Creep

Olivia is curious about the people moving into 16 Olcott Place. The last family there moved out in the dead of night, and the new family, the Donahues, has no idea why. Olivia becomes fast friends with Janie Donahue . . . so she's there at the house when the first of the letters arrives:  --I am the Sentry of Glennon Heights. Long ago I claimed 16 Olcott Place as levy for my guardianship. The walls will not tolerate your trespass. The ceilings will bleed and the windows will shatter. If you do not cease your intrusion, the rooms will soon smell of corpses.--  Who is the Sentry? And why does the Sentry want the Donahues out of the house badly enough to kill? As Olivia and Janie explore the house, they find a number of sinister secrets . . . and as they explore their town, they find a hidden history that the Sentry wants to remain hidden forever. You can lock the doors. You can close the windows. But you can't keep the Sentry out. . . 

Creep by Eireann Corrigan - release date October 1, 2019

Welcome back to our unreleased specials!!  Alyse and I have been away ALL summer, and were not able to get any unreleased copies, but we're back and reviewing again!  The hiatus is finally over, and what better way to end it than with a creepy true crime-esque book?

If you're a fan of true crime, especially unsolved mysteries, chances are you've heard of the Watcher house.  This book is SUPER similar to that case!  In the beginning, you're introduced to something called "The Sentry" who has been watching 16 Olcott Place for generations.  He sends threatening and scary letters to the family, and Olivia, her friend Janie, and Janie's siblings (who live at the house) are trying to figure out who the Sentry is and how to stop him.  It's a small town, so it's full of gossip about everything, so they are also trying to avoid becoming a spectacle.  Janie's fun and exciting and totally different from any of Olivia's friends that she's had up to this point, so she really wants to help solve the mystery.  But the Donahue's might not be as normal as they seem...

What I really love about this book is how it grabs you and moves really quickly so 10 pages feels like 1.  I sat down with it yesterday afternoon once I got home from school and by 11pm I had finished the entire thing.  It was one of those moments where you look up at the clock and realize so much time had gone by without you even noticing!  I also am a fan of Buzzfeed Unsolved and had watched the video about the Watcher, and loved how this seems like it was based on that case.  So the best part of the creepiness factor was the fact that this could/already did happen in real life!  I was so paranoid reading the ending in the middle of the night.  I felt like the Sentry was watching me read about him.  Spooky!  The only thing I didn't like was the sort-of romance plot in the book between Olivia and Janie's older brother.  I understand the freshman crushing on senior thing, but how he seemed to like her back was a little weird because of the age gap.  As a senior now, I could not imagine dating someone who just barely got out of middle school.  To each his own, I guess?

4 out of 5 stars for the creepy, quick read!  Rarely do I ever sit down and finish the book within one day.  The last time that happened was February 2017 when I read The Wrong Train by  Jeremy de Quidt.  This book is definitely a necessity for anyone who likes Buzzfeed Unsolved or in general has heard about the case of the Watcher! 

Glad to be back :)  Don't forget to hit the follow button if you haven't already!! Thanks :)

-Taylor

Reviewed on September 28, 2019