Synopsis
The Bennett family is broken. After a series of devastating events, they leave their old lives behind and start over in a new town. The move is supposed to give them a chance to heal and to help mend their familial bonds, but they soon discover some wounds run deeper than others, and they always leave scars.
And there’s something seriously wrong with their new house.
There’s a presence lurking within the walls, walking the halls at night, and it seems to know everything about the Bennetts. Their secrets, their desires…and their fears.
What starts out as mild paranormal activity quickly escalates into a full-on supernatural assault by an entity whose motives are as nebulous as its origins. If the Bennetts hope to survive, they will have to confront the horrors of their past, forgive each other for the wrongs they’ve done, and come together as a single powerful force.
As Family.
Review
A huge, huge thank you to Earthling Publications for sending an ARC my way!
Much like fingerprints, every haunted house story feels unique. Sure, the subgenre has its own blueprint, a rough outline of ideas to follow, scares to be made, and conflicts to overcome. But what is most interesting of all is the spin that each author places upon this framework, the flourishes that define the interior life of the family desperate to overcome this plague of malevolence in the one place they should feel safest. For Ian Rogers’s Family, the promise of a reset, of starting over somewhere new, doesn’t mean all is left behind for the Bennett family. A shadowy something may be lurking in the halls of their new home, begging for a reckoning.
Ian Rogers takes the time and effort with Family to clearly define each member of the Bennett family building layer upon layer of conflict. This lends itself to an eerie atmosphere of unease; the balance of the family dynamics between mother and father, parent and child, and brother and sister, sit on a needlepoint edge. At any given moment, one more issue feels like the lynchpin for implosion for this family who has left behind so much. The gravity of this family’s circumstances is slowly revealed with each page turn, marking some rather haunting revelations.
Beyond these character dynamics and the tension that lingers, Rogers takes a unique approach to the “wrongness” of the Bennett’s new life, a new home. For every member of the family, a different version of negativity follows them with a profound sense of urgency. It’s a brilliant way to further isolate and divide the family as no one person can report the same experience. It’s rather diabolical, the way that Rogers fashions this haunting, but this method is oh so successful in achieving what we fear the most as family members: disconnection.
Another captivating addition to the haunted house subgenre, Family by Ian Rogers takes a calculated, wicked approach to familial strife. The intricate framework upon which Rogers builds this terrifying home takes advantage of the most human of fears, the sea of distance that comes with being misunderstood. This is a notable psychological haunting, manifesting in ways that are hard to predict and laden with dread. Human horrors prove to be the most haunting of all with this debut from Rogers, a story that lingers.
Family by Ian Rogers is out now through Earthling Publications! This is a limited edition release that is part of their Earthling Halloween Series, and you can order a copy here: https://www.earthlingpub.com/ir_family.htm
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