The Family at No. 13 by S. D. Monaghan
The book's description makes it sound like this is Mary's story. She lives with her husband and her violent teenage nephew in a nice house in a nice neighborhood. Once I'd read enough to figure out which character was which, I thought it was Connor's story. He's the therapist who moves in next door and rapidly realizes what a mistake that was. There's no way he can see patients in his home, not with Mary's nephew screaming next door. It's a confusing book. I was probably about two-thirds of the way through before I had a good grasp of how the relationships between the characters twined together. By that time I was curious about how it all would end. From the first pages, you know it's going to be with a body in the driveway. It's not an awful book, but there are plenty of other domestic thrillers out there that I'd recommend spending your time with.
Trapped in Room 217 by Thomas Kingsley Troupe
When Jayla Walters and her younger brother Dion accompany their father to Estes Park, Colorado, they find themselves staying in an amazing historic hotel. Until they see the ghost, neither of them knows that they're staying in room 217 of the Stanley Hotel, the most haunted place in Colorado. I picked this one up because our family has visited the Stanley and I thought my younger boys might enjoy reading it. The book focuses on the actual history of the hotel (or at least the version we heard when we took the guided tour) and except for one brief mention of a horror writer who stayed there it completely ignores the whole Stephen King connection. The ghost story is very tame and aimed at younger readers. I'd say it's less scary than the Goosebumps books, but I hesitate to guess at what will and won't scare little kids. I was scared of everything at that age. My own boys definitely weren't. For a young reader who likes ghost stories that aren't too scary, this would be perfect.
Disclosure -- The publishers provided me with advance review copies.
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