KIRKUS REVIEW
You know what they say: be careful what you wish for….
It’s bad enough that the house reminds Hadley of a “decomposing log,” but almost as soon as the white 12-year-old and her family move into their new home, Hadley feels like someone—or something—is watching her. Then comes the glass eye, and the mysterious dollhouse (an exact replica of the creepy old house on Orchard Drive), and then the questions. Where is the doll the eye belongs to? To whom does the dollhouse belong, and why was it left behind? What is sweet “Granny,” the doll maker who lives above the garage, hiding? Who moves the dollhouse’s occupants around when Hadley’s not looking? When Hadley makes a series of wishes that cause her entire world to unravel, she finds herself living a perfect—but frightening—new life. A second, first-person narrative parallels Hadley’s and gradually reveals the frightening history of the house and its first family, who lived there more than a century ago. Distinctive imagery (Hadley’s stepfather has “the personality of gelatinous zooplankton”) enlivens the tight prose.
An ever present and always-growing sense of dread accompanied by an atmosphere of chills and mystery make this perfect for reading in the closet under the cover of night. (Horror. 8-12)
