This review first appeared in Booklist on September 1, 2025.
Kaye is struggling with the death of her beloved grandfather, her grief manifesting in unexpected ways: compulsive counting and selective mutism. These habits help soothe her anxious mind but make it difficult to express her growing melancholy to a family that already seems to have moved on. It’s a lot for any young person to handle, and it threatens to make this summer—spent helping renovate Grampa’s old house—emotionally overwhelming. And then the dolls arrive. The first one is creepy enough—a porcelain poppet that looks eerily like her younger sister, Holly—but before long, the house is overrun with grotesque, frightening figures. Most disturbingly, the dolls seem alive; Kaye sees them moving around at night and hears them whispering in the dark. Soon, it becomes clear that these twisted toys have sinister schemes in mind for Holly—and that Kaye must reckon with her sorrow in order to save her sister’s life. This thoughtful, profoundly compassionate exploration of anxiety and grief also serves up some serious scares. Malinenko (This Appearing House, 2022) portrays Kaye’s emotional journey in a way that feels real, relatable, and resonant, without ever sacrificing the story’s suspense. A perfect pick for fans of Katherine Arden’s Small Spaces (2018) and Lindsay Currie’s What Lives in the Woods (2021).
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