In the Shadow of Spindrift House

by Mira Grant

Jesse Vilinsky (Narrator)

• ISBN10: 1665206608
• ISBN13: 9781665206600
• Publish Date: 30 June 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Imprint: Tantor Audio
• Edition: Library Edition
• Format: Audiobook (CD)
• Duration: 4 hours and 16 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[Melanie]

Review originally posted at BooksOfMyHeart.net.

In the Shadow of Spindrift House is a coming of age story with a haunted house. It follows four friends (brother and sister twins, and a brother and his foster sister) who’ve been solving mysteries. Harlowe is sorta the main character of this story. She really loves her mysteries and has had a crush on, Addison, the twin girl. She is also an orphan, who tried living with her grandparents, but when that didn’t work, she was taken in by Kevin’s mother.Kevin is Harlowe’s foster brother and lives on the family farm and loves nothing more than his pet chickens. He does love his friends and is willing to go on adventures with them. Addison is the twin girl and she’s a bit ready for the mysteries to be over, but is willing to go on this one last hurrah. Andy is Addison’s twin brother. He’s really quiet and has anxiety. He keeps pot around to help with the anxiety.

So these four friends have been solving mysteries for a bit, but it is time to grow up and get steady jobs to support themselves. Harlowe decides to talk the group into taking on one last mystery that comes with a huge payout if the mystery is solved. They must go into a haunted house and find the paperwork that proves ownership, as the house could belong to one of three different families and the land is worth a lot of money.

Now, I have to say Mira Grant is an autobuy for me. I love her stories. More importantly, I love her characters. I fall in love with all of her characters, which can be a problem when the author writes horror stories. Needless to say, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that not all the characters survive a horror story. But I love the time I get with each and every character, even if that time can be short. If you’ve never tried Mira Grant (or her other pen name Seanan McGuire, who I still need to try), I highly recommend her work.

Narration:
This was my first listen with Jesse Vilinsky. I have to say that I enjoyed her narration of this story. There isn’t a large cast, as it is mostly just the four friends, but she did a great job with all the voices. I lost myself in the story as she was reading it. I would love to try her with other stories as well.

**I'd like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

[HekArtemis]

Lovecraftian horror, and not just inspired by but it's set in Lovecrafts world. It mentions Miskatonic University and has characters from family lines mentioned or featured in Lovecrafts works - such as the Uptons and Pickmans.

I enjoyed it a lot, but I have to admit Grant wasn't able to capture that Lovecraftian creeping dread as much as I would have preferred. She captured it somewhat, don't get me wrong, but not enough for my tastes. Or perhaps that is an issue with the audio and I would have found that aspect better in print? I can't say for sure. It was a short book, only 4 hours on audio so I was able to listen to it all the way through without stopping as I cleaned this morning.

There weren't enough tentacles for my taste either, despite the cover of the book having tentacles. Sad. I also thought it could have used a bit more of a denouement, the ending was pretty fast really, and I think I might have liked a little something more. It wasn't bad per se, but could've been better.

Other than those small things - and they weren't at all bad, but again, they simply could've been better or more - I thought it was a pretty good book. I think it's not quite as awesome as Into the Drowning Deep, but it holds its own and I really liked it.

[Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub]

Thank you to Netgalley and Subterranean Press for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This will be available to buy June 30th.

Edgar Cantero’s Meddling Kids meets The Haunting of Hill House (the Netflix show) in this eerie tale about a grown-up Scobby-esque group wanting to solve one more mystery. Told from the perspective of Harlowe, the orphaned “brains” of the group, this book was more ghost story than mystery.

Harlowe, who isn’t ready to stop being a teen-sleuth and start paying for things like insurance, convinces the rest of the mystery solvers (Andy, Addison, and Kevin) to join her in a “haunted” house, to discover who actually owns it: two of three families are offering a pretty penny to anyone who can find proof of ownership (each hoping it’s theirs). The catch? The whole “haunted” thing. It seems no one has been able to last in the house long enough to discover who owns it.

Mira Grant did a wonderful job of setting an eerie tone, making the house feel like a separate, malevolent character in its own right. Her choice of wording, especially in the first couple of chapters, was perfect. She chose atmospheric horror over gobs of gore, which was fantastic for this sort of book.

I actually felt that the house was a more developed character than any of the actual people in this book- including Harlowe, unfortunately. I liked Kevin, but I felt that none of the characters were fully realized or grew at all.

The reason for this could be that this book wasn’t all that long. It could have benefited from an extra hundred pages or so. That’s not the say I didn’t enjoy this book- I did. I liked it a lot. The setup was fantastic, and the ending was creative. But..it wasn’t amazing.

It’s worth reading, but if you want a good representation of the “grown up Scooby gang”, grab Meddling Kids as well.

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of In the Shadows of Spindrift House through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

In the Shadows of Spindrift House is the latest novella from Mira Grant (AKA Seanan McGuire). It’s heavily influenced by Lovecraftian lore, so if you’re a fan of that tone and style of writing, then you’re surely going to love this one.
As you can probably surmise from the title, the plot of In the Shadows of Spindrift House circles around a house. It’s a disturbing tale, with creepy tones and foreshadowing elements strewn all over the place.
This novella is perfect if you’ve read any of Lovecraft’s works, and felt like it needed more human emotions and reactions in the tale. Mira Grant perfectly captures the nature of both the house and the people in this chilling tale.


In the Shadows of Spindrift House is without a doubt one of my favorite reads for the year. It may be early to say that, since it is only March, but that is how much I loved this novella. It’s dark and eerie and captured the curiosity that is human nature so eloquently. It shook me to my core, and I know it’ll stick with me for quite some time.
I was sold just upon reading the introduction to this story. Having the first chapter being about, and by, the house itself was a brilliant, if disturbing choice. It started the novella off with a poetic feel to it, but also went a long way in establishing the world.
From there it cuts to a team of four near adults, whom together form a team that can only be described as rookie mystery hunters. The juxtaposition is quirky, but it also sort of suits the world. The two extremes are intentionally jarring, I believe. In one location we have a dark house with strong intents and a hidden purpose. In the other location we have four kids with varying degrees of issues, who just want to do one last job (haven’t they learned never to say ‘one last job?’).
The story unfolds at a perfect pace from there. Every few pages it felt like another hint was dropped as to the true nature of the tale. Eventually hoping to feed us enough information to put it all together ourselves. I know I had more than one theory before the story concluded.
Never once did I feel like the plot rushed itself along. There was plenty of time to take a break and disturb us with another set of details, like an accurate description of a room or reminding us of a character’s particular issues. Together these elements just heightened the tension of the tale, slowly building it up…
I loved every moment of this novella. I honestly couldn’t put it down, and read it all in one sitting. I then promptly turned back to the first page and read it all over again. This tale got under my skin in ways I hadn’t expected.
The best part? I can see where this tale would connect to some of Mira Grant’s other novels and worlds…it’s a disturbing thought actually, but I like it. I can’t wait to see if any formal connection is ever drawn between them or not.


For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks