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Smithy by Amanda Desiree
The Haunting of Hill House meet Primate in this unique haunted house tale!
A group of anthropological researchers are to reside in an old house with a dark past in order to conduct a study on a signing chimpanzee. But soon, strange things begin happening, and there’s no explanation when the chimp suddenly starts signing “woman…” when no one appears to be there…
This book is a unique, fun read, and definitely deserves a wider audience!
As a horror book, it is truly creepy at times. But this book is more than just horror. The premise of an anthropological study being held at a haunted house is so original and has so much potential. It’s a slow burn, but I still couldn’t put this book down. It is told in an epistolary fashion, in which diary entries, research journals, and film are compiled together to tell the story. This book is far from clinical, though. The character voices really shine through the different modes of media, making the story become an emotional ride. And at the heart of the novel is Smithy the chimpanzee, who readers will simultaneously love and fear.
Toward the end, however, I did find myself wanting more from the story, as it felt like it was holding back in some ways. And admittedly some voices of the book such as those portrayed in diary entries came across as unrealistic, which at some points felt detrimental to the epistolary aspect of the book. When I’m reading an epistolary novel, I want to feel like what I’m reading is actually taken from real articles and diary entries and films. Otherwise, it becomes just a gimmick and tends to lose me.
But Desiree’s Smithy is still a unique horror book and an interesting conversation on hoaxes and scientific horror, and I highly recommend!
You can Smithy from Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, or request it from your local library and support indie authors!
FEMHORROR 
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