Lora Hates Spam

by Mary SanGiovanni

Somewhere in the woods of Pennsylvania there is a mysterious door and for generations people have written requests and sealed the envelope with wax mixed with their own blood and slipped the letters under the door. They always get a result, but not always in the way they anticipate.

This is a similar concept to another book I read last year, but in this one someone changes her mind and tries to retrieve the letter. Opening the door was a very, very bad idea. This is mentioned in the book description so I'm not giving a spoiler.

The details of individual situations is what makes the story. Rather a lot of people in the town have made use of the door at some time or other, though many won't admit to it. They are reluctant to talk about it and some incidents are about covering up things the people in question don't want revealed. A professional, Kathy Ryan, is brought in to help deal with the occult occurrences.

If you like truly horrific imagery and especially tentacled monsters, then this is for you. The situation gets progressively more gruesome as things move on, leading up to a dramatic ending. I can't put my finger on why, but I didn't feel what I was supposed to feel as the plot thickened. I think there were a few jumps in the plot that threw me off, just little things like how a group of people in a car are suddenly walking in the forest.

Kathy Ryan is the central character for a series of stand alone stories where she is a sleuth dealing with occult situations. I do find myself curious about the plots of other stories in the series.