Oak Avenue

A husband, wife, and their daughter move into a haunted house, each affected in their own ways by what's there.

Ana, stuck alone in the house while her husband, Edison works and stays at a hotel, begins to hear whispers and see strange things after finding a door under a rotten tree they have removed.

Her daughter says “Zo” over and over, and Edison becomes a heavy drinker and violent. With it being a small town, everyone treats her as an outsider. How trapped Ana feels as everything goes on is well conveyed.

The only downside is that this is an overdone storyline. We've all seen/read this before. Seeing more from Edison's point of view would have been nice too, but I understand it was necessary to keep some mystery and show how alone Ana felt. It's still very well done and a good read though.

If you've been reading the Dark Corners in order you just had four terrible stories in a row, but this one at least lets the collection end on a good note. Real characters, real horror, and no forced Harry Potter references.