Mr. Splitfoot (1968) by Helen McCloy
(8/10 stars)
“That room has been locked up for about fifty years.”
“But why?”
“Oh, the usual sort of reason. Everyone who has ever slept in that room has been found dead in the morning.”
Fifteen-year-old Lucinda Swayne has a plan to scare her father and stepmother. Just a little, just enough for them to know what it’s like to be under someone else’s power—maybe even make them believe in Mr. Splitfoot, the devil himself. She and her friend Vanya are going to stage a haunting.
Lucinda doesn’t know about the legends that have surrounded the old house for nearly a century. She doesn’t know about the secret hiding place. And she doesn’t know that someone is about to end up dead for real. What begins as a teenage prank soon turns fatal, and not even Dr. Basil Willing can make a deal with the devil. Continue reading “Mr. Splitfoot (1968) by Helen McCloy”