themusicaddict's Review of Micol Ostow's "Amity"

Hello,

"Amity" is scheduled to be released August 26th, 2014. Thanks to EgmontUSA Publishers and NetGalley.com I was able to read this book prior to publication. This novel is recommended for fans of Stephen King and fans of "American Horror Story". (I'm a big Stephen King fan, but have never seen "American Horror Story"). If I were to compare it to another book, it reminds me more of the very good novel, Mark Z. Danielewski's "House of Leaves". It also does share a bit with "The Shining".

"Amity" is the story of a living, breathing house and two different families that lived in it 10 years apart. The families are very similar in many ways, both families only lived in the house for 28 days before being forced out. The stories revolve around the two oldest kids of each family. The first family is the Webbs, their story is centered around 17 year old Connor and Jules (aka Julianne and Annie), who are twins. One difference between the two families is the Webbs have a 3rd child, Abel. He's 11 years younger than his older brother and sister. The family previously had a dog named Butch, but once he died he was not replaced. Connor ran over Butch's tail, which Connor claims was an accident.

The family came to Amity in an act of desperation, their Dad had to sell off his Ford Dealership quickly due to shady financial dealings. They came to the small town of Concord because they liked it being a respectable town and Amity came cheap.

Ten years later the Hall family came to Amity. Again the story centers around the two kids, Gwen and Luke. Luke is one year older than Gwen. This family fled to Amity to get away from bill collectors chasing their father. Neither kid like their father, who's a jerk. Both families and stories are limited to only a few members. Aunt Ro is one of the other characters mentioned with this family. However for the Halls, we also meet Murray, who loves Luke. He loves Luke until Luke has a transformation, which leads to the book's finale.

After living at Amity both Connor and Gwen end up in an asylum. Amity took advantage of some of the mentally weakest members of the family to sink it's teeth into.

To give a sense of the atmosphere of this book, here's a sample of Ostow's spooky writing. "This was a burial ground, I know. It was where the witches hid, and where the crazies were locked away. It was lots of things, and Amity shows me them all. But the truth is, this space- it's more than any of these stories. It's the rotted, black heart of Amity herself."

Overall I would give this book a B, Ostow looks to have a bright future as a writer. While this was a good book, I expect her to grow leaps and bounds from this book.

themusicaddict