Uncle Zeedie by Colm Field

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✦ BLURB ✦

Uncle Zeedie is weird, but at least he's rich and his house is amazing. That's what George and Lacey tell themselves when they arrive at his isolated mansion in the Welsh woods. Only something here is worse than weird. Uncle Zeedie seems unhinged, serving them rotten food, and skulking around at night. The house is decaying, blood stained, and stinks of sour milk. And George is seeing kids that aren’t there. They’re dead, these kids. And if the rumours are right, Uncle Zeedie is the one who's killing them.

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There’s something wrong with the house. There’s something worse in the woods.

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PRE-READING THOUGHTS
I'm always interested in horror aimed at younger readers — when it's done well, it often manages to be creepier than adult horror, because it doesn't rely on shock value. From the blurb, I was expecting a decaying house, missing children, and an unreliable adult or two. But what I didn’t expect was how smart and slippery this book would be about what’s really going on.

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POST-READING
As I thought...
The dread is immediate. From the moment George and Lacey step into Uncle Zeedie’s home, nothing feels safe. The food is rotten, the furniture is crumbling, and Zeedie himself is more sinister than eccentric. The setting has that “trapped in a nightmare” energy from page one.
It surprised me by...
How cleverly it handles misdirection. Fields keeps the reader off-balance in the best way, toying with your assumptions without ever pulling the rug so hard it feels like cheating. The sibling bond between George and Lacey also gives the book real heart — they don’t always agree, but the way they protect each other grounds the horror beautifully.

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✦ RECOMMENDATIONS ✦

📘 Small Spaces by Katherine Arden
🎬 Coraline meets The Others

✦ MUSIC PAIRING ✦

Because sometimes, the heart of a story plays out like a song.

Featured Song: “Youth Knows No Pain” – Lykke Li

Vibe Album: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? – Billie Eilish

Artist Recommendation: Agnes Obel — for that eerie, echoey haunted-house-in-the-woods sound

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✧ VIBE CHECK ✧

🎨 Colour Palette: greyscale with mold green accents

🎬 Soundtrack: floorboards creaking on their own

❄️ Season: late winter — that cold, wet, marrow-deep chill

😰 Mood: anxious, claustrophobic, and questioning your own memories

👃 Scent: spoiled milk, damp curtains, something feral just out of sight

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★ TAROT CARD PULLED ★

Death - Nightfall Tarot 

Death strikes a terrifying figure atop his horse, but the young girl in front of him isn't afraid - she knows that things aren't always what they seem, that Death is only one thing changing into another. It's a lesson that George and Lacey learn during their adventure.

Uncle Zeedie publishes on the 4th of September, 2025. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.