Aspiring writer and Agatha Christie aficionado Ginny Anderson is looking forward to spending her summer break attending a mystery writing workshop with her best friend. Plans swiftly derailed when her dad, who restores old crumbling buildings to their former glory for a living, is hired to renovate the Woodmoor estate, a sprawling manor in the outskirts of Lake Michigan, and wants to bring the family along. The mansion is the subject of many rumors in the neighboring town: of creatures that stalk the surrounding woods; of inhospitable spirits that still haunt the antique abode. Impressionable Ginny finds herself frightened at the prospect of spending her summer in a house of horrors and she wishes she could just go back home, to her friend and her workshop. Her frustration turns out to be greater than her fear though, and,  determined to emulate the heroes written by her personal hero, she sets out to either find enough proof to convince her parents to leave the dreadful place — especially after she encounters a ghastly presence that would very much like the same — or to solve the mystery at Woodmoor once and for all. ⠀

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Lindsay Currie’s What Lives in the Woods was originally going to be a buddy read, chosen because my friend and I were both under the impression that it was going to be a middle grade horror full of forest frights, which was the mood we were after. I began reading it first, though, and quickly found myself frustrated by the fact that this seemed to be very much a haunted house story. Which is fine — love a good haunting — just not what I was expecting. Yes, the back blurb does mention the haunted house element, but look at that cover! At that title! What else are we supposed to think? Not to mention the fact that creepy beings stalking the woods are frequently mentioned in the opening chapters. They are, sadly, a no-show in this spooky story. Maybe they’re being set up for a sequel? I don’t know!⠀

So I was disappointed. Which is tragic because the story taken on its own is actually fairly decent. There’s a historical mystery that’s interesting, even if it’s only really explored during the last few chapters when it could have been the focus from the outset. Currie is excellent at writing tense scenes with unnerving imagery (there’s a particularly good jump scare, and those are very hard to pull off in written form). But again, this is a supernatural mystery more than it is horror, and so those types of scenes end up feeling a little out of place, as if they’re from a different story. 

This may be a classic case of judging a book by its cover, But coming from a design background so I believe that packaging and presentation are important. They provide the context, form the filter through which the content within will be viewed. My expectations were shaped by a display that evokes a certain narrative that is different from the one within, and I just think it only does it a disservice, in the end. Granted this particular criticism is directed more at the publisher, as authors rarely have any say in how their work is marketed. Currie wrote an immanently readable book that I would have enjoyed more under different circumstances.