates. As the entire town turned against Nash, Penny has an internal battle about how people see Nash but is devastated when her parents stop her from seeing him even though he had nothing to do with the murders, he just happened to be related to the person that committed this horrible acts.
This Halloween, Penny is constantly finding herself in the wrong place at the wrong time and is stumbling over the bodies, sometimes literally but she also keeps running into Nash, which seems suspicious. This premise did remind me a lot of There’s Someone Inside Your House which I really enjoyed and had a really similar setup so I was excited to get into it. Like many young adult thrillers the book is designed to keep your attention focused where the author wants it and it keeps you on the edge or your seat throughout. It is definitely fast paced and perfect for the spooky season, especially those that want something quick, easy to read and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Preston has some amazing character work here because as events unfold we constantly switch between cheering the characters on and then becoming suspicious of them while the twists and turns come to light. The Haunting also has a lot of small town vibes providing an almost cozy atmosphere to the book which was a little strange at first but really enhanced the experience later on. If you’re a fan of movies like Halloween and Scream, then I would recommend this although it does tone down the horror and the gore elements despite there being several murders throughout the book.
Overall, The Haunting was a great introduction to her writing and character work but I was disappointed with the ending because it is left open to interpretation which I didn’t feel was needed. If like the title suggests, the book was paranormal in nature then an open ending might work and work well but here it only frustrated me as a reader which is the reason for my rating.
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