The Dance of Rotten Sticks by JC Vande Zande

Isaac Fletcher finds himself a widower, raising three children alone after a horrific car accident kills his wife Gwen and permanently ruins one of his legs. Caught up in his grief and his stress, he starts drinking heavily, which is affecting his ability to be a parent to his children. His children and his work have both found him passed out drunk in odd places, and if he's honest, he probably hasn't been sober once since Gwen's death. After a call from his mother in law Helen, that sounds like she wants to take his children from him. Isaac decides what the family needs a vacation. Since it's his daughter Emily's birthday, he decides that this is the perfect excuse to take the family to their remote cabin in Northern Michigan. Determined to prove to his mother in law that he hasn't the drunken failure she believes to be, he invites her and his brother along. Almost immediately upon stepping foot on the shores of Orphan Island strange things begin to occur in the family things that Isaac blows off as just normal childhood behaviors, but after his brother leaves unexpectedly after just a couple of days Isaac realizes that there is something very wrong on Orphan Island. 

This was a solid horror. Genuinely just a classic tale, to be honest, it was so classic it was almost like a comfort read. You've read this story a million times, but with different characters and different horrors. And that is not a complaint. Far from it, it made it easy to get into and easy to read, and that was exactly what I was looking for tonight. 

There are two things that shot this up to a five-star read for me (I know it's only four, I'll get there), the first being just how well he describes Northern Michigan. Now I am originally from MN not MI but the Northern parts of the state have much in common in terms of environment, and Vande Zande's descriptions of the lake and especially how cold it can be next to a deep one were so well done it made me *miss* home. And that does not happen very often. 

The second was the consistent discussion of the Lamprey, which is an invasive species. We just don't see enough authors' period talking about invasive species, even books that lean into ecological territory. Which is a damn shame because they are absolutely an issue in terms of climate change. 

And that brings me to why this is only four stars and why classic can be a double-edged sword...

The alcoholic (addict period really) parent who saves the day when it "matters most" (when everyone's gonna die and they are going to prove how much they care through murdering something doesn't necessarily have to be a supernatural entity) is a trope that I have never really gotten into. I can see the appeal, and obviously, I didn't hate it because I still gave the book four stars. In general that specific trope isn't my cup of tea.

So, other than that one thing though, this was a really well-done horror story. The pacing was spot on, the characters were likable, the family drama brought a reprieve from all the creepy stuff, and the big bad was unique. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a quick read with just enough eerieness that you can shut the lights off while reading it.