Frightening events clearly stated but a great story was lost in this dry recitation of facts
This book could have, and should have, been great. It is the story of what the author's closest childhood friend and that friend's family experiences when they move into a house that was previously used as a funeral home. The friend, Laura, is only in the house a few days because she is the immediate target amongst the children for demonic attack, and is allowed to go stay with the author and her mother for the majority of the two weeks the family is forced to remain. Once she is gone, the attacks against the children (5 including Laura) are equally abhorrent until the youngest, Candy, becomes possessed. The father becomes crippled with back injuries, the mother is repeatedly sick. Apparitions, booming, banging and knocking, heavy booted footsteps on the stairs and in the halls, continual illness, weight loss, putrid odors, unwashable stains, manifestations visual and aural, teleportation of objects, disembodied voices, crying and screaming, a hidden cellar that reeks of death that sucks in their dog somehow straight through the trap door and the linoleum, desecration of religious objects, blood on the walls, and the death of a baby ... truly a horrible, terrifying, prayer-inducing tale. Except it's not.
The author takes a completely exaggerated "just the facts" stance with this book that destroyed it. I'm not saying she should have made anything up, not that she would have had to, but a few adjectives more poignant and expressive than "nice", " bad", "loud", " big", "angry" would have gone a long way towards making a story a great story. Keeping to the facts doesn't mean depriving your audience of timing, drama, flair, adjectives, proper punctuation. This was just dry as the Sahara.
Research? The author mentions it but then never does any. And you'll love this...while the little one is possessed she starts giving the names of the people she's killed. Anybody follow up on that? Gosh, I don't know!
Another thing missing was personal verification. This is about a childhood friend with whom she is still friends. Where are the personal quotes? Even an "approved by"? A photo or two would be too much to ask? Again, there is just too much original source available that went unutilized or wasn't even thought of. Either way, it hurts the book badly.
Overall it kept my attention but what I came away with was, what a great book that could have been. What a waste of my time and hers. Not recommended.