A group of students performing a murderous hazing ritual attack a small family in an isolated house and find they have bitten off more than they can chew.

That’s actually about it.  While there are several subplots,  in general they go nowhere and others simply appear to be included for the sake of shock value. The ghosts and the mirror in the attic appear to be smoke and mirrors with no real resolution, and the incest subplot is less a plot than something which happens.

In tone it’s similar to “Funny Games” meets “Carrie”. Don’t expect classic horror or suspense. Although it starts out in this direction, it quickly moves into splatterpunk and graphic violence. The main problem with the book, for me, is one fatal to horror: I got to chapter three and realised I didn’t care what happened to any of the characters. They are all utterly unsympathetic, and without empathy for the victims it robs their deaths of any real horror.

As horror I’d give this a two. As splatterpunk, more modernly called torture porn, a three.

Readers who enjoy graphic violence may like this story, although the incest may put some off.  Fans of creepy horrors, suspense of supernatural stories, this is probably one to miss.