The spooky house and governess heroine made me think this was a historical story at first, but it's actually contemporary-set. Danna has been hired to teach Mr. and Mrs. Evers' young daughter, Isabella. The Evers' home, Stockton House, is an odd place. It used to be a church, and in order to get to it, it's necessary to walk through a labyrinth populated by the Atrocities, statues depicting horrific violence and suffering. Stockton House's interior is no better - every wall and nook and cranny has something grotesque and unsettling on/in it.

Danna has her own horrors to deal with. At times, she slides into what she calls her "hospital dreams," vivid and twisted nightmares that feel terrifyingly real. She tries to focus on the job at hand, teaching Isabella, but it soon becomes clear that there's a lot the Evers didn't tell her about themselves and their daughter.

This had a feel to it that reminded me a lot of the game Fran Bow. Danna's "hospital dreams" were about as horrifying as Fran's visions when she took her pills, and The Atrocities and Fran Bow both had startlingly sudden endings that were open to interpretation.

However, whereas Fran Bow took its time, letting players gradually get to know Fran and the horrors she and others went through prior to the game's beginning, The Atrocities felt like it barely scratched the surface where Danna was concerned. Readers knew she'd once been married, that she had a son who'd died, and that she had a cousin who tried to keep her spirits up by texting her cute pictures on a daily basis. That's pretty much it. Danna's hospital dreams were never really addressed. Did anyone other than her know about them?

The novella's ambiguous ending frustrated me. Taken at face value, it was a "good" ending. Danna's sometimes shaky grasp on reality made me wonder, however, whether her experiences at the end were real, or just something she'd cobbled together to reassure herself. Readers who like this sort of ambiguity may enjoy this, but I wanted something a little more solid.

I loved the overall atmosphere, and the mystery of the Evers family intrigued me. Unfortunately, the ending was a disappointment.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

Wait, that's it?

This had excellent atmosphere and occasionally reminded me of the game Fran Bow, with the way reality would occasionally slide into something horrible. Unfortunately, the ending was overly sudden, to the point where I'm wondering if it was real or all in Danna's head (honestly, a bit like Fran Bow in that respect as well, only with much less build-up). This could have been awesome and instead felt unfinished.

I'm using this for my New Release square. It was published in April 2018.

This is weird. The main character, Danna, keeps sliding into monstrous visions she calls her "hospital nightmares." The husband, Danna's new employer, seems like he could be an escapee from Night Vale, the wife is possibly extremely unwell, and I have a feeling the two servants mainly stick around because their employers are compensating them extremely well (not just limited to paychecks, but top-of-the-line cell phones, money sent to relatives in need, etc.). It's difficult to imagine anyone raising a child in that house, because it's decorated in nightmares - every painting and sculpture is deeply disturbing in some way.

Oh, and there's a random capybara named Princess.

I'm reading this for my New Release square. It's much shorter than I realized, so I should hopefully be able to get through it fairly quickly. I do need to stop at some point and finally get through some of my review backlog, though. I'm ridiculously behind.

I don't really know much about this, but the cover grabbed me and the description made it sound like my kind of horror (creepy atmosphere).