Book Review: Mouse Trap by Caryn Larrinaga

Title: Mouse Trap
Author: Caryn Larrinaga
Genre: Horror, Paranormal
Rating: 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon

Death haunts the Scott family home.

Twenty years ago, Dakota Scott’s baby brother died falling down the back stairs. Twenty-four hours ago, her older brother, Lennox, wasted away into nothing in the same house. Two deaths, just floors apart, yet no one suspects a connection.

Settling Lennox’s affairs lures Dakota back to the family’s old Victorian home overlooking Astoria. It has changed over the years—what was once a happy home is now filled with sadness, strange memories, and lights that won’t stay lit.

In the ever-growing darkness, a sinister force has awakened from a long slumber, and it is far from finished with Dakota. Her life and sanity hang in the balance—alongside everything she holds dear.

Fans of Shirley Jackson, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and Elizabeth Engstrom will love the quiet horror in this modern gothic tale.

Mouse Trap is the first book I’ve read by author Caryn Larrinaga, but if it’s up to me, it definitely won’t be my last. This book is a modern gothic, spinning a delicious mix of dread and eeriness right from the first page.

Twenty years ago, Kai, Dakota’s baby brother, died falling down the stairs of their ancestral home. Now, her brother Lennox has also been found dead in the same house, although by all accounts it looks like he died naturally – before his time surely, but naturally.

Dakota and her parents return home to handle Lennox’s affairs and arrange the funeral. But as soon as Dakota sets foot inside her childhood home, the sadness is almost too much to bear. And the more time she spends inside the house, the more memories she recalls of her childhood, and the sinister force that threatened her and her siblings… And that maybe, just maybe, never really let go.

I saw in some other reviews that people complained about the lack of spookiness, but honestly, I thought it was just the right amount of spooky. I don’t like “in-your-face” horror; I prefer my horror to be creepy, unsettling, but subtle enough that it creeps up on you slowly until you find yourself looking over your shoulder while reading. And that’s exactly what happened to me while reading Mouse Trap.

It’s a novella, so it’s a quick read, and the author tackles important subjects such as grief, family, going home. One of my favorite reads of the year thus far.