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Jul 22, 2015periodicreader rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
The protagonist in The House of Small Shadows is a woman named Catherine. She is down on her luck, as her last job did not end very well, but she is gainfully employed again and about to begin a very exciting project of cataloging the collection of rare dolls and puppets created by the late and eccentric character, M.H. Mason. His home is now being looked over by Mason’s niece, Edith, and her caretaker/maid, Maude. Both women are creepy to the bone and so is Red House itself. There are so many secrets hidden behind locked doors and even looking through a window can make you wonder where reality has gone. The collection of items that Catherine has been asked to appraise and catalog is mostly of old dolls and taxidermied animals, some of which are in dioramas depicting very graphic scenes from WWII. Edith feeds Catherine the information that she desires her to know, and rarely answers the questions that are asked of her, including when the work on the appraisal can begin. Adam Nevill can write, that’s for sure. There was plenty of build up in the plot before everything, flashbacks, conversations and happenings, started to make sense, but I was never bored or wishing for things to be hurried along. I savored every single word and when the last page was turned, I wished that there were a thousand more.