I just finished The Haunting Season by Michelle Muto. I picked it up on Kindle (on the iPhone) after a Tweet of hers stating that the novel was available for a mere $2.99. Wanting to recharge my reading passions and support an author I follow on Twitter, I didn't think twice about it. I just clicked the link and made the purchase. I didn't want to have a preconceived notion. I wanted to go into it cold and knowing nothing about it.
I dove in that night, sinking my teeth into it straight away as my toddler struggled with falling asleep in her bed. ("I know you don't want to sleep, Sweetie, but it's bedtime. Daddy is just going to sit and read now.") I started down the path and liked it, but got a vibe from it that I could not put my finger on. Was it the characters? The story? I just could not place the...distance?...I was going through with the book. I liked it - liked it a lot, actually - but, there was just something there. Like the lone, locked door of a mansion. What was there?
Of course it became clear a few days later when Michelle Muto posted that her novel won an award, evidently....for Young Adult Horror. THAT was the door. However, it didn't matter. I'm not sure I would have made the purchase if I had known it was a Young Adult novel, but after I was into it I didn't really care because I really enjoyed it up to that point and was drawn in. I was hooked and the intended audience didn't matter. I'm very happy that I kept reading.
It's a great, quick read with some fun characters, situations and a plot that was far from "Potter-like" tween fiction. No spells or magic or kid drama. Muto paints a fantastic picture a la LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE with a team of young adults tuned in on the paranormal testing out their abilities under the leadership of an older, wiser doctor. However, things go sideways as they should in a novel like this.
Low on blood, gore and violence but surprisingly high on tension, this fun haunted house jaunt is well worth a read through. (Especially if you prefer your horror on the less visceral and bloody side of the spectrum.) I don't want to say much more about it for fear of mentioning something that may set you off on a course. Suffice it to say that I tore through it and found myself nodding and smiling at some of the fun little twists and turns in this "Old, Dark House" gem!
CHECK IT and help to support Madame Muto!
I want to see her doing a screenplay or two at some point!