Within These Walls

April 15, 2015
Once-famous true-crime writer Lucas Graham is struggling: his wife is having an affair, his teen daughter is turning goth, and his writing career has hit the skids. However, when Lucas receives a letter from incarcerated cult leader and murderer Jeffrey Halcomb offering to share his story exclusively, his fortunes seem about to change for the better. One caveat, though: Halcomb insists that Graham stay in the Washington State house where he committed his crimes. Ahlborn wraps the present-day story around flashbacks to Halcomb's manipulation of his followers, building a subtle dread that slowly teases out information and builds to a creepy conclusion. As she did with Seed (2012), Ahlborn masterfully combines the built-in suspense that comes from classic horror themesthis time it's Amityville and a Mansonesque villainwith a fresh narrative, compelling characters, and a provocative paranormal setting. If this were a horror film, viewers would be shouting at the screen: Don't move into the house! Don't take your daughter with you! Leave it alone! But we really don't want characters in a horror novel to be sensible. We want horror, and this one delivers it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)