THE DEAD HOUSE by Anne Cassidy

Wow! What a book. I must say that this has been one of the most thrilling and hooking books I have read in a long time.

Ten years ago, Lauren's mother and sister were murdered and an attempt was made on Lauren's own life. After the tragic event, Lauren moved to Cornwall with her Aunt Jessica and Uncle Donny, but now ten years later, circumstances have unfolded and brought her back to the London house where she lost her family. Throughout the novel we join Lauren on her hunt to find the truth about what really happened that night.

The best thing about this book for me is the way that there is more than one genre all rolled into this one, fantastic book. Teen romance, horror, mystery, family, crime all feature in The Dead House.

In addition to this, Cassidy has very cleverly slid in to plots into a single story, which makes for a very interesting read, because although Lauren's story doesn't affect Jess and Donny's, their story does have an incredible impact on how Lauren's story unfurls.

My favorite character through out probably has to be Donny. Despite that fact that he causes to much pain and anguish to Lauren's Aunt Jessica, I couldn't help but feel like he was the victim in this side story which runs parallel to the main plot of the story. I feel like you have all these stereotypical story book characters like like Lauren who is a survive trying to get on with her life, Nathan the night in shining Armour and Julie who is very much the girly best friend who is obsessed with anything male. Then you have regular old Donny who gets it wrong and tries to set things right, its a place we've all been in isn't it. You mess up big time and then you try your best to fix it up. I really like the way that Cassidy has given him human emotions rather than fictional. What I mean by that is, when he goes to fix things with Jess, he isn't all bravado and laid back, he's scared and nervous like any normal person would be.

I think that the way the chapters of the book are set out is really effective. As well as having the conventional chapters, the book is split into four part:

• House of ghosts
• House of memories
• House of revelations
• House of secrets

I think these four titles really reflect the way that Lauren's emotions progress throughout the book.

I have never been a fan of traditional clowns with all their makeup and costume, so this element of the story made it particularly spine tingling for me. Initially the motif of the clown appears occasionally during the first chapters however it soon becomes evident that it is much more than that. I think this works so well because Cassidy has taken something that many people fear and turned that fear into reality.

I found I was able to connect with Lauren on a basic level, in terms of the fact that she is very determined, and although I have never been through anything as horrific as Lauren went through, I understand how hard it was for her to change her mind about her Dad, in fact the author had so well made up MY mind that I wanted Lauren to stick to her guns and not give in to the idea that she might be wrong. When I make my mind up about something, it takes a lot to change it and I see this element of myself in Lauren.

I would highly recommend this book to all people young and old, that's the beauty of this book, it fits into so many categories that everyone can enjoy it!