25th May, 2022
Review: Scritch Scratch by Lindsay Currie (Sourcebooks)
In Scritch Scratch, we are following Claire whose father owns a ghost tour business. Early on in the book Claire has to help her father run his ghost tour one night, and not only does Claire meet a ghost - it follows her home. Yikes!
I was excited about reading this books because it was marketed extremely well as a middle grade horror novel. Even if it's not exactly the typical "gothic book reading time" I was craving a bit of an uncanny story and Scritch Scratch seemed to embrace the creepy ghost story genre whole-heartedly.
Unfortunately it did not turn out to be such a great read after all. I did enjoy all of the scary scenes that quickly begin to happen around Claire. Hauntings are a traditional but still great trope, and I think it's a perfect way to pull young readers into loving horror. I did not, however, like Claire. Her attitude was simply annoying and I found myself not caring about her plight at some point.
In a way, this book seems like it's having a bit of an genre crisis. It does have some deliciously creepy ghost moments. But then there's also friendship and silly fights, crushes and weirdness, family dynamics... it is just so much for such a short book. While I really appreciate the author's effort to capture chicago's history and all the obvious research she has put into the book, for me, Scritch Scratch just tried to do too much.
I really don't want to bash this book, as I am certain that a lot of people will like it - there are many who have actually given it five-star reviews on Goodreads - and I think especially younger readers will enjoy this story a lot. It simply didn't work for me.
Rating: 2/5 stars