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Jun 06, 2015DruBan rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
To start off, whoever categorized this as SF clearly didn't pay much attention when reading the synopsis. This book is solidly in the "Supernatural Serial Killer" horror genre. Peter Straub, Stephen King et al. have exhausted all the tropes used in this book, including the central one of "sinister house with special powers". The author has done some research into Chicago history and used it to flesh out her otherwise derivative story, and gratuitously updated the Straub/King style with contemporary levels of gore and brutality. Unlike her predecessors, she has chosen to paint her main characters in the broadest of stereotypical strokes, limiting any involvement on the part of the reader. Predictable at every turn of the plot, this book is probably a big hit only in Chicago, where some independent filmmaker is probably already lining up corporate sponsors and tax breaks.