Whatever the case may be, she digs into the very heart of just how far into the muck a seemingly average person or group of people might be willing to go in order to save what they hold dear. I just think that Johnstone has a firm grip on the unique capacity humans seem to have to completely disregard their own morals in the name of preservation of self, or of family, or of community. Which is not to say that everyone in these stories is evil – that is certainly not the case. Nobody is too good to do something almost shockingly vile, it seems. You can always count on a cast of flawed and deeply interesting characters in her stories. She certainly doesn’t write happy stories, and for that I applaud her.

Yet again Johnstone has created a story that is as beautiful as it is terrible. In the prophetic words of Blackhouse’s Charlie, Does that make more sense? I hope so…I’m running on empty here. I feel like the focus of Mirrorland was more on the absolute shit-terrible things that human beings can inflict upon one another, and the endless cycles of horrific abuse we sometimes are forced to endure. Ok, I’ll try once more to explain myself like an adult with a writing degree: the focus of The Blackhouse lies in the mystery of what happened on Kilmeray all those years ago.

Like, more Se7en than Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer if you get my drift. I found this one to be a little bit more user friendly. I love-love Mirrorland, but it is a pretty tough read, emotionally speaking.

Which as far as I’m concerned is a relief. This one is still pretty dark, but it doesn’t quite hit the same level of omgwtf. The Blackhouse hasn’t stuck with me quite as hard, but I definitely still devote a little bit of mental real estate to it. Some of you might remember a while back I had reviewed Carole Johnstone’s Mirrorland as part of a blog tour, and I absolutely loved it.

The blackhouse book review