Review: Elizabeth

Elizabeth by Ken Greenhall
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Urged on by a ghost named Frances living in her mirror, Elizabeth's first victims were her parents. When she goes to live with relatives, will Frances help Elizabeth kill again?

Elizabeth is yet another book whose existence I would have know inkling of if not for Paperbacks from Hell! I eventually overcame my cheapness and nabbed the ebook.

I'd say Elizabeth is part of the "creepy kids" subgenre of horror, although at 14 and sexually precocious, she's at the upper end of the spectrum. A long dead ancestor named Frances who lives in mirrors is Elizabeth's key to power. Her lone obstacle is Miss Barton, a tutor her family hires after her family's dead, someone from the same bloodline.

Elizabeth is touted as a lost horror classic. I can kind see why that is. There's a feeling of creeping doom through most of it, a feeling that Elizabeth is an uncaring, unfeeling monster, witch or no witch. The fact that she's not relatable in the least makes her a chilling first person narrator. There's a pretty big ick factor when Elizabeth seduces male relatives which only adds to the horror.

The book is a breezy read and short, making it really hard to put down. I only stopped because my lunch breaks only last so long. It's a little like a train wreck, waiting to see what Elizabeth does next. The writing itself is pretty unexceptional, though. Nothing remarkable, though there were a few quotable lines.

While I didn't like it quite as much as I thought I would, Elizabeth is still a worthwhile read for horror fans everywhere. 3.5 out of five stars.


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