The Keanes’ German shepherd, who would often bark at the southwest corner of the dining room when nothing was there.

— Leanne Shapton

Everything I wanted from a book. Guestbook isn’t so much short and sweet as short and fucking creepy. It’s a series of subtle ghost stories. There isn’t anyone in a white sheet jumping out and shouting BOO! (well, actually there is) but there are a few gently terrifying stories.

I was recommended Guestbook by a lecturer. On marking my work, he wrote that he was currently reading this book that he thought I might enjoy. So I put it on my list and a few months later I downloaded on my kindle. Oh what a mistake. If you read this book, I warn you now, get a physical copy. Guestbook is full of images, beautifully filling each page with their grainy, ghostly feel. Not to be seen on my low resolution, seven year old kindle.

The book starts with a series of short descriptions of Sam, Peter, Tom and Nancy, alongside a picture of each of them. Within these brief few lines, these characters are built and we know them. Shapton writes many short poetic pieces and through these breadcrumbs we can string together this horror.

My favourite part was ‘Peele House’. Starting with a picture of a building shrouded in grey and shadow, with a short description of when the house was built, etc, and taking us through the years of this house. We see the families that move in and then move out after a tragedy. We see the renovations. We see this haunted house through such matter of fact images and a distant, formal tone. And we’re never told too much. In fact, we’re never really told anything. We have to look for the ghosts in the story. To be honest, there were moments I couldn’t find them. But perhaps that’s is what makes this book so genuinely ghosty. We know they’re there, but we just can’t see them.

I would hesitate to call it a horror. It’s far too beautiful for that. Horrifying, perhaps. But it is, really, just a good ghost story.