The Haunting of Hathaway House
The Haunting of Hathaway House
By Amy Cross
The Sexton’s musings (spoilers are likely):
This book has an interesting structure. The chapters are set up in such a way that the two main characters both tell the story from their point of view. It makes for a fascinating read in that you get to see the same situation from two different perspectives. The house itself sounds great. Unfortunately it's history is one filled with violence and tragedy. Honestly I don't know that I would want to move my pregnant wife into the house where my parents died. I understand living in ones in-laws basement is not the best environment to start a family. Wanting a place of ones own but perhaps not one that is going to give me waking nightmares.
Michael
On the surface he seems like a reasonable dude. Especially considering what he went through at an early age. One would expect him to have some feels about moving into the house that his parents were murdered in. It ends up being so much more than that though. In addition he is a lying sack of shit. I mean he is constantly lying to Jen. And while he fessed up to going to the house two months prior to their move he neglected to tell her that he stayed there for two days, in the dark, all alone. Told her he met a surveyor... he did not such thing. I feel like this dude is weak. But its not just him she is also a liar although I feel that her reasons for lying are more legitimate than his. He is telling lies because he one apparently does not trust his own eyes and two he wants to “protect” his family. Well I hate to say this dumbass but you are the reason your family is going to die. I feel like if a spirit was telling me that she was going to kidnap my son, who is three days old, I would tell my wife and we would get the hell out of there. Go back to the in-laws basement. Instead of doing that, he is trying to come up with a plan in just a few hours to stop the Ghost from demanding his son and killing the two of them. Just like she did his parents 30 years earlier. I say he is weak minded because he allows obsession take over. The shed, the crib, the back bedroom...he's too quick to give in. I mean he had to think there was something wrong. Aside from the morbid history of the place. I do think that he would have been okay if it were not for the ghost. I think he could deal with the loss of his parents and maybe even get some closure but nooooo that shit Edith has to go a fuck everything up. And then Michael does the unthinkable...he bows to her commands. He gives her Lucas. I just cant with this weak shit! I will say that at the end of the conflict he does do the right and brave thing. He sacrifices himself to save his family. I can get behind that. But really if he had just been a bit less stubbornly optimistic about the whole thing he may still be alive.
Jen
She's a pretty practical woman. Except when it come to believing her own two eyes, at least at first. She was open enough though to allow in exorcist into her home. I do have to say the moment Michael told me that he is having black outs where he does not remember a block of time and one of those blocks involved him putting his hands on me I think I would be like we are out of here. At least until we can figure out what is going on with everything. Motel, hotel, Holiday Inn...any thing is better than allowing somewhere or someone get into your mind so much that you are willing to give up your child. And she sees it happening. I think she knows way before she tries to do something that he heading for a bad place and there is something wrong in the house. She just doesn't trust herself. It's too bad really because they could have delt with this shit long before the baby showed up but unfortunately that is not what happens. It's also unfortunate that she is not aware of the true danger that she and Lucas, the new baby, are truly in. Only Michael knows that and he has thus far kept his mouth shut. If she knew she'd be out of there. I have no doubt. Now lets talk about her behavior during the climax of this story...I wanted to smack her in the face with a shovel. I blame her for the death of Max. If she had listened and allowed him to get people who could understand and deal with the situation he may have survived our story. Instead she rushes into the house with an axe, unable to deal with the enemy as axes don't hurt ghosts and get's him killed. Honestly if it were not for him she would probably have died instead. By the end, the way she acts at the hospital makes me wish she had. Quite frankly she’s a bitch to everyone. Including her parents. Even though this is not part of the book, I feel like that cops are either going to have her put away or charged with murder. What do you think?
Supporting character Stephen, Michaels uncle.
Honestly I don't understand why Michael is so pissed at Stephen. All he is trying to do is protect him. Regardless of if Michael believes his story is true Stephen was there as an adult. He found his parents, his family dead in that house. He saved Michael’s infant ass. The least he could be is thankful and compassionate. But nope in the beginning Michael is a real tool to Stephen. But Stephen does not back down. He backs off a bit but does not give up. Which is a good thing because otherwise Jen would not have become wise to what is really going on in the house. He tries so hard and in the end loses his life in a rather horrific way. I was actually kind of surprised when he died. He was really the only family Michael had left that actually gave a damn about him. Bloody shame.
Max the exorcist
I actually really liked Max. I really did not expect him to not survive this whole ordeal. All he was trying to do was help. It is unfortunate that they managed to banish the wrong ghost but in all fairness he didn't have a whole lot of background going into it. After all we do find out that it is ultimately the crib that is the problem and not the ghost. It's really sad.
Edith Stillwell the ghost
I think the correct description of this woman would be desperate and stupid. She killed so many of her children because of that crib. Why did they not get rid of the damn thing? Her husband was worthless just turning away when it had its claws into her. She had to know after the 3rd one that this was going to happen and that it was the crib. But no apparently all 30+ children of hers met their end in this crib. The fact that she believed in death that the crib would give her Sarah back if she brought it another child is naive. Oh and by the way she could have already been with Sarah as the poor kid is also a ghost on the property. But she is blinded by her desperation. I wonder when she figured out that the crib was responsible? I'd imagine after her death but you never know.
Closing thoughts:
Not a bad story. I does start out kinda slow and a little tedious but I also understand having to build the situation. Once you hit about half way when Sarah's body is found in the basement things really pick up and from there on it goes really quickly. There are for sure moments of frustration especially when it comes to Michael. He's just not a strong-willed individual. Some of the reviews that I have read regarding this story state that they do not like how it ended. I myself do not like it either; however, the epilogue is not so bad. I figured the crib would still be lurking around somewhere but the last chapter is disappointing. Jen's character turns into a real shit and quite frankly I'm not sure how the cops can think that she did any of what happened. Where is their evidence other than she is the only survivor (other than the baby)? Was there blood on her cloths that belonged to the victims? How could she have blown up the house and survived? I'm sure the fire inspector could tell how it happened. I'm pretty sure they are going to fit her up with it one way or the other...
