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The Other Child
Restoring an old Victorian mansion to its former glory in preparation for their new baby, Karen and Mike Houston, along with their 9-year-old daughter Leslie, soon discover that there is an evil presence in their home that wants something from each of them. Reissue.
Paperback
First published February 1, 1983
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About the author
Joanne Fluke
134 books8,544 followersLike Hannah Swensen, Joanne Fluke grew up in a small town in rural Minnesota where her neighbors were friendly, the winters were fierce, and the biggest scandal was the spotting of unidentified male undergarments on a young widow's clothesline. She insists that there really are 10,000 lakes and the mosquito is NOT the state bird.
While pursuing her writing career, Joanne has worked as: a public school teacher, a psychologist, a musician, a private detective's assistant, a corporate, legal, and pharmaceutical secretary, a short order cook, a florist's assistant, a caterer and party planner, a computer consultant on a now-defunct operating system, a production assistant on a TV quiz show, half of a screenwriting team with her husband, and a mother, wife, and homemaker.
She now lives in Southern California with her husband, her kids, his kids, their three dogs, one elderly tabby, and several noisy rats in the attic.
Series:
* Hannah Swensen
While pursuing her writing career, Joanne has worked as: a public school teacher, a psychologist, a musician, a private detective's assistant, a corporate, legal, and pharmaceutical secretary, a short order cook, a florist's assistant, a caterer and party planner, a computer consultant on a now-defunct operating system, a production assistant on a TV quiz show, half of a screenwriting team with her husband, and a mother, wife, and homemaker.
She now lives in Southern California with her husband, her kids, his kids, their three dogs, one elderly tabby, and several noisy rats in the attic.
Series:
* Hannah Swensen
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 145 reviews
April 16, 2015
A basic, predictable, not very interesting ghost story. I had to double check that this wasn't written for children, the writing and story seemed that young.
June 14, 2022
I did not know that Joanne Fluke wrote horror until I came across this book on Libby. I have read many of her Hannah Swenson mysteries and enjoyed those. This book had promise in the beginning, but it became repetitive and boring.
Karen is a single mother to Leslie when she marries Mike. Expecting their first child, they move to a mansion in the country with the purpose of fixing it up and showcasing the updates in the magazine Mike works for as a photographer.
It isn’t long before it’s apparent that Karen and Leslie simply do not fit in. There was potential when the ghost of a little boy shows up. Leslie is able to summon him by holding a key (to the cellar where his skeleton lies), and he harms or kills others to protect her interests. Karen in the meantime develops an obsession with the house and it’s former occupants and is unable to leave. Mike is useless.
After the ghost shows up in the story, the same thing happens over and over. Someone picks on Leslie or threatens her family in some way, she calls in the ghost by holding the key, and he helps her to stop those people. Over and over.
I really don’t want to rehash the whole thing, but I was irritated at all the characters by the end of the book and really didn’t care what happened to them. There was so much that just didn’t make sense. Leslie is nine I believe but acts 30. Mike is locked in the root cellar that no one knows exists (but they do actually) but no one can hear him when they look for him a week later. I just can’t even. In the beginning I saw shades of John Saul, but that feeling didn’t last long!
So because the book had promise, I’m giving it two stars. And I’m being generous. I don’t really recommend it. But I do suggest Fluke stick with cozy mysteries.
Karen is a single mother to Leslie when she marries Mike. Expecting their first child, they move to a mansion in the country with the purpose of fixing it up and showcasing the updates in the magazine Mike works for as a photographer.
It isn’t long before it’s apparent that Karen and Leslie simply do not fit in. There was potential when the ghost of a little boy shows up. Leslie is able to summon him by holding a key (to the cellar where his skeleton lies), and he harms or kills others to protect her interests. Karen in the meantime develops an obsession with the house and it’s former occupants and is unable to leave. Mike is useless.
After the ghost shows up in the story, the same thing happens over and over. Someone picks on Leslie or threatens her family in some way, she calls in the ghost by holding the key, and he helps her to stop those people. Over and over.
I really don’t want to rehash the whole thing, but I was irritated at all the characters by the end of the book and really didn’t care what happened to them. There was so much that just didn’t make sense. Leslie is nine I believe but acts 30. Mike is locked in the root cellar that no one knows exists (but they do actually) but no one can hear him when they look for him a week later. I just can’t even. In the beginning I saw shades of John Saul, but that feeling didn’t last long!
So because the book had promise, I’m giving it two stars. And I’m being generous. I don’t really recommend it. But I do suggest Fluke stick with cozy mysteries.
September 1, 2016
The Other Child by Joanne Fluke
5★’s
From The Book:
Where Innocence Dies. . .
Expectant parents Karen and Mike Houston are excited about restoring their old rambling Victorian mansion to its former glory. With its endless maze of rooms, hallways, and hiding places, it's a wonderful place for their nine-year-old daughter Leslie to play and explore. Unfortunately, they didn't listen to the stories about the house's dark history. They didn't believe the rumors about the evil that lived there.
. . .The Nightmare Begins.
It begins with a whisper…. a child's voice beckoning from the rose garden…. crying out in the night. It lures little Leslie to a crumbling storm door and down a flight of broken stairs. It calls to their unborn child. It wants something from each of them….something in their very hearts and souls. Tonight, the house will reveal its secret. Tonight, the other child will come out to play.
My Thoughts:
A small boy huddled in the dark. His mother had promised she would never leave him… not in this awful house… not in this evil town. She was dead and gone and he was alone….accidentally trapped in the root cellar with no one to answer his call or hear his final cry. One hundred years later he has found he has company…a playmate… and best of all…a mother. You almost knew from the time the Houston’s bought the old house what was going to happen but you just had to continue reading. In the beginning the little ghost seemed to be friendly and just lonely but it didn’t take very long before you knew that the time he had spent alone dying in the root cellar and calling for is lost mother, had changed him. From that point on the entire family was doomed in their own way and for individual reasons.
I love a good ghost story. I had only been familiar with Joanne Fluke as a cozy mystery writer. The Other Child is a well done mystery/horror/ghost story that is guaranteed to produce mega goose bumps and is anything but cozy. The story reminds me of the works of John Saul who writes some of the best ghostly horror I have ever read. I see she has a few other books in this vein that I will have to check out very soon. I recommend it to all ghost story lovers.
5★’s
From The Book:
Where Innocence Dies. . .
Expectant parents Karen and Mike Houston are excited about restoring their old rambling Victorian mansion to its former glory. With its endless maze of rooms, hallways, and hiding places, it's a wonderful place for their nine-year-old daughter Leslie to play and explore. Unfortunately, they didn't listen to the stories about the house's dark history. They didn't believe the rumors about the evil that lived there.
. . .The Nightmare Begins.
It begins with a whisper…. a child's voice beckoning from the rose garden…. crying out in the night. It lures little Leslie to a crumbling storm door and down a flight of broken stairs. It calls to their unborn child. It wants something from each of them….something in their very hearts and souls. Tonight, the house will reveal its secret. Tonight, the other child will come out to play.
My Thoughts:
A small boy huddled in the dark. His mother had promised she would never leave him… not in this awful house… not in this evil town. She was dead and gone and he was alone….accidentally trapped in the root cellar with no one to answer his call or hear his final cry. One hundred years later he has found he has company…a playmate… and best of all…a mother. You almost knew from the time the Houston’s bought the old house what was going to happen but you just had to continue reading. In the beginning the little ghost seemed to be friendly and just lonely but it didn’t take very long before you knew that the time he had spent alone dying in the root cellar and calling for is lost mother, had changed him. From that point on the entire family was doomed in their own way and for individual reasons.
I love a good ghost story. I had only been familiar with Joanne Fluke as a cozy mystery writer. The Other Child is a well done mystery/horror/ghost story that is guaranteed to produce mega goose bumps and is anything but cozy. The story reminds me of the works of John Saul who writes some of the best ghostly horror I have ever read. I see she has a few other books in this vein that I will have to check out very soon. I recommend it to all ghost story lovers.
July 21, 2020
Total surprise with this ghost story!! I thought this was just going to be another 2.5 to 3 star 'Fluff Wanna Be Horror' but I was pleasantly surprised and shocked with where this revenge haunting / Ghost story went! Fluke can really write well! Will definitely be reading her other horror novel, 'The Stepchild'
Upon doing some research on the author Joanne Fluke, before delving into this book, I was so shocked to see that she has written 100's of books, ranging mostly in the suspense and murder mystery genres. I went into this book knowing that is was originally published in 1981 so I was not expecting much.....boy was I wrong! Yeah, I have to admit i thought i knew where it was going, and most of the time I was correct, HOWEVER, Fluke does it in a way very creepy and disturbing way, and the scenes of Leslie getting revenge on her new classmates or adults that she thinks is going to do harm to her or her mother, are brutal and very inventively gory! There is a scene reminiscent of the original 'The Omen' that dealt with a beheading from a pane of glass, but in this case it involves a window and a 10 year old bully from Leslies class that I can guarantee, you will NOT soon forget.
So, if you love a good ghost story/haunted house tropes as I do, pick this up, you need to get past the 'syrupy beginning' and get into Leslie's terrifying ways of REVENGE, you will love it!
It is not that long of a read and it goes really fast, it is only 352 pages but goes very quick.
Be ready to venture into the Appleton Mansion!
Upon doing some research on the author Joanne Fluke, before delving into this book, I was so shocked to see that she has written 100's of books, ranging mostly in the suspense and murder mystery genres. I went into this book knowing that is was originally published in 1981 so I was not expecting much.....boy was I wrong! Yeah, I have to admit i thought i knew where it was going, and most of the time I was correct, HOWEVER, Fluke does it in a way very creepy and disturbing way, and the scenes of Leslie getting revenge on her new classmates or adults that she thinks is going to do harm to her or her mother, are brutal and very inventively gory! There is a scene reminiscent of the original 'The Omen' that dealt with a beheading from a pane of glass, but in this case it involves a window and a 10 year old bully from Leslies class that I can guarantee, you will NOT soon forget.
So, if you love a good ghost story/haunted house tropes as I do, pick this up, you need to get past the 'syrupy beginning' and get into Leslie's terrifying ways of REVENGE, you will love it!
It is not that long of a read and it goes really fast, it is only 352 pages but goes very quick.
Be ready to venture into the Appleton Mansion!
May 16, 2015
It was alright, enough to keep me engaged. But it didnt seem long enough, like it just stops.
October 12, 2016
There is nothing remotely scary about this story. I was very disappointed.
March 29, 2020
It’s 1972. Karen and Mike have only been married a few years. Karen had a daughter before Mike; Leslie is now 10 years old. They want to move out of the city and fall in love with an old fixer-upper out in a nearby small town. But things change after they move... and not for the better. Karen was an interior designer before she married Mike, so she takes on the renovation project for the house. Leslie has a hard time fitting in with the local kids, but she makes a friend in the resident ghost, Christopher. Although Mike is still working his photography job for a magazine, he falls back into some old bad habits.
So, this is an older book of this author’s, published in 1983, I think before she started writing cozies. The writing seemed a bit odd at times, and Leslie (at times) seemed much older than she was, but overall, I liked the story. Not only that, I really liked what she did with the ending. Creepy... (Interesting - some didn’t like the ending, yet it increased the star rating for me.)
So, this is an older book of this author’s, published in 1983, I think before she started writing cozies. The writing seemed a bit odd at times, and Leslie (at times) seemed much older than she was, but overall, I liked the story. Not only that, I really liked what she did with the ending. Creepy... (Interesting - some didn’t like the ending, yet it increased the star rating for me.)
March 9, 2019
I've debated writing this review. I try really hard to be nice in a review. I try not to be negative unless necessary and this time it's necessary. The beginning story-line of this book deserves 5 stars. It only got 1 star, for one the setup of the breaks and two because of the ending. It was very confusing to follow sometimes because it went from the point of view of one character to the immediate point of view of another with no warning. I kept having to backtrack just to figure out what was going on.
The second reason..... The ending. I equate it to knowing you have 2 chapters left of a good book. 2 chapters to wrap up the end and give closure. The 2nd to last chapter only says "The" and the last chapter says "End". That's it. A sudden drop off with no warning. The book was going along and I thought I was going to get some answers or more to the story to wrap things up and then it was over. What a waste.
The second reason..... The ending. I equate it to knowing you have 2 chapters left of a good book. 2 chapters to wrap up the end and give closure. The 2nd to last chapter only says "The" and the last chapter says "End". That's it. A sudden drop off with no warning. The book was going along and I thought I was going to get some answers or more to the story to wrap things up and then it was over. What a waste.
May 1, 2024
It was actually a pretty good book. I don’t know if it is because I am in a warehouse alone that made it so scary to me but I thought it was compelling to the end.
July 29, 2017
Freaky
June 3, 2015
Pretty standard thriller about a family who buys an old house that's haunted by the ghost of an angry child bent on revenge. Although there was nothing really special about it, it always held my interest--to the point where I tended to be surprised to see how many subway stops I'd traveled while reading. The family is a pretty interesting one, with a woman and a daughter and a stepfather who's got some drinking and gambling problems. The one thing, in fact, that sometimes struck me as odd was that this woman who once had an illegitimate child after what seems like a casual fling, is content to be married to a guy who thinks mothers shouldn't work. It's one thing that the little town they move to is full of women who are not only pro-SAHM but anti-birth-control, but it's hard to have a husband with these kinds of beliefs (and of course addiction problems to go with them!) without him becoming an immediate villain.
The family comes from the twin cities and immediately runs afoul of the hostile locals. The children and their parents are so awful you can't help but cheer as the ghost picks them off.
The family comes from the twin cities and immediately runs afoul of the hostile locals. The children and their parents are so awful you can't help but cheer as the ghost picks them off.
January 29, 2015
This book annoyed me. The child is annoying, her parents are annoying the townspeople in the new town where the haunted house is are annoying.... So annoyed by this annoying book that now the word annoying has lost all meaning but still applies here.
Predictable ghost story and not well written in my opinion, obviously.
Predictable ghost story and not well written in my opinion, obviously.
October 19, 2014
Meh. The writing is so ...childish. The kid seemed years younger than she is. Too much your basic haunty house not well written. Got about 35% through and decided to move on.
October 4, 2020
Not bad for reading for a October spook challenge. A couple and their child move into a house haunted by the spirit of a boy who got locked in a root cellar over 100 years ago. No one in the town is very friendly towards the family, especially the kids. So it is easy for "Christopher" to take possesion of the little girl when he wants. He can also control the mother, who develops an obsession with restoring the house to the way it was 100 years ago. What does he cause to happen when the other kids make fun of the family and cause trouble for them? And will history repeat itself, over and over again?
February 15, 2018
Not a bad little spooky story. I didn't see a couple of things coming, but the rest was a little predictable. Overall it was pretty good though. It held my interest and was a quick read.
Read
September 27, 2020DNF
January 12, 2017
Not as enjoyable as some of her other books that I've read.
July 10, 2015
Meh... 2.5 stars
Early effort by Joanne Fluke in a different genre than she's most famous for. I've read her "Hannah Swensen" foodie cozy mysteries before and enjoyed them, particularly the earlier ones. Found this and thought it sounded interesting. Unfortunately, it's an obvious early effort. It's a very basic writing & storyline with characters that will drive you crazy. I would classify this more as horror than a ghost story or suspense. The ending is abrupt as well. Not one I'd recommend.
Early effort by Joanne Fluke in a different genre than she's most famous for. I've read her "Hannah Swensen" foodie cozy mysteries before and enjoyed them, particularly the earlier ones. Found this and thought it sounded interesting. Unfortunately, it's an obvious early effort. It's a very basic writing & storyline with characters that will drive you crazy. I would classify this more as horror than a ghost story or suspense. The ending is abrupt as well. Not one I'd recommend.
August 1, 2016
Billed as a "scary" story, to me it really wasn't. Yes it's about a haunted house, a ghost, and sad events that happened. Mike and Karen moved from the city, to the country and buy an old Victorian home. Karen's daughter Leslie is as fascinated by the house as her mother is. As you can guess, Leslie befriends the ghost boy Christopher. That's when the weird things begin. Overall, this was a quick read, but not very thrilling or scary.
September 22, 2017
This was a really creepy haunted house novel, I believe these things can happen. The Houston’s just happened to be another family amongst many whom the house destroyed. No one expects the terrible things that happen in the house or to the children that bully Louise. No one notices her eyes that change. No one ever could write unless they could be able to let the scare come oh
July 2, 2015
This book by Joanne Fluke reminds me of John Saul's older books. It was well thought out and presented. I could not put the Kindle down. I needed to find out what was going to happen next.
Cannot wait to read more of Fluke's novels.
Cannot wait to read more of Fluke's novels.
July 27, 2016
This story is mysterious and very enjoyable. I love how the author twisted the plot of the story and how she ended it. I highly recommend this fabulous read and can't wait to read more from this author.
April 15, 2025
Enjoyable. Morbidly enjoyable. 4 instead of a five because a couple of plot twists were too convenient, and there were a couple of misprint words. The story was complete and left me satisfied, though.
August 8, 2014
Mix of "The Shining" and "Carrie".
Kept Attention: 5
Well-written: 5
Accessible: 5
Must Read: 3
Important: 3 (not really, but this book deserves 4 stars)
Kept Attention: 5
Well-written: 5
Accessible: 5
Must Read: 3
Important: 3 (not really, but this book deserves 4 stars)
August 25, 2014
Great haunted house story! Quick read, was disappointed with the ending.
April 5, 2015
I couldn't get into this as quick as I can in her Hannah Swenson series. Once I did though I enjoyed it. If you like ghost stories this is good for you.
October 31, 2023
This was okay. It was not really what I was looking for but that is probably my own fault for going into this book completely blind.
There was a good story in here but it was dragged down by characters that I just hated. The little girl was overly whinny even for her age and somehow the father, Mike was only the third least likable character even after he straight out rapes his wife. That's right, somehow I actually disliked his wife, who is his victim less than I liked the rapist. I don't have an explanation for this other than the fact that the characters just fell completely flat for me. Even if Mike is a bad person, at least he's a person. The others just came across as props for the story. Part of the problem is that real people just don't talk like this. It's a problem when just reading the book, but it's a problem that was amplified by listening to this as an audio book. I probably could have ignored the clunky dialogue if I had been reading this, but when you are hearing the words that are being spoken it became impossible to ignore how much they don't come across as real people.
Part of the reason this was so frustrating is that I think there could have been a good story here. The plot is a little cleche but if where the plot was heading had been a little more hidden I think this could have been a little creepier, but I was able to predict too much of it ahead of time. I will say that the ending was pretty good and that if just a little more of the story had been like that, I would have bumped my rating up significantly, but there is only so much that a good ending can do for a story that felt a bit like a slog for most of it.
There was a good story in here but it was dragged down by characters that I just hated. The little girl was overly whinny even for her age and somehow the father, Mike was only the third least likable character even after he straight out rapes his wife. That's right, somehow I actually disliked his wife, who is his victim less than I liked the rapist. I don't have an explanation for this other than the fact that the characters just fell completely flat for me. Even if Mike is a bad person, at least he's a person. The others just came across as props for the story. Part of the problem is that real people just don't talk like this. It's a problem when just reading the book, but it's a problem that was amplified by listening to this as an audio book. I probably could have ignored the clunky dialogue if I had been reading this, but when you are hearing the words that are being spoken it became impossible to ignore how much they don't come across as real people.
Part of the reason this was so frustrating is that I think there could have been a good story here. The plot is a little cleche but if where the plot was heading had been a little more hidden I think this could have been a little creepier, but I was able to predict too much of it ahead of time. I will say that the ending was pretty good and that if just a little more of the story had been like that, I would have bumped my rating up significantly, but there is only so much that a good ending can do for a story that felt a bit like a slog for most of it.
November 24, 2017
Lackluster
Typical haunted house fare. A young family moves into a dilapidated mansion in a small town. Said house is haunted by the ghost of an angry child out to avenge the cruel mistreatment he and his mother suffered at the hands of self-righteous townsfolk. It's part ghost story and part spiritual possession.
There were few technical errors as far as spelling and punctuation go, but it was bothersome how one scene would skip to another without a break to signify the change. Not sure if this was how the book was originally written or if conversion to e-book format created this mistake.
There was a need for more character development. The characters just seemed shallow and flat, two dimensional and stereotypical. The main protagonist, Leslie was supposed to be a little girl of ten, but her actions, thought process and speech were too mature for her age. It simply didn't ring true.
Set in 1972, the themes dealt with out-dated subjects like children born out of wedlock, the resulting shame and guilt associated with that, the old fashioned, condescending attitudes of men towards women and the cruelty perpetrated by bored housewives who liked nothing better than to gossip. Perhaps relevant at some point in time, the themes haven't aged well.
I can't say I hated the story. It wasn't boring, just so-so.
Typical haunted house fare. A young family moves into a dilapidated mansion in a small town. Said house is haunted by the ghost of an angry child out to avenge the cruel mistreatment he and his mother suffered at the hands of self-righteous townsfolk. It's part ghost story and part spiritual possession.
There were few technical errors as far as spelling and punctuation go, but it was bothersome how one scene would skip to another without a break to signify the change. Not sure if this was how the book was originally written or if conversion to e-book format created this mistake.
There was a need for more character development. The characters just seemed shallow and flat, two dimensional and stereotypical. The main protagonist, Leslie was supposed to be a little girl of ten, but her actions, thought process and speech were too mature for her age. It simply didn't ring true.
Set in 1972, the themes dealt with out-dated subjects like children born out of wedlock, the resulting shame and guilt associated with that, the old fashioned, condescending attitudes of men towards women and the cruelty perpetrated by bored housewives who liked nothing better than to gossip. Perhaps relevant at some point in time, the themes haven't aged well.
I can't say I hated the story. It wasn't boring, just so-so.
December 16, 2019
This is your typical haunted house story- was fairly predictable throughout. It centers around Mike and Karen and their daughter, who move into a house with a sordid past. The daughter, in particular, builds a connection with a ghost, while the house itself causes some weird behavior in the parents.
As other reviewers have said, the writing read more like a young adult than an adult book- lots of exclamation points and strong opinions from the characters with nothing to really back them up. That being said, it moved at a quick pace and was kind of fun story to read, just not anything groundbreakingly new or different.
The ending was abrupt- the book slowly led up to what was going on for the first 90% and then it just all happened at once and ended. I would have liked to see another few chapters at the end to continue the build up so it didn't seem like it just suddenly ended. I also struggled with why it took place in the 1970's- I couldn't figure out why that decade seemed like the right decade for the story.
All in all, it was an enjoyable read, but not particularly memorable, and I don't know how fast I'll pick up another ghost story by this author.
As other reviewers have said, the writing read more like a young adult than an adult book- lots of exclamation points and strong opinions from the characters with nothing to really back them up. That being said, it moved at a quick pace and was kind of fun story to read, just not anything groundbreakingly new or different.
The ending was abrupt- the book slowly led up to what was going on for the first 90% and then it just all happened at once and ended. I would have liked to see another few chapters at the end to continue the build up so it didn't seem like it just suddenly ended. I also struggled with why it took place in the 1970's- I couldn't figure out why that decade seemed like the right decade for the story.
All in all, it was an enjoyable read, but not particularly memorable, and I don't know how fast I'll pick up another ghost story by this author.
June 30, 2021
Ok - I started reading the stand alone books that Joanne Fluke has written because I've read all her Hannah Swenson stories. The first one I read was The Other Child - story was good with just of the supernatural that I could deal with - but this one goes off the grid.
The Huston's seem like a nice family if a little different because they've lived in the "city" for so long that when they buy a huge mansion in a small town the towns people give then a little slack. But everything they do seems just not right. Mrs. Huston starts restoring the Applegate mansion to be exactly like the was it was at the turn of the century. And the daughter, Leslie, is totally out of step with her classmates starting with the designer clothes she wears to the over the top birthday party her parents throw for her.
Leslie is enthralled by the house but very lonely because none of the town kids will be friends. Then Christopher comes into her life and very bad things start happening.
Way over the top with super natural - which makes writing a story so easy because you can take care of any situation using it. I'm not a fan.
The Huston's seem like a nice family if a little different because they've lived in the "city" for so long that when they buy a huge mansion in a small town the towns people give then a little slack. But everything they do seems just not right. Mrs. Huston starts restoring the Applegate mansion to be exactly like the was it was at the turn of the century. And the daughter, Leslie, is totally out of step with her classmates starting with the designer clothes she wears to the over the top birthday party her parents throw for her.
Leslie is enthralled by the house but very lonely because none of the town kids will be friends. Then Christopher comes into her life and very bad things start happening.
Way over the top with super natural - which makes writing a story so easy because you can take care of any situation using it. I'm not a fan.
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