The Haunted

September 15, 2012

Little serves up a fairly standard horror tale in which a postmillennial nuclear family (web designer father, attorney mother, cell phone-obsessed teenage daughter, and a younger son) move into a haunted house in New Mexico built on a piece of land with an accursed history (the included backstory is somewhat less than compelling). There are some unsettling moments throughout--the young son is seized by compulsions to eat dirt and tunnel into the ground (although Little provides no reasons or explanation for the boy's actions), and the evil force possessing the house encourages some disturbing behavior (sexual and otherwise) in the inhabitants. VERDICT Narrator Dan Butler delivers a nicely understated reading, which manages successfully to express character emotion; unfortunately, he's not given much character depth with which to work. Despite a few shocks, overall, the story falls flat. Of interest only for libraries with large horror collections.--Victoria Caplinger, Durham, NC

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