Amity Review

Amity

Author: Micol Ostow

Average Rating: 3.27/5.0

Personal Rating: 4.0/5.0

Page Count: 358

Publisher: EgmontUSA

Release Date: 26 August 2014

According to Goodreads:

Here is a house of ruin and rage, of death and deliverance.
Here is where I live, not living.
Here is always mine.

When Connor's family moves to Amity, a secluded house on the peaceful banks of New England's Concord River, his nights are plagued with gore-filled dreams of demons. destruction, and revenge. Dreams he kind of likes. Dreams he could make real, with Amity's help.

Ten years later, Gwen's family moves to Amity for a fresh start. Instead, she's haunted by lurid visions, disturbing voices, and questions about her own sanity. But with her history, who would ever believe her? And what could be done if they did?

Because Amity isn't just a house. She is a living force, bent on manipulating her inhabitants to her twisted will. She will use Connor and Gwen to bring about a violent end as she's done before. As she'll do again. And again. And again.

Inspired by a true-crime story, Amity spans generations to weave an overlapping, interconnected tale of terror, insanity. danger, and death.

My Opinion:

I am always on the hunt for good, old-fashioned young adult thrillers/suspense/horror/paranormal. Romance is fun and all, but sometimes I long for the traditional thriller novel. Paranormal books on the shelves right now are so heavily laden by the romance that it's hard for me to acknowledge they are paranormal. The same goes for thrillers, suspense, and horror. I was able to find the traditional thriller in Amity. As the summary from Goodreads mentions, Amity is based off of a true story. Some of you might have even seen various versions of the movie Amityville Horror, which Amity runs parallel to.

The novel is written from two perspectives. Connor, the teenage boy who lived in Amity ten years before the current family, and Gwen, who recently moved into Amity with her family. One of the big connections between the two families was that they stayed in the house for the same length of time: 28 days. The reader flips between Connor and Gwen's perspectives, which are sectioned off by Days: Day 1, Day 15, etc. In my opinion, Micol did an excellent job on interlacing the two perspectives allowing the reader to make connections between the two. As you progress through the days, you find yourself more and more entangled into the events that are taking place in Amity.

I found myself constantly looking over my shoulder making sure no one was lurking in the doorway. Throughout the whole novel, I felt like I was experiencing what the characters were experiencing. You know when you have found an amazing psychological thriller when you can't shake the feeling that someone is watching you or in the room with you when there's no one actually there. I haven't read a horror/psychological thriller this good in a long time. I highly recommend Amity to individuals who want to enjoy having to look over their shoulder and love rethinking their own sanity as the characters in the novel question theirs. I look forward to more horror/psychological thrillers written by Micol Ostow in the future. For being her first horror novel, Micol Ostow did an outstanding job.

Question: Throughout the novel, Connor and Gwen both referred to the house as if she was alive. Do you believe that every house is alive by the idea that every house has a history?

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