The Doll's House: A Short Story by Lisa Unger

Mother Jules and daughter Scout are still feeling the intense grief of losing husband/father, Doug. But Jules has met a man, a well off artist, Kirin, and after a year of dating him, Jules and Scout are moving into Kirin's old family home, with a fancy, and to me, overly controlling home AI system. Seventeen year old Scout was so angry about moving but maybe it won't be so bad. Her city two bedroom apartment that she didn't want to leave has been sold but her new bedroom in Kirin's house is pretty awesome and she just may be happy at her new school, too.

In her room she finds a handmade doll that belonged to Kiran's sister and Scout is fascinated by this doll. Jules is glad that her daughter is settling in so well but Jules isn't having an easy time of it. She's seeing things and it seems like she's losing some of her house and property privileges thanks to the "smart" house controlling her movements.

Scout is a good kid and she's the part of the story I like best even though the story has more of a YA feel than I was expecting. I liked the teens, I think it's Kiran who brings the story down, for me. For all his many talents, he's just there, doing what he does, leaving me with the feeling he's such a blank wall of a person. It's hard to imagine Jules falling for this boring guy (am I allowed to call an artist boring...gasp!) and I can't help feeling that moving in with him was convenient rather than a healthy relationship move. I don't know, maybe I'm way too judgmental for someone who barely knows these people, but I'm judging! Of course, when it comes to Horror, life is never very normal, so events soon get wild and crazy for everyone.

Thank you to Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley for this ARC

Oh Lisa Unger, you get me every single time! I can no even begin to explain how good this book was. It drew me in from the beginning and kept me hanging on until the end. So well done! Incredible talent.

This short story by Lisa Unger was so good. The puppets, the ghosts, Vivi (the smart home voice)... I found them all creepy in the best way. This was a quick read, and I was disappointed when it was over. This would have been a great full novel, but it is also an excellent short story. Look for it on Amazon on September 12, 2024. If you're a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you'll be able to read it for free. If you aren't, you should buy it.

Thank you to Lisa Unger, Amazon Original Stories, and Netgalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This short novella ticks all the creepy boxes, from an ultra-modern mansion with an AI that may not be all too good, to possible ghosts and a cold case. Jules thought that she was done with love after losing her husband, but then she met Kirin. He’s handsome, talented and rich, so she marries him and brings her teenage daughter Scout with her. I loved the descriptions of the house in all its designer glory. Teenage characters are usually not my favorite, but I liked Scout enough to be concerned with her safety. Even her friends are likable and funny. My only problem is how short this is. There wasn’t much time to get to know Jules or Kirin. The creepiness factor would have been higher had there been time to build tension. That said, I was engrossed and invested in the story, I enjoyed the dialogues and I can’t say how creeped out I was by the house and the puppets that Kirin creates for a living. When the worst that you can say about a book is that you wish it had been longer, you know you enjoyed it.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Amazon Original Stories.

Thank you NetGally and Amazon Original Stories for this ARC! When Jules meets Kirin after the death of her husband, he was everything her late husband lacked - security, huge house and stability. Jules and her daughter Scout move in to his ultra high tech home in upstate New York where they’d need for nothing. Scout still missing her father and not too happy to be moving. Kirin comes from a wealthy family where his sister went missing in high school and never found. Great short story by Lisa Unger.

read if you like:
📚 short stories
🦄 whimsical fiction
🪆 dolls

summary:
I love Lisa Unger, so I jumped at the chance to read her latest short story. It’s about a widowed woman, Jules, and her daughter, Scout, who move in with her wealthy doll maker boyfriend, Kirin. While Kirin makes every effort to make the house welcoming to his new roommates, he gifts Scout with a lifelike doll that looks like his late sister who was never found. The doll opens up the door for Scout to wonder more about Emma, and wonder what role Kirin played in her disappearance.

I should lead with the fact that I am not a fan of dolls, and think they’re creepy, so I was probably destined to be weirded out by this book. Given it’s a short story, it moves fast, it’s an easy read and it grips you quickly. I struggled with the mystical aspect of it, as I typically love Unger’s more realistic thrillers, but I finished it quickly regardless. The story itself is pretty far fetched, but if you like more mystical or fantasy thrillers, this short story is probably for you! She does do a great job with character development, and even in the short lead up, I found myself attached to them!

Thank you to Net Galley and Amazon Short Stories for the ARC. This book releases on September 12!

Nailed it! Excuse me while I hide all my daughters dolls, they won't be allowed out for a while after this book. It was creepy, fast-paced, nail-biting, and exactly what I wanted in this short story.

After her husband, Doug, dies, Jules finds love again with Kirin. Jules sells her apartment in the city, and her and her teenage daughter, Scout, move into Kirin’s mansion. Not long after they arrive, strange things begin happening to them.


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I enjoyed this short, creepy story! It’s a great quick read that is perfect for the fall season.


Publishing September 12, 2024


Thank you Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley for the digital arc.

Such a great little story! It felt like more than just a short story. It was well written and oh so spooky! I really enjoyed this so much!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read if you like:
👻 spooky reads
👻 quick read thrillers
👻 haunted house setting
👻 creepy dolls
👻 dual POV

I love Lisa Unger, and I really enjoy her short stories! They are the perfect palette cleanser in between longer reads that take a bit more commitment 🤪 The short stories have just as much action and excitement as the longer novels, without all the extra fluff. I honestly wish most books were short stories actually 🤪 so much unnecessary detail.
The creepy mood and atmosphere was building right from the very beginning; this is the perfect spooky season read (and we ALLLL know how much I love a spooky read 😁😁🎃)
I love a dual point-of-view thriller so much because it just makes the story so much more twisty and dramatic jumping back-and-forth between 2 stories. I also enjoy seeing more than one side of the story.
This one really packed a punch!! Short and sweet and right to the point 🤪 It was so tense and dramatic the whole time! I read through in a single sitting, I definitely could not put it down. I can’t wait to read Lisa Unger’s next masterpiece!

Seriously sayin'.......

The name Lisa Unger led me to The Doll's House. It will probably do the same for you. I'm sure that it will have a great response from fans. I'm one. But there wasn't a lot of the sizzle that we usually get from this author. There's the pity. Short stories sometimes just come up short.

Chance meetings happen all the time. Certainly by chance. Jules, a recent widow, walked into a shop in New York City owned by the very successful Kirin who creates remarkable puppets and dolls. They struck up a conversation and the next thing you know it's romance. They're now newly engaged.

Her seventeen year old daughter, Scout, is not taken with the handsome Kirin or the idea of moving out of the city and into Winslow House. She sets her heels into the ground. And it's here that we experience the usual teenage angst. But Scout is the one who feels the bad vibes with this new situation. Soon Jules will come face-to-face with the shadows herself.

The Doll's House is a readable read. It just seems to take on the usual sign posts of mother/daughter relationships tipped over by daddy replacement. The WooWoo vibes don't actually have much woo to them. Short stories always run out of running space. It also had the feel of a YA story with so much emphasis on teenage Scout. Nonetheless, it still is Lisa Unger and worthy of a looky look.

I received a copy of this short story through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Amazon Original Stories and to Lisa Unger for the opportunity.

I’m not surprised that Lisa Unger’s short fiction has been nominated for the Edgar and ITW Thriller Awards or that it has been anthologized in “The Best American Mystery and Suspense”. Only a few authors can write short stories which feel as complex and complete as hers do.

Jules is still mourning her husband when she meets a Kirin, and falling in love again was the last thing she expected to do. But, she and her teenage daughter, Scout are now moving into his old family home, “The Winslow House”. He has thoughtfully updated it to be a SMART HOME, with “Vivi” taking care of your every need.

Despite her beautiful new room, Scout still feels like an outsider until she finds a beautiful, handmade doll which belonged to Kirin’s late sister, Emma. Perhaps Kirin can understand her grief after all?

Yet, there is a sense of foreboding which lingers…

And, why does Jules continue to see a blue eyed girl in the torn jeans, with mascara running down her face, in the beautiful “grief garden” out back?

This is a perfect AMAZON ORIGINAL short story (96 pages) for Spooky Season. With a SUPERNATURAL vibe, and a CONTEMPORARY feel (the author incorporates some interesting new APPS that I had only recently heard about into the story) which will be released on September 12, 2024.

I can’t decide what was most creepy-the Smart House, the dolls that Kirin created, or the girl in the garden!

And, if you haven’t already read it, don’t miss reading another of her short stories-“The Sleep Tight Motel” too!

I received a gifted copy through NetGalley. As always, these are my candid thoughts!

A creepy short story from Unger was a perfect book to read in between others. It flows well from one scene to the next and it spooked me! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I don’t really have anything to say about the book. It was a short read, predictable, and a bit boring. There was nothing special about the plot, and the characters were implausible at times. I have trust issues most of the time, so I couldn’t really fathom how anyone could so easily trust others.

The mystery is totally obvious from the get-go.

Anyways. Thanks Netgalley & Amazon Original Stories for the ARC.

This is a clever short story. Alternative POVs between mother, Jules, and daughter, Scout, as they start a new life with Jules new husband, Kirin. Kirin is a wealthy puppet maker and has a big house in upstate New York.

The signs that all is not well start almost immediately. Ralph, the driver, has a menacing manner that raises one's hackles and as they enter Kirin's house with Vivi, the automated assistant, seeming to be all seeing, one figures strange things are soon to happen.

Will the house of their dreams turn into a nightmare?

The story moves quickly. Short chapters, the sense of menace grows, and knowing the story is short, one figures all will be revealed soon.

I appreciated this is a complete story which can be challenging for one that is less than 100 pages.

I received the Amazon short story special via NetGalley, however, this had no bearing on my review.

This was an enjoyable mildly spooky short story. I liked the characters and story. The mansion instantly felt overwhelming and eerie and I couldn’t wait to find out what was in story for the main characters.

Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for this ARC. This review will be shared on NetGalley, Goodreads, and Amazon.

Pub Date Sep 12 2024

Although this is a short story there is a lot packed in there. It is very creepy and intriguing. I honestly felt like there was much character development for such a short book. I loved the plot and the ending!

2.5 stars,

Well written and it kept me turning the pages but there was nothing new or unique here - a lot of cliches, a lot of tropes.

This was my first time reading the author; I’d heard of her before but never took the plunge. I will read more.



Thank you to Amazon Original Stories and NetGalley for the DRC

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for an ARC of The Doll's House.

I was hoping for a quick spooky read to get in the mood for spooky season but this wasn't it 😔 It felt too long to be a short story but too short to be a proper book. The ending was so rushed it was unsatisfying and the creepy factor was just not there. Sadly, this was a big miss for me.

2.5 stars

Lisa Unger is a master of suspense and creepiness, and her new short story The Doll's House does not disappoint.

Scout misses her father terribly and is apprehensive about moving in with her mom's new boyfriend, an artist who creates life-like dolls and other interesting (creepy) things. When a series of disturbing events unfolds, Scout and her mother Jules begin to doubt Kirin's intentions. How did Kirin's sister Emma really disappear? And is the person behind these unsettling occurrences out to get Jules and Scout next?