Book Review: What The Dead Want by Norah Olson

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What The Dead Want
Author: Norah Olson
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Horror
Released: July 26 2016
Review Source: Katherine Tegen

16 -year-old Gretchen takes photographs to understand the world around her, a passion her mother Mona fostered and encouraged when she was still around. Since her mom disappeared years ago, Gretchen and her dad have lived on their own in New York City, haunted by Mona’s absence.

When Gretchen’s great aunt Esther calls unexpectedly to tell her that she has inherited the pre-Civil War mansion on her mother’s side of the family in upstate New York, Gretchen understands nothing except that her aunt needs her help. But what she finds there is beyond her imagination. The house is crumbling apart, filled with stacks of papers and journals from decades, even centuries past, and it’s crawling with rodents. It’s also full of secrets and a legacy of racism and violence so reprehensible that the ghosts of the past are exacting revenge on the living.

Somehow the mystery of Mona’s disappearance and the atrocities that happened on the land during the Civil War are inextricably intertwined, and it’s up to Gretchen to figure out how…before even more lives are lost.

Gretchen's mother was a spiritual picture taker. And that might have been what took her life. Unsure whether her mother disappeared or died Gretchen has been living her life in mystery. One day when her great-aunt calls her up she finds herself on an adventure she wasn't prepared to take.

I really enjoyed this book. The chapter lengths were short - so if you're like me in that you have to finish a chapter whenever you want to pause your reading, you'll love this book. And with short chapters that means that the book is a very quick read.

The subject matter was interesting. I am a believer in spirits and ghosts. This book is heavily based around spirits and ghosts. Sometimes reading at night would give me the heebeejeebee's but honestly I absolutely loved the story that was being told.