Changes

The House on March Lane is a quick read, without much in the way of characterisation (the characters tend to be rather bland, to be honest). But the plot is sufficiently intriguing, and original, that you just keep going, turning the pages to find out what happens. So it's well plotted and well structured, and the story really does work in a most satisfying and rather ingenious way. But, well, literature it ain't. In fact, not only is the writing itself somewhat uninspiring but, worse, the book was littered with misused past tenses that really set my teeth on edge. For example, the dog was sat in his kennel; they were sat in front of the wood-burner; they were stood in front of the house; he was leant against the wall... Whatever happened to sitting, standing and leaning? We're not talking isolated words here - the author sprinkles these ghastly expressions so liberally throughout the book that she's clearly not aware of their misuse. The target may be children but that's no excuse - perhaps even less of an excuse, actually - for sloppy writing.

If you like ghost stories and want to ratchet up the fear factor, try [[Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley]].