The Haunting of Hardlocke House
The Haunting of Hardlocke House
By Amy Cross
The Sexton’s musings (spoilers are likely):
While this may seem similar to the last few stories you might notice that Amy Cross is not one of those overly obvious formula users. Her stories take many twists and turns and this one is no exception. We also get a cameo from a character in another one of her series as well. I have not read it yet but I'm sure it will be interesting. There is nothing in this book that you would not want a young adult to read. There is some gore but not a whole lot. The most gruesome part would have to be some of the things that happen to the children. If that kind of stuff bothers you then perhaps this is not the story for you.
Diane Moore
From the very beginning I really do not like this woman. She is pretentious, rude, egotistical and a borderline sociopath. I'd even argue that she is one based on the ending of the story. She lies to get what she wants and everyone else be damned. Oh, she absolutely gets what she deserves in the end but not before she essentially ruins the life of Jessie. The “oh by the way I brought you here to play host to an evil spirit that wants to escape out into the world. It'll make you powerful! Doesn’t that sound nice?” The bitch is out of her fucking mind. Her own disbelief and inability to listen to anyone should she deem them unworthy is her undoing. Honestly, if I were Jessie when she asked me to carry all the shit and push her old useless academic ass through the mud to the house I would have stacked the shit in her lap and said good luck and left with the van driver. And this is just the first of many indignities that she forces Jessie to endure. The end game is just the cherry on top. At least the bitch chokes on the pit. Her demise is rather glorious. It is the most gory scene in the book and I smiled the whole time.
Jessie Banks
Still a teenager, Jessie is no fool, despite being raised by academics. I do wish that she had stuck up for herself more with Dr. Moore. The woman is a tyrant. The experience that Jessica has in her 72hrs at Hardlocke House is the pinnacle of learning things that hard way. Things and people are not always what they seem. In fact her mentor turns out to be one of the worst people on the planet. Jessie just barely escapes with her life, and soul intact. Unfortunately Ghoulies, we have an epilogue of doom connected to this one. I felt it in my bones before I even read it. It was not exactly what I expected...in fact, it was worse. I won't spoil this one for you but I suspect that you are going to be upset with way things are left. It's no way to leave a character as sweet and intelligent as Ms. Banks but I suppose this is the genre of doom so...
Sarah Clarke
Ultimately also a kind, caring, generous person who gets completely screwed by this entity. At first everyone believes that it is her spirit that is causing so much harm (and she does throw Jessie around the chapel a bit out of rage but really it's that thing in house that is the most malevolent of the bunch. The kids are even a little bit questionable at times but they have also been trapped there for a good clip so the fact that there is some dysfunction is not surprising. I do have a question for the police that went into that house to investigate the “good” doctors death...did they not notice the 12 sets of remains in the house. They are never mentioned and really I would think they would be interested in those, Just saying. There is a silver lining for Sarah and her orphans though. They get to move on and be at peace. I was so hoping that Sarah would come back and help Jessie but turns out that she just wanted to move on with the children. Sucks for Jessie.
Closing thoughts:
The one thing that bothers me is that we never really find out what kind of entity that thing is. It is never described as a ghost, demon, or anything in between. It is stated that it had never lived like we do which makes me think it is closer to demon but it is never classified as such. I do like that the aristocracy up to the crown are the ones that fight against them. It's a nice touch.
