The Women In the Walls: A Dark & Dangerous Tale by Amy Lukavics

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Justification

I chose The Women In the Walls for the horror requirement. Horror has always been a favorite, and The Women In The Walls starts out in a similar vein to The Twin, with a mysterious circumstance surrounding Lucy's Aunt Penelope. Lukavics' other novel, The Ravenous had decent reviews, which gave me the extra incentive to give this one a chance.

Response

The Women has an appropriately gothic atmosphere that felt slightly forced at times. In a story that is cyclical, which I do not enjoy, Lukavics does accomplish an appropriately creepy setting and atmosphere for a horror novel. I seem to have a penchant of late for books with characters that discover their parents/guardians are not all they thought they were, which is something I discovered myself in my early 30s. While I never had a bad childhood or suffered abuse, I was manipulated to a certain extent--nothing harmful like Penelope and Lucy.

Conclusion

Women In The Walls is not a terrifying (or satisfying) story by any means but does its job as a horror novel. Horror as a literary genre is so much more intricate than a slasher movie full of jump scares. The literary version is a mirror of humanity that leaves the reader feeling horrified, not at a monster, but at ourselves and how easily humans can succumb to all the things we are supposed to be civilized enough to have left behind. Women In The Walls is a decent horror novel in the YA category. I think it would be a great jumping-off point for readers who like scary movies and want to explore the same genre in books.

Citation

Lukavics, A. (2016). The Women in the Walls. Toronto, Ontario: Harlequin Teen.

Genre: Horror