Kathryn Meyer Griffith - Don't Look Back, Agnes and In This House

12. Don't Look Back, Agnes and In This House by Kathryn Meyer Griffith (2012)
Length: 62 pages
Genre: Horror
Started: 29 March 2013
Finished: 2 April 2013
Where did it come from? Many thanks to Kathryn Meyer Griffith for sending me a copy of this book to read.
How long has it been on my TBR pile? Since 14 July 2012
Why do I have it? I like horror and I have read and enjoyed several books by this author in the past.

In these two short stories by Kathryn Meyer Griffith, the pull of the past and a person's memories can prove to be incredibly strong. In Don't Look Back, Agnes, Agnes Michaels, recently widowed and returning to care for her critically ill mother, comes back to her hometown twenty years after the gruesome murder and kidnapping of herself and three of her teenage friends. Agnes, as the sole survivor of this horrific event, has attempted to forget the summer when she lost her two best friends - Sophie Cunningham and Lawrence Nilson - and her first love, Tyler Summers and she barely escaped with her life.

Agnes has returned to her childhood home that her father built for her mother, a house that is surrounded by the woods where she and her three friends were held and terrorized for so many weeks that summer so long ago. She has returned, and the monster that still haunts Agnes' dreams has begun killing again - this time kidnapping Sophie's mother's 16-year-old granddaughter, Lottie. Agnes must finally overcome her fear and defeat the evil that has haunted her for twenty years - Lottie is depending on her.

In the second short story, In This House, Bernard and Althea have been married for fifty years, living and loving each other in the same house while the world has progressed around them. With the introduction of Deer Run, a lead smelting plant that has moved into their neighborhood, Bernard and Althea are now alone. Their neighbors have all moved away, the surrounding houses have been demolished, and their friends have all long since passed away. Althea's health is failing and Bernard has become her caretaker, even as he remembers Althea's beauty, his everlasting love for her, and all the good times they had when they were young. They will never leave their home, not until their lonely daughter, Jenny comes to visit them. Then Bernard and Althea can finally say goodbye and introduce Jenny to the man they know she's meant to be with.

I really did enjoy both these stories! Don't Look Back, Agnes had me crying about halfway through, because of some of the heart-felt, touching scenes. I give Don't Look Back, Agnes an A+! and In This House an A! I think that both grades average out to an A+!

A+! - (96-100%) 

May you read well and often