'Old Country' was a fun horror story with solid lead characters and lore.

All is going well for Marine Harry, his wife Sasha, and their dog Dash as they settle into their newly purchased ranch in Idaho. That is until their neighbors warn them about an ominous shapeshifting land spirit that becomes increasingly terrifying as the seasons change. Despite this threat, the strong-willed couple insists on staying and learning to temper the angry spirit. (For the record, I'd have moved immediately.)

If the white saviorism wasn’t a thing, this would have been a really great fucking book. Four stars without it, but that’s not the world we live in, so…

This book ended up in my queue due to horror recs from my new library system. I’m about to cut ties with my new library system. This book was so all-over-the-place and so wordy. SO many words! Unnecessary ones. It was written in such an elementary, this-is-what-happened level. I don’t usually notice shit like what tense a book is written in, but I think it was the first-person past-tense that bothered the shit out of me. Turns out it’s “based on a Reddit sensation”? WTF does that mean?

A couple moves to a haunted ranch, basically. And there are strict ‘rules’ to dealing with the ranch’s spirit’s different hauntings… except when the rules change. And they are the most random-ass hauntings and rules… is that what Reddit contributed? Like, hey, here’s a random prompt, now do something with it??? I wasted enough time reading this thing, I don’t really want to do the work to figure out where it came from.

The worst part is that I think the book really wanted to say something about a veteran haunted by war, but it was done in such a ham-fisted way it made me angry.

I liked the characters, or at least the concept of them cuz honestly there’s nothing of substance here — they deserved so much better.

This book gave me nightmares- and I mean that as the biggest compliment.

There is only one other story that has done that for me and that was Bram Stoker’s Dracula. I ingest and inhale horror films and books like my life depends on it. This left me with such a sense of unease.

This is a beautifully written and expertly crafted. This story didn’t scare me initially but it got under my skin and I couldn’t shake it off. It stays with you - in the way all beautiful, powerful stories do. I loved it.

I read this one in the past few days as I couldn't wait to see what happened next.

Sasha and Harry Blakemore are excited to escape the rat race and move into their secluded dream home, mountainview and all. Harry and Sasha both come with their share of baggage but are excited for the fresh start to make this dream house their home. Having made an offer on the home without even seeing it, they realize that the home itself comes with its own unique and terrifying baggage and have to find out how to deal with it all in order to make their dreams a reality.

I truly had no idea what to expect with this one as I am unfamiliar with the Reddit connection. I found the story to be incredibly original and as a horror fan, I felt myself on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. The authors transport you in a visceral way to the Blakemores' new home hell.

Sasha and Harry are likeable characters who are most definitely in the honeymoon phase of their marriage (which was a little grating at times). However, the affectionate love they share serves as a great opponent for some of the evils they find themselves up against.

This is a love story of a couple trying to take a huge step in their lives by buying a home (I can relate), against crazy odds. This story grounds the wild and unnerving situation the couple find themselves in. The story pulls no punches in terms of scares and mood. This is not for the faint of heart and some of the more gory moments may be hard to read if that's not your cup of tea.

The only thing that left me wanting more was the lore behind the story. In horror, I find that knowing what is haunting you can be even more terrifying than not knowing.

*This was an ARC from Grand Central & Hachette*

This book has to have just about the stupidest ending ever. I rolled my eyes many times as I got closer to the end, because frankly, this writing in book is LAZY. Not a single character in this book, aside from the main white male character, has any character development, and they all have about the same the depth and dimension as a stick figure I would have drawn in kindergarten. Not only that, this book throws out offensive stereotypes left and right in its depiction of these characters. And the cherry on top of it all, is the ending, as the point of the book seems to be, deal with your shit, and the spirit will leave you alone. Like what in the actual HELL?! That's the bs cliché ending meaning of this book?! And no one, not even the family that lived on the land for HUNDREDS OF YEARS figured that out????

3.5