After the creepy thrill ride that was "Dead House", I knew I had to read Dawn Kurtagich's second horror adventure. "And The Trees Crept In" is a sinister tale that makes your spine shiver and sparks chills that linger after the novel is finished. It is a strange, poetic, unsettling novel. So this will be a strange, poetic, and unsettling review.
It is a chilling English nursery rhyme, a folk story of three sisters and the horror they wrote about. It is also a manor house ghost story, the tale of two sisters escaping their abusive past only to find something much darker haunting their footsteps. It is also a psychological thriller, the story of a girl and her aunt battling a madness that twists the boundaries between delusion and reality, leaving them -- and me-- uncertain about the truth.
Stilla and Nori are memorable characters who caught my heart quickly. Stilla is the older sister, the protector, haunted by memories of her abusive father and strange mother they left behind. Nori is the baby of the family, mute but able to use sign language, vibrant and lively, the only light in the house hidden by the shadows. Aunt Cathy is well but beholden to the nightmares in her head, and Gowan, the strange outsider boy, offers love but also more secrets.
These four souls are trapped in a blood-red manor surrounded by an encroaching forest. The plot is told in narration, flashbacks, rhymes, and Silla's diary (yes, more diary entries). The breaks and fragments have the effect of setting you off balance, preventing you from seeing a clear sense of time and place. Dawn's writing is raw, mixed with grotesque imagery.
This novel is a lot shorter than it seems, so I think there is room for expansion.
In the end, it will knock you over, drag you around, and tease you. If you are looking for a horror book this Halloween season, then welcome to the "blood-manor".
I give this novel a 4 out of 5 stars.
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