Curse of the Dead Eyed Doll

I received a copy of Curse of the Dead Eyed Doll through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  I really love how the boy who is cynical about a haunted doll is the one who winds up being tormented and haunted by it. Stepping into his concerns as a school aged child some of the terrors revolve around his life as a student.  Despite being an adult who has been away from school for awhile now, these terrors were portrayed in a way that still creeped me out.

But then on a very personal level I have learned that stories about haunted dolls have the power to invoke quite a scare in me.  Some dolls just look so life like that there has to be something supernatural going on with them. Yet one of the things that I find brilliant about this particular story is that the main character is cynical about the possibility that a doll that he found in a museum could possibly be haunted.  And having a child who is old enough to articulate this doubt makes not only the articulation of the doubt be stated in a simple way, but also there is the component of needing to keep the adults out of the loop about what is going on. This element of middle grade and YA literature where something is happening to a child protagonist that can’t be communicated with adults always adds a layer of scare to a story. Remember when you were a child and felt like adults did not understand you? Now imagine you are actually being haunted by something like a doll…and you are old enough to know that an adult will not believe you. That is pretty scary! This is a component that was hinted at in this story but I felt like it was something that it could have been drawn out more. There was one occasion of interaction with an adult but there was another occasion that turned out to be a lost opportunity for me. This is the main reason why I decided to give this book a 4/5 star rating.

Living in the Twin Cities myself, I was excited to discover that this author lives in Minneapolis. I have to bring out a disclaimer that I am always eager to promote local talent. However I would not be wanting to tell you to read this book on this fact alone. I really did find this to be a fun, fast paced read.

 A tidbit that may be interesting to some readers is that the writer is basing this on an actual doll named    Robert the Doll who is thought to have supernatural powers. I personally fall into the camp about being cynical about what we deem supernatural as truth in the real world. (However a compelling work of fiction is another story…) I feel like a lot of times the possibility of haunted events make for great stories but there is typically either not enough evidence there for me to be convinced that this is truth and/or stories are often sensationalized in how they are told. The elements of truth are often embellished to tell a compelling story.  I like how this book enters into this world through the lens of fiction. I honestly would have been lost as a reader without it.  However readers who may be more into speculation over supernatural matters will definitely enjoy being engaged over this possibility.  I would highly encourage you to enter into this world and make your own decisions….

(I also posted this review on Goodreads)