Links: Douglas Clegg / Show Official Info /

Iris is a young girl, and the youngest sibling. Lewis her oldest brother barely is mentioned. The twins, Spencer and Harvard (Harvey), are night and day, mean and nice. They've all moved to their father's ancestral home on a windswept island off the coast of Cornwall from their cozy cottage on Long Island. Father is in India and their mother suffers from bouts of depression. Harvey becomes Iris's friend and confidant and together they study the lore and myths of the island--learning from the groundskeeper, servants, and their grandfather's library.

For entertainment the islanders put on plays where Iris and Harvey play Isis and Osiris --they gained nicknames at least for each other. If you know the story, you can imagine the various ways that this story could play out. However, it plays out in a manner that you'll not expect and the chills up you spine comes from just a few lines that barely are noticed until it's too late and you've read them and now they'll play in your mind long after the story is over.

I like my horror to be low-key the uneasy feeling the chill that comes when you think of the ramifications of what you just read. Clegg manages to tell an interesting story and tap into that delayed chill that gets you just when you think you're safe. It doesn't take blood and guts to scare people, it just takes making them think.