Rowan’s Ruin

Rowan's Ruin

You may have missed noticing this spooky little miniseries, which began in the fall of last year. Mike Carey wrote and Mike Perkins illustrated Rowan’s Ruin, the story of a house swap with deadly consequences.

Katie trades her Florida apartment near her parents for a stay in Emily’s English cottage, “Rowan’s Rise”. Katie has a great time exploring the town until odd things start happening in the house. Emily’s room is locked up, which is understandable, but then power outages take out her electronics. And she has a few nightmares, but that also makes sense when you’re in a new area with a long history, right?

Rowan's Ruin

Perkins does a wonderful job establishing the feel of a small town, while Carey establishes Katie’s personality through her blog entries and phone calls back home. Unfortunately, we lose that in later chapters as Katie gets involved with a local policeman. She also begins hearing rumors about what happened in the house in the past, including the deaths of the family’s dogs.

As the story continues, Katie researches the family’s history, sees ghosts, and is determined to find out the true nature of the evil haunting the house. The reader may figure out the “shocking” conclusion, what’s behind all this destruction, before the character does, and the motive is underdeveloped, but it’s a fun bit of time spent in another place, a stand-alone haunting story with an empowering final showdown. (The publisher provided an advance digital review copy.)



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