The horrifically complicated birth of their first child has left Ana paralyzed, bitter, and struggling: with mobility, with her relationship with Reid, with resentment for her baby. That's about to change with the words any New Yorker would love to hear―affordable housing lottery.
They've won an apartment in the Deptford, one of Manhattan's most revered buildings with beautiful vistas of Central Park and stunning architecture.
Reid dismisses disturbing events and Ana’s deep unease and paranoia as the price of living in New York―people are odd―but he can't explain the needle-like bite marks on the baby.
When Reid and Ana put their names in the lottery for an affordable luxury apartment they never dreamed they'd win. They also never dreamed that their lives would be so different from the time they entered the lottery to the time they finally got called.
When they are shown the apartment it seems perfect for most people, but Ana has misgivings right away. She is confined to a wheelchair these days and can not get down the stairs from their upper floor apartment if there is ever an emergency. Ignoring her unease, and buoyed by her husband's excitement over their win. she agrees to take the apartment. After all, it will do them good to get away from their obnoxious antisemitic landlord.
It's not long after moving day when Ana knows something is wrong with this building. Her baby seems to sense it too, constantly screaming and crying as if she knows this is a bad place to be. Reid becomes obsessed with learning the history of the building, to the point that he loses interest in all else, even gaslighting Ana when she points out the tiny bite marks on the baby after having seen a face at their top floor window.
Not since The Sentinel or Rosemary's Baby has an apartment building had such an unsavory past or housed such sinister tenants. I can't say much else about the plot without spoilers, but I loved the domestic drama as much as the scary parts. The psychological fear mixed with the supernatural terror combined to make Nestlings into an exquisite horror that was perfection from start to finish. This book will land firmly on my best horror of the year list.
5 out of 5 stars.
My thanks to Tor Nightfire.
No comments:
Post a Comment