The+Dead+House+by+Kim+Nguyen

**By Anne Cassidy**
 * Published July 16th 2009**
 * Hodder Children’s Books**

Do men kill their families that easily and why do they kill them? The question is trying to be answered in Anne Cassidy novel ‘The Dead House’. Ten years ago when Lauren was just seven, Her father was brutally imprison for murdering her mother and baby sister. Lauren barely made it alive and was called a miracle for surviving her death, which was supposed to occur. Lauren’s Dad, Robert Slater was charged with the murder and has been in prison serving a life based on Lauren’s evidence. Lauren hasn’t spoken to him ever since.

Ten years have pass, Lauren is now 17 and has been living with her aunt (Jessie) and uncle (Donny) far away in Cornwall but then Lauren returns to London since her uncle got a new job teaching in London which bring backs memory from the tragic scene of her childhood 10 years ago which Lauren will have to face. If the trauma of moving back to London near the house where it all happened isn’t enough she’s discovering that her Dad might not have been guilty after all. But if he didn’t murder her Mum and Daisy then who did? As Lauren spends time in the house, after she befriends one of the new tenants, she remembers things from her past and uncovers a truth that could change everything she thought she knew.

Lauren is stepping her life into adulthood. Many different things are changing inside her and around her. Lauren is an ordinary girl who is growing up and is beginning to wonder about the world and the different things that’s would happen. She begins to wonder about love and how it is to truly love someone. Taking exams and thinking about University. Her uncle and aunty splitting up which takes the happiness away from Lauren since Jessica and Donny has been looking after Lauren for the pass years since her mother was murdered and her father being sent to prison. Lauren has to face all the difficulty before she can look forward to adolescence in life. In the press release for The Dead House (press conference), Cassidy says that she does not attempt to provide analyses or answer to the question of why men kill their families. Rather than that, in the novel Cassidy leaves notes and clues for readers to pick up so that readers wont get detracted away from the plot of the story. Readers also find out about Lauren’s past through the letters and flashbacks and mainly a dollhouse, which holds many secrets to the story. Cassidy held an interest plot from beginning to end and revealed just enough to keep me involved and interested, without giving away the ending too soon.

I encourage many people to read this book, because it tells a great story about ‘The Dead House’ and how the truth were to be reveal. The book had a horrifying twist, which hooks more people into the book while reading. Anne Cassidy has done a great job into writing this book. I will be looking forward to more of the books she wrote.
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