An Echo of Children

An Echo of Children is unsettling from the beginning as Allan and Coral’s parents and their young son Dean’s grandparents arrive for a visit at their new house in the seaside town of Barnhall, where they - especially grandma Jude - witness Dean’s overly polite responses to what appears to be strict parenting, see Dean talking to and about an imaginary friend called Heady, and hear children shouting in the park though they don’t see them. 

When Jude shares her concerns about what she sees and hears, she starts to feel like everyone is gaslighting her as they question whether she’s having mental “lapses” due to her age and that she shouldn’t be left alone with Dean. On their second day out, they run into the local priest, and it comes out that everyone thinks there’s something off in the house, and they ask the priest to perform an exorcism on the house. He demurs and suggests that they ask the owner of a local mystical supplies shop to perform a cleansing instead. 

When they return to their respective homes, the grandparents continue to be concerned about Dean - again, especially Jude - and she questions whether it’s the house that is causing the changes in her son’s family, so she starts to research the house and town and finds that both have a dark past concerning children. 

An Echo of Children by Ramsey Campbell is a tense, slow-burn psychological horror with themes of trauma and cycles of abuse but at its heart is about family and what lengths we would go to to the protect the ones we love. 

Stray Thoughts: 

For most of the book, Thom was so frustrating. It felt like he never had Jude’s back, and when she would question him, he would totally gaslight her about doubting his support. 

The conversations felt so real and got so tense sometimes. That made these characters feel so real and dialed my anxiety to 11. 

Boy, do I feel every twinge and ache and pain that Thom describes, even down to trying to turn over in bed without disturbing my spouse. Rundown meat suits are a pain - literally and figuratively. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for the advance copy for my honest review. Pub. date 9/9/25

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