Review: It Will Just Be Us

It Will Just Be Us by Jo Kaplan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am not someone who is well versed in all of the horror tropes that exist. When it comes to the genre I'd consider myself a novice-intermediate. When it comes to literature I am much more of a fantasy reader even though I branch out quite often especially into various degrees of nonfiction. With movies, I know the different characters in all the slasher films and the general premise for many others but I was never the person who had friends over late at night to eat popcorn and watch B movies.

Despite that, I could still see the influence other works, namely those of Shirley Jackson, had on It Will Just Be Us. I like books where they do reference and do a nod to what came before them but also come up with a story that feels fresh. As for someone who admittedly doesn't always read horror, this felt fresh. To take a step farther I am willing to bet that the idea for the house came from the real-life mansion belonging to Sarah Winchester.

What appealed to me outright was that in all occurrences of Ghost Stories I'm familiar with there has been a lead up to the reveal. An easy comparison would be The Haunting of Hill House show on Netflix. The ghosts were there the whole time but you never realized how many until the last few episodes. Here, we are faced with the opposite. Not only do we know the house is full of ghosts but that the family that lives there is alright with it. The ghosts aren't specifically ghosts either. I would say that this is another clever difference the author put in. It reminded me of The Invention of Morel. The house has the ability to record certain events, and the ghosts are the events replaying themselves over and over again. It appears that on occasion the house also can play specific memories on command. The mother, Agnes, has a connection to the house and sometimes it plays scenes specifically for her. Usually, it's of her daughter's playing when they were children but there's a comical scene involving a blogger and one ancestor who died of a seizure. The blogger lies his way into the house but is then tortured by Agnes and the house while the woman comes into the room, adjust some pictures, sits on the couch next to him, and then dies.

These ancestral recordings are not interactive. Their descendants who live in the house can't interact with them. They see their relatives as they lived and died there. But that's okay. This is not a generic ghost story. There are multiple layers that add up to something quite original.

We have a story about a family. Agnes who rarely leaves the house and spends most of her time drinking. Samantha who works as a teacher of archeology but also observes and studies the ghost of her ancestors. Pregnant Elizabeth who is fleeing from her abusive husband Donovan and who wants to have a normal life. Their father committed suicide in the house.

We have a story about atonement. The family history involved madness and murder. They helped slaves escape the clutches of evil plantation owners just to force some of them into working for them. Some mistakes have been made in the past, and vengeance is coming in the form of a slave who died in the swamps.

We have a story about a swamp witch who promises to make things right and protect those who choose to come to her. Clementine, a former slave, is the first who falls into her grasp. She cannot save her daughter from ending up in the Wakefield house and seeks retribution for what will befall her.

We have a story about the unborn child of Elizabeth who manifests himself as a dark entity in the house. His presence tortures Samantha who believes she must put an end to this before he is born. She witnesses him torture and kill animals and people. He is wicked and cruel as his father.

What I loved was that I could not predict where the story was going to take me. The real horror of the story comes in the form of Donovan who tracks Elizabeth down to the house in an effort to lay claim to his child. With Samantha to guide us, we are on the fence with killing the child before he is born or allowing him to live and keep him away from his father. We are left wondering why Julian, the child, is manifesting despite not being dead and appearing at different ages. He drifts into different time periods and interacts with the ancestors. The rules of the makeup of the house do not apply to him. It was truly thrilling to follow Samantha along as the madness around her grew and took hold. The story leads us to a grand finale with a riveting chase through a house changing forms and switching rooms followed by a life or death struggle in the swamp overtaken by snow.

Then the ending! Oh, the ending was good. That epilogue where you almost feel satisfied with how things turned out. I can live with that last death. It didn't bother me. The hopelessness that follows was fine dining. It was a bit of the twist from The Haunting of Hill House TV show but not quite. Still fresh. Samantha's fate still creeps me out. I'm in my living room, It's 2:11 AM, I have every light on, and I have goosebumps. Now I'm shivering a little. That's the effect this book had on me. This is a remarkable piece of fiction.

View all my reviews