The Doll's House by Lisa Unger

Published by Amazon Original Stories on September 12, 2024

Doug killed himself, leaving behind Jules, a widow in her 30s, and Scout, a girl in her teens. Who gives a dog’s name to a kid? Jules and Doug, apparently. Doug was a famous writer with a “rabid cult following” and the bad habit of spending more money than he earned. He left his family with no significant assets other than their NYC apartment.

Now Jules is 37, has unburdened herself from debt by selling the apartment, and is moving in with perfect fiancé Kirin. Her “fresh new love” took her “completely by surprise.” Jules loves Kirin because he is “solid,” meaning that, unlike Doug, he has enough money to take care of her. The idea of taking care of herself has apparently never entered her head. Maybe that’s the point of the story — Jules evolves by becoming (spoiler alert) a self-sufficient writer before the story’s end — but my impression is that Lisa Unger wants the reader to sympathize with Jules’ plight rather than faulting her for making bad choices.

Scout is 17 and moving into Kirin’s house as the story opens. She is unhappy with everything, including her mother and her stepfather-to-be, notwithstanding his wealth. Scout’s therapist says she doesn’t want to move on because that would mean leaving her father behind. That makes sense but, let' face it, Scout is 17 and therefore programmed to be unhappy with her life regardless oer her circumstances.

Scout is more bonded to Kirin’s 20-something assistant, Jessie, than she is to Kirin. She also seems to be bonded with DD, her texting partner. But she gets a “flutter in her stomach” when a boy named Racer pays attention to her on her first day in the exclusive private school she will now be attending.

What begins as a boring family drama takes a thriller/horror twist when Scout hears singing coming from Emma’s room. Emma is Kirin’s troubled sister, who maybe had something going with Racer’s dad. Emma is missing and presumed dead, but could she be in her room, singing? Emma finds the room empty but discovers a doll with a slim black dress and ruby shoes. Was the doll singing? The answer is never clear. Like other unlikely plot elements, Unger seems happy to attribute anything she can’t explain to the supernatural.

Kirin made the doll’s dress and shoes from clothing that the missing Emma left behind, which strikes me as a disturbing thing to do despite Kirin’s status as a “world renowned puppet and doll maker.” Scout is impressed that the doll is so realistic it seems to be alive. Readers have seen this before.

Jules believes she caught a glimpse of a woman outside the house, a slim figure dressed all in black. Kirin dismisses her inquiry. You see where this is going, right? Well, maybe not. Unger tries to spice up the plot with a hidden map and a mysterious key, although the location of those items makes no sense at all.

Kirin will obviously turn out to be a bad guy but his motivation for being bad is unconvincing, in part because he is a paper-thin character. Scout lives up to all teenage girl stereotypes but has no personality of her own. Jules is too full of self-pity to be a worthy character, even if she comes through at the end.

A chapter that offers the hope of actual thrills turns out to be a dream. Why do writers annoy readers with dream sequences?

The story ends as stories like this usually end. The resolution is unimaginative. While the identity of Scout’s texting partner is meant to be surprising, it is entirely predictable. The identity of the mysterious girl is so obvious that the attempt to conceal it while foreshadowing the reveal is a waste of words. Making her true identity possible requires a belief in the supernatural that seems to be Lisa Unger’s go-to move, but readers who hope that mysteries will be solved by rational thought will be disappointed.

Fans of Christian Lit soap operas who believe that guardian angels watch over us might like this story. Perhaps because I am not part of that market, I thought it was sillly.

NOT RECOMMENDED