Nobody charms-or unsettles-readers quite like DeAnna Knippling, veteran author of 80+ books.
Ferocious, twelve years old, and done pretending to play nice, Renee Jackson starts her sixth-grade English journal with a challenge for her teacher. She can write the truth. But can he read it?
Every night, her big sister Danielle screams bloody murder at supper if anyone looks at her strange, accuses Renee of stealing her stuff, and scrapes a knife into the floorboards while everyone pretends not to hear. Her mom swears Danielle struggles with the mean girls at school, and everyone just needs to treat her with some care for a little while longer.
But Renee knows better.
Renee starts looking for a way out: Telling her parents what Danielle does changes nothing. Neither does telling the truth in her journal.
But across the neighborhood, a creaky old haunted house appears like magic. Stone walls, broken windows, shadows that move in the darkness, and carved double doors that creak all on their own, challenging Renee to go inside.
Renee knows better than to go inside a house out of a horror movie. But it still might be her safest choice... before her sister turns her into the villain of the story.
Or worse.
An unsettling, merciless middle-grade horror about sisters, witches, and the monsters we make of each other. For brave readers 10 and up: sibling violence, bullying, parents who refuse to listen, strong language, and bloody imagery.
