Enter At Your Own Risk: Mira Grant’s In The Shadow of Spindrift House

I’m fond of Lovecraftian fiction, as you can see from my thoughts on Ruthanna Emrys’s fiction here and here. So when Mira Grant announced that her latest Subterranean Press novella was her first dip into actual Lovecraft territory, I might have squealed a little inside. The fates, and the publisher, smiled upon me and granted me access to an eARC of said novella, and I couldn’t be more delighted.

In The Shadow of Spindrift House (2019)
Written by: Mira Grant
Genre: Horror
Pages: 200 (Kindle)
Publisher: Subterranean Press

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for review purposes. This in no way affects my opinions, which are my own.

The premise:

Nature abhors a straight line. The natural world is a place of curves and softened edges, of gentle mists and welcoming spirals. Nature remembers deviation; nature does not forgive.

For Harlowe Upton-Jones, life has never been a straight line. Shipped off to live with her paternal grandparents after a mysterious cult killed her mother and father, she has grown up chasing the question behind the curve, becoming part of a tight-knit teen detective agency. But “teen” is a limited time offer, and when her friends start looking for adult professions, it’s up to Harlowe to find them one last case so that they can go out in a blaze of glory.

Welcome to Spindrift House.

The stories and legends surrounding the decrepit property are countless and contradictory, but one thing is clear: there are people willing to pay a great deal to determine the legal ownership of the house. When Harlowe and her friends agree to investigate the mystery behind the manor, they do so on the assumption that they’ll be going down in history as the ones who determined who built Spindrift House—and why. The house has secrets. They have the skills. They have a plan. They have everything they need to solve the mystery.

Everything they need except for time. Because Spindrift House keeps its secrets for a reason, and it has no intention of letting them go.

Nature abhors a straight line.

Here’s where the story bends.

Very mild spoilers implied

Discussion: So, if you told me that this novella was a mix of Scooby-Doo and Lovecraft, I would have thought something along the lines of “You mean, like Edgar Cantero’s Meddling Kids?” (Disclaimer: I have not actually finished reading Meddling Kids due to my only owning the hardcover and a pesky issue with my wrists that make holding a physical book an adventure.) There is no overlap between these stories, other than at the very bones: they both concern a teenage mystery-solving club and Lovecraftian elements. That’s it.

This is a story about finding out who you really are, and finding out how deeply you truly know yourself and the people around you. It’s about found family (literally, in Harlowe’s case), and the fear of “growing up” and moving on without your friends that is all too familiar to some of us. It’s also about a horrifically haunted house that’s not afraid to scare the pants off of you if you decide that you’re going to be dumb enough to sleep there. Seriously, I enjoy being frightened for the fun of it as much as any horror fan, and this short little book does not disappoint in that aspect. I can only imagine how terrifying it must be, for example, to see your friend walking around and smiling as if he’s perfectly fine, only to know that something else is wearing his body like a well-fitting suit.

Which brings me to my next point: Grant has leveled up in her skill at frightening people. Certainly, her Newsflesh series was frightening in its own way, and her Parasitology series (which I have not reviewed… yet) had moments of sheer terror, but In The Shadow of Spindrift House shows that Grant has fine-tuned her ability to scare her readers. There are some moments of in-your-face terror, but largely, the fright is a subtler one that creeps in around the edge of your subconscious until you feel unsettled and uncertain about anything. Hats enthusiastically off to Grant in this aspect.

My one complaint is that the story is almost too short. I realize that this is a novella, and I am at peace with the idea that I may never know more, but it’s still a little frustrating. There’s a lot going on within the broader universe of the tale, but isn’t there always with Grant’s short fiction? It’s a common thought that I’ve had with her shorter works. We’re given a small taste of something so savory and delicious that we can’t help but want more, but we are, generally, denied. I truly hope that a fully grown novel is able to sprout from this little seedling. I look forward to seeing what Grant is able to do now that she has gleefully entered Lovecraft’s sandbox.

In conclusion: If you’re a horror fan, you should read this book. However, given the nature of Subterranean’s books (beautiful, but expensive and frequently hard to acquire), if you’re not already a fan of Grant’s work, I would suggest going for the electronic version. It’s definitely worth reading as a new entry into the greater Lovecraftian subgenre. It does things that would make the old man spin in his grave, and that delights me to no end.