Review: Family Plot, The

Family Plot, The by Cherie Priest
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I honestly didn't know how much I wanted a good old fashioned ghost story until I picked this one up. Cherie Priest is best known for her steampunk stuff, and the non-steampunk stuff I've read of hers has been mixed for me, but this really worked.

The story takes place entirely at an estate on a hill in a small town. A family that clears out old estates and resells the contents has been contracted for this house, a house with a bit of a reputation in town of being a little creepy. Still, there's a lot of stuff here and could be a lucrative deal, so they buy and get to work. And then they find something in the back shed, and the fun begins.

This book feels shorter than it is, which is always a good time, even though the mysteries unravel at a slower-than-expected pace. There's a lot of love for the overall tropes here, and I can't help but wonder if the literal deconstruction of the haunted house was somewhat intentional here in its format. The big flaw, however, is how it never fully ramps itself up to a truly exciting climax. The pacing is such where by the time we get to the peak of everything, it's not nearly as impactful as I wanted it to be. As someone who likes the journey more than the destination much of the time, this wasn't a huge problem, but it was just an unexpected way to go.

Still, this was a very fun read for me and one I can recommend even for people who want to try this genre but avoid it due to being scared easily. It's no Nyctophobia, but it's a really solid entry into a tried and true genre.

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