This novel has all the hallmarks of a classic gothic horror story. A sprawling, decaying mansion on the edge of the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia, a locked room, terrifying tales of a witch who lives in the water of the swamps and the ghosts of past inhabitants of the house and of one who is yet to be born.

Although his novel starts off slowly, first with Sam returning to her mother and her childhood home after a traumatic assault followed by her pregnant sister Elizabeth who has left her husband, the tension sure ramps up about half way through, with the appearance of a faceless ghost, an evil boy yet to be born who can interact with Sam and earlier ghosts. Sam comes to believe this boy is a portent of what is to come and that she must find a way to stop him.

There's a sort of madness running through the book. Sam's mother never leaves the house and is unreliable and fragile, frequently drinking and becoming lost in watching old memories play before her eyes. Sam also sees images of herself and Elizabeth when they were younger and feels the history of the house and the people that lived there in rooms that she enters. The swamp really is a very creepy place and there is a malicious feeling that nothing good will come of entering it even though the girls used to explore it in a canoe when they were younger. Even though this has the feel of a classic horror story with an old fashioned, formal style of writing, Jo Kaplan has put her own original twist on it to produce a chilling tale with a really creepy ending.

It Will Just Be Us is a beautifully haunting, atmospheric <i>quiet</i> horror story.

This is such a personal story, for the characters involved and the history of Wakefield Manor and the surrounding Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia. It takes a typical haunted house story and makes it personal. It's so warm, mystical, and it lulls you into a feeling of safety and retrospection - on the horrors of the past and the desire to overcome them, and respect them.

There are a few moments of true horror which creepily followed me after reading, however they are not particularly overwhelming and would be appropriate for someone that is not used to reading horror or thriller books.

A well executed first person narrative forms the majority of the story. I loved the more literary, yet accessible, writing. When we are taken into the history of the house and the swamp the perspective changes, but these sections are tackled well and for me did not disturb the momentum.

This is a gentle, well paced read and should absolutely be read on a cold rainy day.

It took sheer will and a lot of skimming for me to finish this book. I thought: haunted house and evil ghost children would make for a great read but no.

I was really confused throughout the majority of the book. The writing while lovely was a little old fashioned which isn’t a bad thing but I did have to read some parts twice to fully understand what the author was talking about. I felt that there were a lot of unnecessary details intermingled throughout the story and this stalled the flow of the story.

Also, what the heck even was the point of the story? It was incredibly slow building up. The “ghost” part was really weird and confusing and the concept of zero nothingness.
And then that ending. How disappointing for everything to just end like that though it wasn’t really a surprise.

I really wish I could have liked this book but it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this arc!

It Will Just Be Us is told through the eyes of Sam Wakefield, a woman who, after a traumatic experience returns to her childhood home to live with her unstable mother. That home isn't a safe haven, however, it's a gloomy, haunted mansion that rests within a swamp that itself is haunted by a witch. While Sam and her mother are trying to find a rhythm in living together they are joined by Sam's elder sister Elizabeth - who is heavily pregnant and has walked away from her husband for reasons that become clear as the book progresses.

This is a haunted house story that has something new to say. The ghosts that haunt the mansion are not necessarily deceased in this time bender that plays with the limits of perception and reality. The relationships are unhealthy but real, the story traditional but with something new. It's the Winchester Mystery Mansion meets House of Leaves, The Shining meets The Haunting of Hill House. While there are clearly so many influences from classics of the genre, Kaplan has made this a story completely her own.

It Will Just Be Us has every right to become a modern gothic horror classic. It's taken so many elements and tropes of the genre and completely mashes them, smashes them, then moulds them into something so new and fresh. It's swiftly become one of my favourite books so far this year.

A story of ghosts and people with personal ghosts. Creepy. Atmospheric and totally unique. I really liked this story for its originality and I’m looking forward to reading more by this author. A strong 4/5.

This is an interesting one..it has the feel of an old school gothic ghost story, but thats not what it actually is for most of the book, you have to get through a lot of flowery description for the first two thirds of the book until you get to the good stuff. A tale of a mother and 2 grown sisters living in a supposedly haunted house, the story goes back and forth it time and in and out of different perspectives, and i got really confused at times! Its not a new favourite, but thats not to say its not decent Halloween read... a creepy locked room, a faceless boy, even a witch, its got it all! I would say its perfect for a stormy October night 🎃👻

Many thanks to @netgalley and @crookedlanebooks for the #gifted

This was a very good book. I enjoyed it even though I saw some of the plot twists coming. It would be a really good starter thriller if you aren't used to reading them.

It's not often that I come across a modern Gothic novel told in a language that will make me fall deep into the story and catch the mad fever overtaking the characters. But It Will Just Be Us delivers tenfold.

The setting of the book is to be expected: an old house, big, imposing, with more rooms than those who live there can take care of and ghosts roaming the halls while the world outside is dreary and sometimes more inhospitable than this terrible home becomes. But these ghosts are not figments of the imagination. They're rather very real to anyone who spends enough time in the Wakefield mansion to see them. By being too loud, by living too strongly, by feeling too much joy, sadness, pain or hatred, the house takes an imprint of those moments and saves them so that they can live on at odd times of manifestation and tell the tale of everyone who has lived here. It was interesting yet eerie to see these phantoms of the past, even as they helped drive the plot forward.

Half of the “main” characters in this book (save for Elizabeth and Donovan) are fairly quiet in personality. They keep their emotions deep within themselves, and therefore cope in less than healthy ways, which only gives more fodder for Wakefield house to use. And yet, for Samantha. at least. this repression begins to crack at the edges until she not only starts to let go and show how she truly feels, but does so while allowing the instability of the house to dig into her. It's both freeing to see and devastating, as one connects the dots of everything that has been shown so far and realizes the conclusion that her life will have.

It made me, the reader, feel wonderfully out of my mind a few times while allowing the story take hold of me. And eerie became downright creepy whenever the at first mysterious Julian would make an appearance. What darkness the genre of this book insisted upon, Jo Kaplan was happy to supply us with. You will be spooked, you will feel uncomfortable even while driven by a need to see what happens next, and you will be as repulsed as you are fascinated.

The writing itself is absolutely gorgeous and gives the story a very authentic and old time feel despite the contemporary setting. It was a book that was impossible to put down, and deserves to be read by those that are fans of such an uncanny tale.

I tried to get into this book but it was just weird and hard yo understand. I was thoroughly confused by about page 20 as to who was who and what was what. All I could gather was that a witch sicked Clementine into her lair and let her go but she was dead and someone kept appearing in a flame like apparition....then it lost me

While reading this book, I felt like I was sitting around the campfire and listening to scary stories. Sam, her pregnant sister, and her mother live in a house that is basically a maze of memories. Every so often, a memory will present itself, whether that is the main character having a fight with her sister 10 years ago, or the death of an ancestor 50 years ago. Sam starts seeing a male with a shadowed face performing very disturbing acts; however, these events haven’t happened before. She thinks this is the future... and the boy is her sister’s unborn child.
•
This one had such a spooky environment and I loved that. They basically live in a haunted mansion beside a swamp. Details were chilling and mysterious. There were scary parts, which I enjoyed because I’m not easily spooked. I liked the main character, Sam, but was not really a fan of any of the other characters. This one is definitely a slow burn. I would have enjoyed some more action early on, but the ending is very fast-paced. At 272 pages, this was an easy binge-read! CW: suicide, death

My thanks to Crooked books, Jo Kaplan and Netgalley.
I've been thinking about this story all day. I still don't know what to say.
I didn't like this book at the beginning. It was a bit like being back in Elementary school, on Monday. For show and tell! I actually loved show and tell, but not so much in story form. Quickly though, this story took form and I was hooked.
You know how sometimes you read a book and you find yourself in sync with the author or story? That was me. I knew too much of what was happening, and also how this book would end. For me, it was inevitable.
This is still some messed the heck up haunted house. I'd have A) gone insane. B) struck a match to it!
As I said, it was inevitable. That ending was like a stake through my shriveled up beef jerky heart!
If you like haunted house stories, and I mean in your face hauntings then this might be your groove. No ambiguity here!

*Many thanks to Jo Kaplan, Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
A creepy and interestingly written horror set in Virginia in modern times, however, one of the main characters is the house built by one of the Wakefields in the Victorian times, situated by swamps. Horrors are not the genre I often read, but this one was right up my alley, with ghosts and complicated personal and family histories, and it held my attention throughout.

Haunted house stories are my favorite type of horror novel, so I was really looking forward to It Will Just Be Us. The premise is great: Sam Wakefield lives with her mother in their ancestral mansion on the edge of a swamp in Virginia. The house was built by Mad Catherine, contains labyrinthine halls, rooms that change, and the ghosts (or memories) of the past inhabitants - not to mention there is a witch who lives in a creepy shack deep in the swamp. When Sam's sister Elizabeth, pregnant with her first child, moves in following a fight with her husband, Sam begins to see a new ghost/memory - only this time it's of a little boy who abuses animals and other children., and terrorizes her.

This story is wonderfully creepy, and I loved so much of the story itself, but the writing was too flowery and made the pace of the book drag.

Many thanks to Net Galley, Crooked Lane books and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.

Wakefield Manor is decaying and situated at the edge of the Great Dismal Swamp makes it a brooding and haunted mansion. And yes, it is peculiarly haunted. Besides the fact that all the ancestors are walking up and down the long and dark corridors, the house does not also let its inhabitants forget, revealing past memories and events in a faded loop.

Samantha Wakefield has been staying with her mom Agnes after a traumatic incident left her too scared and terrified. But the house is not conductive for a soothing recuperation. There’s a room at the end of a narrow and windowless corridor that has remain locked forever that holds much fascination for Sam from a young age. And when her heavily pregnant sister Elizabeth moves back separating herself from her husband Donovan, a new haunting seems to take prominence, that of a young and faceless boy.

Who’s this faceless boy?
What secrets are hidden behind the locked room?

As the stories of the Swamp Witch begins to take shape in bits and pieces for Sam, the faceless boy also is growing up in stages showing the streaks of cruelty and monster that hides underneath.

The first 2 parts of the story is slow in pace and therefore laborious to read, the writing resembling the classic way of story telling with detailed and rich descriptions of everything under the sun but if you have got that far, do stick with it as the shift in pace begins from Part 3 and then this extremely creepy and horror story becomes a ricochet missile. Each segment of the horrors inside the locked room that gets revealed was engrossing.

None of the characters have any real warmth and at most times the relationship between the young Sam and Elizabeth borders on viciousness! I never did guess the outcome of the story and even after the close of the final chapter kept imagining if it could have ended in any different way.

For fans of classic gothic fiction!

Built at the edge of a swamp, the Wakefield ancestral home is not only residence to mother and daughter Agnes and Sam Wakefield, but also shadows and echoes of the past who haunt Sam throughout her days. When Sam's pregnant sister returns home after a falling out with her husband, Sam begins to see and experience incredibly creepy and disturbing interactions with an older version of her nephew, Julian.

It Will Be Us tells the story of these three women and the haunted house in which they reside, while also telling the story of the swamp and the former residents of the now decaying and dilapidated manor.

I absolutely loved this slow burn of a gothic tale. The writing is fantastic, and it reads like literary fiction. The swamp and manor descriptions were truly creepy, and I was increasingly disturbed by Julian. (Warning: there are a couple of scenes involving animal cruelty, but they weren't so awful it made me stop, as I have in other books.)

I realized what was happening close to the end of the story, and it haunted me until the very last page and beyond.

This is the perfect read for a foggy, rainy fall day.

“In Wakefield Manor, a decaying ancestral mansion brooding on the edge of the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia, there is a locked room.”

And this is the sort of opening sentence that immediately sucks me into a book. A decaying mansion, a swamp and a locked room? Please tell me more!

Sam and her sister, Elizabeth, grew up in Wakefield Manor with their neglectful mother. Since it was built, the mansion has witnessed both the mundane and the horrors experienced by those who have lived there, and it has not forgotten them.

Now adults, the sisters have returned to Wakefield Manor, where the locked room from their childhood remains a mystery and a new ghost has appeared.

I love haunted house stories so couldn’t wait to get into this one. I loved the house. I loved the swamp. I loved the way the ghosts made their way into the story and I wanted to spend more time with them.

“The past is everywhere, here, wrapped up in the present.”

There were a couple of times when I managed to forget what was happening in the story’s present while exploring the past. I never really connected with any of the characters so, although I was interested in learning what happened to each of them, the emotional investment was missing. There were also a number of potentially superfluous paragraphs that took me out of the story.

I tend to gravitate to horror that is more visceral so after the set up of the first couple of chapters I found myself getting antsy. The action picks up towards the end of the book but I spent a good amount of time around the middle simply waiting for it to begin. There was an overall atmospheric feel to the book.

“It is a door that should not be opened.”

Content warnings include mention of abortion, alcoholism, assault, death by suicide (including method used), domestic violence, neglect and slavery. Readers with emetophobia may have trouble with a couple of scenes.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read this book. I’m rounding up from 3.5 stars.

Sam Wakefield’s home is a decaying mansion built on the edge of a swamp. It’s halls, built by her mad ancestors, are filled with the echoes of the past: ghosts and memories alike. When her pregnant sister moves in after a fight with her husband, something in the house shifts and Sam will be unsettled by the arrival of a new ghost: a faceless boy who commits disturbing acts.

What I Didn’t Like:
-One slightly slow spot. This one takes a tiny dip into the past for one chapter. Thankfully it was only one chapter because that part was a bit boring.
-Jarring in some spots. Now, I want to mention this was INTENTIONAL. It lends itself to understanding the main character and what’s happening with/to her. But there are a few times when you, as a reader, feel frustrated and lost. Again, I’ll say that’s INTENTIONAL.
-Unreliable narrator. This didn’t bother me, I love that in a book. But call it a content warning. If you have to be able to love and adore your narrator, you may not love this book.

What I Did Like:
-The setting. The old gothic haunted house takes the role of main character in this book. It reminds me of The Haunting of Hill House in that vein. Yet this house was built to confuse, like the Winchester mansion. Together these facts make for a setting that is intriguing and captivating.
-The twist on horror tales. Imagine if a house held all the secrets of the past and played them out for you at random intervals, almost like ghosts or shadows of the past. WHAT AN IDEA FOR A BOOK. This delivers on that original tale. The detail packed into the background of this is wonderful.
-The minor details. This author took time to put thought into the little things. Small details are woven into this book all alone and then brought back together to wallop you at the end. It’s remarkably well thought out and well written.

Who Should Read This One:
-Horror fans, specifically those who like a good haunted house tale where the house takes a major role in the story.

My Rating: 4 Stars. Haunted house fans are gonna love this one!

Summary: In a monstrosity of a house built by their ancestors, the current generations of Wakefields live at the edge of the Great Dismal Swamp. Agoraphobic Agnes Wakefield drinks excessively and watches the ghosts of her daughters playing in the yard. Samantha Wakefield, the younger of Agnes’ two — very much alive — daughters, teaches archaeology at the community college. The older and very pregnant daughter, Elizabeth, leaves her creepy husband and moves back in with her mother and sister.

Narrated by Sam, the story weaves folktales and history of the swamp into the past and present lives of the generations of Wakefields. With twenty seven shambling rooms, the house has room for many residents, alive and dead. There are ghosts everywhere, most of whom are benign. The Wakefields live with them, watching them live their lives, and deaths, over and over and over.

But their story becomes truly frightening when Sam sees a horrifying phantom from the future, something that never happened before. When she realizes who it is, she knows she must do something to stop the wraith from entering their lives.

Comments: It Will Just Be Us spans two genres, ghost story and horror novel. I used to read a lot of gothic and horror novels in the 60’s and 70’s, when those books were in vogue. I was also a lot younger and enjoyed being scared for fun. As I grew older, I realized how scary the world was without pretending. (Then along came 2020!) The horror genre also changed, becoming less psychological and more hack and slash, which I didn’t like at all.

It Will Just Be Us is a clever, original novel that hearkens back to the books I read in my childhood and early adult years. It is deliciously atmospheric.

Recommended for readers of Gothic novels, ghost stories and the horror genre.

I have been away from the horror genre for a long time and only recently just returned. Haunted houses is one of my favorite themes but I can't really understand why. I mean to me things are pretty simple: the first hint you get you and your family are not the only residents of the house, you get the hell out of there. Not enough story to write a book about though... But people are full of contradictions, so here we are.

In “It will just be us”, the haunted house is Wakefield Manor, inhabited by Sam and her mother, Agnes. And a bunch of ghosts, that aren't really ghosts, but echoes of the past the house projects. When her pregnant sister arrives to stay with them, Sam notices a shift in the house's already eerie atmosphere and visions of a boy that may or may not be her sister's son.

I prefer to start with what I didn't like to get it out of the way. My biggest problem with the book was the writing. In many debut novels you can sense the writer's need to prove their writing skills with elaborate sentences and fancy words. I recently became aware of the terms “purple prose” and “purple patches” and I think the book is full of them! Kaplan uses too many words to make a point, ending up with sentences that are too big to follow. I often stopped and started over because I couldn't remember how the sentence started.

One of the things I am looking for in a haunted house story is the “Why”. Not why the house is haunted. I don't necessarily need a reason for that. That is the element of fantasy. (Although I do give extra credit for a chilling back story) The “Why” I am looking for, is the element of truth, that every horror story needs to sink its claws into your very soul. What makes people stay when every instinct they possess screams “Leave!”. I am a big believer in the human instinct. Our bodies send signals to warn us off from danger. In haunted house stories, people go against these instincts until it's too late. That “Why” wasn't really answered here. Sam had all the clues, most of which she interpreted correctly, yet she made no effort to get her family out of there, for fear of upsetting her pregnant sister. Well, how great that one played out...

The real power of the book however is (as it should) its stifling atmosphere. The surroundings of the house being a marsh only makes it even more stifling. The visions the house projects are a mix o Sam's childhood memories and moments from the lives of her ancestors. At first things aren't that scary. It was like watching old family videos. But chapter after chapter, things (and visions) get darker and creepier. Kaplan did a great job at pulling us in the house. Her descriptions are strong and solid, bringing Wakefield Manor to life in the best possible way. It was so easy to see Sam wondering around rooms and corridors, listening its sounds, smelling its smells of decay and rot. Still makes the hairs on my body rise.

I am not sure I would recommend it in hardcore horror fans, but for the rest, it's definitely a go. I did enjoy it! In a twisty, hairs-rising, skin-crawling, sleeping-with-the-lights-on kind of way, but enjoyed it nonetheless.

I really enjoyed the gothic melodrama of Kaplan's writing style. This book was deeply atmospheric, It's the exact kind of popcorn Halloweeny read I love. It wasn't genre-defining or world-changing, but it was fun, chilling read. It's the kind of book that you approach as a rainy day, under the blankets with a hot chocolate type of read. But reader beware, there are a lot, and I mean a LOT of metaphors. I think it could have done with a few less, but it suited the gothic style, so it didn't detract too much, thankfully.