Book Review: IN THE DOLLHOUSE WE ALL WAIT

IN THE DOLLHOUSE WE ALL WAIT by Amanda M. Blake (April 07, 20Crystal Lake Publishing = ISBN #9781968532512) Paperback, 358 pages (April 10, 2026 Torrid Waters = ASIN #B0653KLLSZ) Kindle Edition, 311 pages 

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .

An extreme horror novel of privilege, cruelty, and survival—splatterpunk at its most unflinching.

“In the dollhouse, if you don’t play with Annie…she plays with you.”

Sam Frain thinks she’s found the perfect a live-in nanny position in a sprawling mansion owned by one of the wealthiest families in the country.

The job seems simple: Take care of Annie Lange.

Annie may look like a grown woman, but she lives inside a world built for a little girl—frilly dresses, scripted games, rigid rules, and what seems like every doll in the world.

As Sam learns the true nature of Annie’s games, she's forced into a waking nightmare of psychological domination, grotesque excess, and carefully curated cruelty. In this gilded cage where money erases morality, survival means choosing whether to resist—or become part of the performance.

Blending the social unease of The Nanny Diaries with the ruthless brutality of Hostel II, In the Dollhouse We All Wait is a harrowing work of extreme horror that explores power, complicity, and the terrifying truth that the rich really are different.

My FOUR-STAR Review on the Goodreads website . . . .

I don’t read extreme horror often, but when I do I like it in small doses. If there is too much graphic violence, torture, mutilation, dismemberment, etc. in the story I become numb to the effect and stop worrying for the characters. Sometimes, if I feel the book lacks a point and is just a platform for more of the same extremes - - - then I do not finish. 

     Consider this a friendly bit of information to share with those readers who are faint-hearted or become greatly disturbed or nauseous/sick when reading extreme horror. There are many bothersome scenes in this novel. In my experience with this genre of horror, IN THE DOLLHOUSE WE ALL WAIT would be a book that I wouldn’t recommend to anyone just dipping their toes in the water to see if the temperature is warm enough to go in further. However, it would be the one extreme horror novel I would recommend once they weren’t afraid to keep swimming in these waters. 

    I knew before I started reading this novel what I was getting into. But, once my sense of comfort with main character Sam (Samantha Frain) was in place it was the point at which the intensity began, and the scenes did not stop and the ferocity increased. But, I did not stop reading. Each scene revealed a little more of what was going on behind the curtains and provided more detail on the home, the character of the adult in middle-school clothing Annie Lange, and the purpose of it all. I had to know what would become of Sam and hoped for a happy outcome. 

  In an article written by author Amanda M. Blake for Crystal Lake Publishing she says: “DOLLHOUSE demanded an unflinching look at Annie’s terrible dollhouse. No matter where the story led me, I forced myself to look.”  That’s what happened to me - - I kept looking, right until the last page.

  Blake continued: “When I write stories like this, it can actually sink me deeper into my natural depression, so I have to be careful with myself. I’m sitting with all those awful feelings a lot longer while writing than you do while reading. DOLLHOUSE was no exception. DOLLHOUSE makes you sit with your discomfort a lot longer.”

   It’s hard to read this novel and not think of the current cover-up situation regarding Epstein Island. In the same article, Blake mentions this and reveals that she did not intend any social commentary. That was not the inspiration for the novel. It was her own collection and love of dolls and other factors that led to the novel being (in her words) “a dip into nihilism, childish tantrums without consequence, and wealth rot well before we got hit with the full consequences of the power these people have acquired and consolidated.” 

    Still, estate owner Harold Lange and his malicious daughter Annie reminded me of Jeffrey and Ghislaine Maxwell. However, by comparison Epstein and Maxwell’s immoral sex trafficking are quite mild when you consider the levels to which the Langes took this and treated human beings as possessions and toys. Children sometimes break their toys. 

   I received an advance digital review copy of this novel from Crystal Lake Publishing without obligation to review.