It Will Just Be Us
Crooked Lane Books, 2020
Agent: Jill Marr
A terrifying new gothic horror novel about two sisters and a haunted house that never sleeps, perfect for fans of Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
They say there’s a door in Wakefield that never opens…
Sam Wakefield’s ancestral home, a decaying mansion built on the edge of a swamp, isn’t a place for children. Its labyrinthine halls, built by her mad ancestors, are filled with echoes of the past: ghosts and memories knotted together as one. In the presence of phantoms, it’s all Sam can do to disentangle past from present in her daily life.
But when her pregnant sister Elizabeth moves in after a fight with her husband, something in the house shifts. Already navigating her tumultuous relationship with Elizabeth, Sam is even more unsettled by the appearance of a new ghost: a faceless boy who commits disturbing acts–threatening animals, terrorizing other children, and following Sam into the depths of the house wielding a knife. When it becomes clear the boy is connected to a locked, forgotten room, one which is never entered, Sam realizes this ghost is not like the others. This boy brings doom…
As Elizabeth’s due date approaches, Sam must unravel the mysteries of Wakefield before her sister brings new life into a house marked by death. But as the faceless boy grows stronger, Sam will learn that some doors should stay closed–and some secrets are safer locked away forever.
Reviews:
“A rich, dense supernatural thriller...Horror fiction fans will also want to check this out.” —Publishers Weekly
“Jo Kaplan’s It Will Just Be Us is a chilling, poetic, modern Gothic masterpiece. Evocative and reflective, this is a story that haunted my imagination for many a night.”
—John Palisano, Bram Stoker Award-Winning author of Ghost Heart
“Marvelously atmospheric, emphatically suspenseful and beautifully written, Jo Kaplan’s It Will Just Be Us had my full attention from its deliciously creepy first page and kept frightening me straight through to the end.”
—Laird Hunt, author of In the House in the Dark of the Woods
“Kaplan conjures a bracing, surreal world in which the passage of time—properly understood—may herald the greatest horror of all…This mysterious world sucks you in and keeps you turning pages.“
—Scott Kenemore, author of Zombie Ohio
“There are few new writing stars rising faster or shining brighter than Jo Kaplan…Beautifully hypnotic and eerie, this novel is a must-have for fans of the literary macabre.”
—Eric J. Guignard, author of That Which Grows Wild
“In It Will Just Be Us, Jo Kaplan channels Shirley Jackson adding her own depth and haunting style. The best haunted house novel I’ve read since Sarah Langan’s Audrey’s Door.”
—Daniel Braum, author of The Night Marchers and Other Strange Tales
“Kaplan writes with extraordinary skill and authority, balancing the supernatural with the psychological…A vibrant, thrilling novel of family love and conflict.“
—S.P. Miskowski, author of I Wish I Was Like You
“It Will Just Be Us is a beautifully written, gripping Gothic story complete with a decaying house, a dysfunctional family, and hidden secrets. It simmers with darkness and danger and kept me turning pages until late in the night. I loved it!”
—Damien Angelica Walters, author of The Dead Girls Club
“A truly chilling novel with an ending that will take your breath away. Mad Catherine’s house is (literally) the stuff of nightmares, and in Julian, Jo has created one of the most frightening characters I’ve come across since Gabe from Pet Semetary. I couldn’t read it too late at night, and I had to cover up my mirrors! Also very glad I live in a modern house nowhere near a swamp.”
—Melanie Golding, author of Little Darlings
“Jo Kaplan’s novel It Will Just Be Us is a triumph of gothic fiction. Haunting and addictive, the evocative language leads the reader along a deliciously horrifying path to an ending we both dread and wait for with held breath. A must-read for horror fans.”
—Darcy Coates, USA Today Bestselling author of The Haunting of Ashburn House