Horror Book Preview: Read or Skip--HUSH by Raven Lee
If you think nursery rhymes and lullabies are supposed to only invoke feelings of calm and security, think again.
Raven Lee’s horror novel HUSH will change your perspective on lullabies and tremble when you hear them.
HUSH was released in January 2025 and has so far received positive reviews from readers who thought the book had an edge of the seat kind of vibe and was a page-turner.
HUSH Book Summary
Alicia Watts shares a close bond with her sister Bailey. So when she disappears, she knows something is wrong even though the police dismiss her claims and suggest she is only on a business trip.
When Bailey returns, she has suffered a mental breakdown but is hardly mute. All she can sing is Hush Little Baby.
Alicia starts searching for her answers and soon realizes that there is something eerie going on in Bailey’s house. Is it something supernatural?
HUSH My Take on the Book Preview
When the first chapter opens, Alicia is thrown across the room by her own sister Bailey who is singing Hush Little Baby at the top of her voice. She is quickly sedated and Alicia is taken away by Dr Lawson for a talk. He tries to get her to talk about her sister and we learn that the sisters have been jumping from one foster home to another until her sister Bailey could take her guardianship.
The sisters have had it hard at these foster homes and any time Alicia got in trouble because of the boys in the foster house, Bailey protected her.
Dr Lawson tells her that there were no drugs found in Bailey’s system and he suspects a breakdown. But Alicia knows her sister and doesn’t believe that could be the reason why her sister disappeared and then came back in this state.
She goes to see her sister again and her sister is still singing the lullaby but manages to squeeze in normal sentences, like telling her sister to stay away from her and her house.
Alicia presses for answers but Bailey warns her that someone is listening to them.
Alicia can’t see anyone of course. The medical staff thinks it’s a symptom of her psychosis. And is Bailey really telling the truth about seeing someone in the corner?
Anyway, Alicia goes to Bailey’s home and sees the house in utter chaos. Since her sister has always been particular and organized, she immediately calls the police, and we meet Officer Cruz.
A quick search, and no one is found. Not so early in the book anyway. He leaves and Alicia finds her own clues as she is cleaning up the place. She knows its unlike her sister to be so messy and so when she finds a writing pad with scribbles, she knows something else is going on. Especially since the only legible scribbles say Hush Little Baby.
Alicia then finds text messages from Bailey’s boss Garrett who immediately answers the call and since he assumes it is her, he calls her baby.
Okay, so clearly Bailey and Garrett are a couple.
By the time the sample ends, Alicia is off to meet Garrett to get her answers and figure out what her sister meant by Two Ruby Dolls.
Since her sister’s job is collecting dolls, it is safe to assume that the supernatural element could be related to cursed dolls.
The first chapter is a bit jumbled and is hard to get into. It is an action scene and meant to throw us right into the story, but since we don’t know these characters yet, it gets hard to relate to them or sympathize with them.
Things get better in the second chapter when the story begins to flow well. Yes, it does sometimes seem like the author is in a hurry to throw in a lot of plot points at once rather than let them occur naturally, but it in no way diminishes the way the suspense builds.
HUSH: Read or Skip
Read, of course. Cursed dolls? Haunting lullabies? These are the perfect ingredients for a chilling story. And of course, who doesn’t want to root for these two sisters to have a normal life again?
Having not read the entire book yet, I can only hope there is a happy ending for Alicia and Bailey who have gone through so much.
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