By the time we're through them, we already have the background we need to appreciate the horror, some sympathy for the protagonist, and a burning desire to find out what's really going on behind the doors of the Conjure House. Here, however, we get two of the strongest opening chapters I've read in a horror novel in quite some time. We're generally willing to sit back and let the author establish the scene, foreshadow the real horror, and build up the suspense before finally allowing our fears to escape. Horror novels are often a bit odd, requiring a kind of patience that we, as readers, don't extend to other genres. It's a neat narrative trick, and one that's not easy to pull off, but it really serves to draw you deeper into the story. Gary Fry establishes each scene beautifully, engaging the reader's imagination so well that it's often a surprise to look back and realize just how sparse the details are upon the page, when they're so vivid and vibrant in the mind's eye. In what feels like a much older novel than it is, Conjure House offers up a solid, old-fashioned horror novel story, the kind where the real horror always seems to be just off the margins of the page.
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