Well, I really have no idea how to critique a book (this is pretty sad, since I'm almost out of high school) and I don't want to make this seem too much like some boring thing I would do for school, so I'm just going to blather on about what I thought about the book. I hope you can follow my train of thought, if there is one... just bear with me.

Ok, well first of all, is the book worth reading? Is it a GOOD book? I would say, just basically, yes, it's pretty good. And we all need to read more to keep ourselves from turning into just couch potatoes staring at the tv, so if the average person was bored on a rainy day, I'd recommend to him or her to go get the book and read it. It's not too long, just around 200 pages, so it wouldn't take forever to read either, which is kewl. It also has some interesting sketches (at least, this is what my copy has) of the floor layout of the house and it has pictures of George and Kathleen Lutz, for the curious I suppose. Oh, and it also has Missy's drawing of Jodie the pig. My mom said it looks like a cat to her, but hey, the kid was only five when she drew it. So on a scale of one to ten, I'd give this book about a seven for a NORMAL person's rating.

Yes, I keep mentioning normal or average people because of this: some people don't believe in ghosts or anything paranormal and think it's a waste of time, others are really into it (like me, not that I believe in everything, but I think it's interesting). So, obviously, if you think Elvis is dead and you only watch the X-Files because you have the hots for one of the lead characters, this book probably isn't for you. It IS a nonfiction book so it's not written like Steven King novels. In other words, it's not just for entertainment.

On the OTHER hand, if you ARE interested in the paranormal, then I definitely recommend reading this book to you. For those who are into ghosts and the like, this book would probably have a 9 out of 10 rating. It's like a complete documentary of a haunting (well, it's not exactly haunted, there's this whole discussion between clergy members about it. But still, even that part is interesting, because you learn about kinds of possession and stuff.

Really, the only bad thing about the book is that it tends to be a bit repetitive. The book mentions several times that Father Mancuso gets sick, that George wants to sit in front of the fireplace, etc. But I suppose it has to, to be accurate. I'm sure those things DID happen very often, but you might get sick of reading them after a while.

On the whole, though, I'd say it's definitely worth a trip to the library to get this book. Hey, if you don't like the boring parts, skip over them. They're not very long, and the majority of the book is pretty interesting. If you like what you saw on the story page and are interested in getting more information on the Amityville house or just hauntings in general, the book is the place to go. Like I said, there isn't much else I could find about the Amityville horror on the Net, and there was a movie (a series of them, actually) made about it, but you know how movies are. They may be more dramatic, but if you want the real thing, just get the book. Once again, it's The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson. Good luck finding it, copies may be a little hard to come by, but if you're bound and determined to get one, it's well worth the effort.