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ClareR (5885 KP) rated Starve Acre in Books

Oct 28, 2019 (Updated Oct 28, 2019)  
Starve Acre
Starve Acre
Andrew Michael Hurley | 2019 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Horror
10
9.3 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Prepare for a tense, rather scary read!
Starve Acre was a novel that had me wondering whether I’d picked up the right book. I thought I’d chosen a book about a couple struggling to deal with the death of their young son, but by about a third of the way through, I was so gripped and jumping at shadows that I couldn’t decide whether this was a thriller or a horror! It is, I’ve decided, my favourite kind of scary book. You’re never quite sure what you’re supposed to be scared of, but the hairs standing up on the back of your neck would tell you that whatever it is, it’s THERE on the page in front of you! I should’ve guessed that it would be like this. I mean, who lives in a house called Starve Acre and doesn’t expect something to go wrong? And that cover! Jo McLaren has done an amazing piece of art - it’s what made me want to read it, after all.

Children are always the ones that seem to be more sensitive to the supernatural, and Richard and Juliette’s son Ewan is no exception. Before his death, he talks of a menacing figure called Jack Grey, who tells him to do certain things - none of which make him popular in the village. Ewan becomes more and more unhappy, and his behaviour becomes more erratic.

After Ewan’s death, Richard and Juliette’s grief becomes suffocating - I could feel it coming off the page. Juliette’s sister expects her to pull herself together, but Juliette is convinced that Ewan is still in the house. So she invites The Beacons, a group of Spiritualists, to come and contact him and put him to rest. And this is where it starts to get really macabre. If I could have read this with my eyes shut, I would have. The fact that this isn’t written in your stereotypical ‘horror story’ fashion, is what makes it truly unsettling. I was never sure what was real and what was some sort of mass hallucination.

I just loved this book, and it’s going on my Keeper Shelf(yes, it has capital letters). Highly recommended to be read during daylight hours only, unless you like being chilled to the bone!


Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and Readers First for my copy of this book to read and review.
  
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Ross (3284 KP) Oct 28, 2019

I have just requested this on Netgalley. That really is a cover that stands out and sounds like the perfect book for this time of year.

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ClareR (5885 KP) Oct 28, 2019

I really loved it. I keep thinking about it as well, going back to the bookshelf and picking it up to read the end - because it was so weird!!

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