Review:
Sam, an archaeological entymologist, goes to stay with her mom at her grandmother's former home and is shocked and disturbed by the changes she sees in her mother. Although Sam's mom used to be the polar opposite of her grandmother, a horrible and racist lady who wanted everything to be "nice and normal," her opinions seem to have undergone some sort of shift - either that, or something has her too anxious and afraid to behave the way she normally does. She's also changed the house to look the way Sam's grandmother used to have it, and she's lost a lot of weight.
As Sam tries to figure out what's going on with her mother, she also worries about whatever is going on with the house. There are no insects in her grandmother's rose garden, absolutely none, and yet somehow swarms of ladybugs invade the house. Then there are the vultures that seem to be keeping watch over the house.
This wasn't so much scary as ominous, although the things near the end of the book did make my skin crawl.
I really liked Sam and the way her interest in and love for insects tied into the story. Would I have noticed the complete lack of insects in the garden? I'm not sure, but it was a detail Sam was basically guaranteed to notice.
There's a lot of buried family trauma here. Also, the ending had me wondering if Sam and her mom were going to have to spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders. Sam's job, for sure, involved some travel.
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