Other People's Houses

I don't usually like mysteries because in general I find them scary, but this book by Susan Rogers Cooper is not boo! scary! at all. It is frightening in another way, for it tells the story of how identity loss can just break a person down.

A small town sheriff has to solve the mystery of why an entire family died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Horrible as it is to find a family like that, the town is extrememly shocked and puzzled over the nasty condition the house is in. It's just filthy; filled with trash, dirty diapers, rotting food, just gross. I almost put the book down reading this part because I grew up in a very messy home and lived with relatives briefly as an adult who lived nasty; I just can't stand filth and roaches and shit all in the house. Ugh.

After much sleuthing around the sheriff discovers why the family lived this way. It was truly a surprise, but like I said it wasn't scary at all, just sad. She did an excellent job with this book. I liked it a lot.