Shadow House: The Gathering by Dan Poblocki (review)

Five preteens (one of whom turns out to be a ghost) receive invitations to a mysterious house that seems like it holds the key to each of their dreams—for Marcus the invitation describes a music school, for Dash and Dylan, a new acting opportunity, for Azumi, distance from the loss of her sister, and for Poppy, raised in an orphanage, the promise of family. When they all arrive, they realize their time at this creepy estate will be far from wish-fulfilling, and in fact, they may not even survive to complain about having been tricked. Other than one gripping and surprisingly poignant subplot (the aforementioned ghost who is presented as a living teen for most of the book), the real meat of this book is horror. Dead kids in masks that grow back when torn off, haunting notes from a horrible man who experimented on them, and a ramshackle setting do their scaring work, and readers will enjoy barreling through to the end just to escape their own imagination about what could happen next. The book ends with the kids still in the house (though they at least now have a solid plan about how to escape), but readers likely won’t mind a return visit to see how they fare in a sequel.