Alone by Cyn Balog
Genres: Horror, Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 277
Goodreads
When her mom inherits an old, crumbling mansion, Seda’s almost excited to spend the summer there. The grounds are beautiful and it’s fun to explore the sprawling house with its creepy rooms and secret passages. Except now her mom wants to renovate, rather than sell the estate—which means they're not going back to the city…or Seda's friends and school.
As the days grow shorter, Seda is filled with dread. They’re about to be cut off from the outside world, and she’s not sure she can handle the solitude or the darkness it brings out in her.
Then a group of teens get stranded near the mansion during a blizzard. Seda has no choice but to offer them shelter, even though she knows danger lurks in the dilapidated mansion—and in herself. And as the snow continues to fall, what Seda fears most is about to become her reality…
This is a YA thriller that will be very hard for me to review without spoiling things! I’ll try my best!
For starters, the synopsis leaves out some of the more ‘spooky‘ details of this book so to give a little more insight to what this one is about, here’s a quick summary of some of the details I think help understand what the story is about (read with the synopsis):
The story follows Seda and her family. They recently inherited a family home in the middle of nowhere that her relatives ran as a Murder House. It’s big with murder themed rooms and secret passages. They were only supposed to be there for the summer, but her mother keeps postponing, prompting her father to leave the family. Seda is the oldest of her siblings and the only one without a twin – apparently, she ‘absorbed’ her twin in the womb. Although, she claims to hear his voice in her head.
See, somewhat important details that the synopsis leaves out.
Anyways, this book is definitely intriguing! It’s one of those books that you just have to keep going with to really appreciate it. I enjoyed the setup but it does slow down in the middle a bit. Things start getting a little frustrating, like, and this is a mild non-specific spoiler, View Spoiler » Just power through that slow bit and anything that annoys you and everything will start to make sense & come together!
The side characters are pretty much just that, on the side. There’s a focus on Seda and one of the boys that end up stranded at the house, but other than that, the relationships and personalities of the other characters are pretty flat and non-existent. Although, I really don’t think it was too necessary to go into depth with them. So, that didn’t bother me.
The setting and story are definitely spooky. I wouldn’t say it’s horror, per se, just spooky. So if you aren’t a huge fan of horror but do like a more dark atmosphere with a mystery, I think you’ll enjoy this one. And THE ENDING. That’s what made the book for me – without that great twist at the end, it would have been disappointing. I NEED MORE (but totally understand why it ended when it did … just my curiosity!).
Honestly, that’s about all I can say without spoiling things. Overall, this is a quick, creepy, mystery with such a good ending that I think it’s worth it. If you’re looking for an easy read and a little intro to YA thriller, definitely give this one a try!
Ok, but, one thing that did bother me that is a HUGE spoiler and was never really addressed, was View Spoiler »
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| Overall: | 3 / 5 |
6 Comments
I agree I definitely wanted more from this one at the end! I didn’t see the twist coming at all!
Yeah I was like OHHHHHH WHAT when it reminded me of the fridge haha
The cover alone is spooky!
True! haha
I love your extra rating system Molly!
OH DANG. I’m curious about the ending now!!!!