When Ghosts Call Us Home by Katya De Becerra (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: When Ghosts Call Us Home by Katya De Becerra Kate Quealy-Gainer, Editor De Becerra, Katya When Ghosts Call Us Home. Page Street, 2023 [368p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781645679639 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781645679646 $9.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 9-12 At just twelve years old, Sophia Galich starred in her sister Layla's found footage horror movie Vermillion, which launched them—but more so Layla—to a cult-like status in the horror world and brought about an obsessive fandom. Layla always assured Sophia that she was perfectly safe, and that the film's central ghost was just [End Page 54] a very well-designed prop. But five years later, Layla has gone missing, and Sophia can't help wondering if it has something to do with Cashore House, the backdrop to their movie and the site of a decades-old tragedy. Sophia agrees to return to Cashore House with director Erasmus Sawyer, who plans to recreate the scenes from Vermillion as both a sequel and homage, and it soon becomes clear to Sophia that her sister put her in far more danger than either thought, both then and now. An expertly calibrated pace builds tension, maximizing the moody atmosphere between the nightmarish encounters with the ghost to keep readers constantly on edge. The descriptions of Cashore's ghost are visceral and specific, calling up the lanky-haired, haunting spirit from The Ring while giving her a distinct and terrifying sense of demonic agency. De Becerra (Oasis, BCCB 12/19) also explores non-supernatural scares in Sophia's lingering trauma from her childhood role and in her recognition that her sister is more complicated than the idol Sophia built her to be—memories, it turns out, can be just as tricky as restless spirits and just as haunting. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois