It Will Just Be Us (ARC Review)

 A surreal and atmospheric read perfect for the upcoming spooky season, It Will Just Be Us is a haunting look into Wakefield house, where memories resurface at a whim and time is all but linear.

Sam is familiar with the weirdness of Wakefield, the swamp waiting to suck you down into its depths forever in the backyard, the labyrinth of rooms built by her mad ancestors,  ghosts appearing in the halls to relive bygone days, and the locked room at the end of the upstairs hall that has called to her since she was a little girl. But when Sam’s pregnant sister, Elizabeth, moves back in after a fight with her husband, the mostly harmless but certainly haunted parts of Wakefield start to become a lot more dangerous.

A mix of tried-and-true horror tropes and a new take on time as an element of horror, It Will Just Be Us is a great new addition to the Gothic horror and haunted house genres. With moments of incredible literary strength and vivid description, the book will have readers avidly flipping pages, not knowing what happens next and eager to see what waits around the next corner. And even for those that may guess at the ending, the prediction will do nothing to lessen the tension and creep factor which builds to a wild ride of an action-packed ending that will have you reading late into the night.

Unfortunately, these last chapters are marred by the slapped-on, summarized ending, which makes the story seems as if it really gets going after the events of the novel have ended, sucking some of the suspense out of the conclusion. Some readers will surely be wanting a sequel as they turn the last pages.

But the greatest strength of the novel is the way it works with time. Switching perspectives, POVs, and even trying at second person, the novel includes so many writer-don’ts that it should honestly be an utter failure, and yet, it works. With only a few messy moments that are quickly glossed over, the book is a resounding success despite the risky writing style. 

A worthwhile read for horror lovers, I rated It will Just Be Us 4 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an honest review!