Emily Carroll’s latest graphic novel, A Guest in the House (First Second), is a horror fairy tale that tells a deeply unsettling story of an isolated woman trapped in a modern haunted house. Set in a lake house in a small tourist town, the protagonist is the lonely Abby, who recently entered into a loveless marriage with David, a volatile misogynist who can’t keep his story straight about what happened to Sheila, his previous wife. Amidst the drudgery of housework and a dead-end job, Abby connects with her stepdaughter Crystal through the ghost (?) of Sheila, whom they both keep seeing in the water and around the house. Thirsty for answers about what happened to Sheila, and for connection to another creature, Abby both seeks out and fears the ghostly visitor, afraid of upending her own unfulfilling but placid heteronormative life. The visitor’s appearance shape-shifts, appearing to Abby alternately as Sheila, and as the glowing fairy-tale princess of her fantasies. When the visitor is trying to entice Abby, it appears to her as a grotesque, dripping monster cloaked in shadow. Things come to a head when “Sheila” convinces Abby that David murdered her, and Abby takes action. Abby’s elaborate interior fantasies are shown in vivid colour, which contrasts starkly with the monotone life that she actually leads. In these fantasies, Abby is shown as a knight in armour, who attempts to rescue a princess from a tower and defeat the threat of the dragon. This is clearly a metaphor for queerness, and it’s telling that Abby sees her transition into being a wife as putting “on a suit of armour and twist[ing] a key at the side, chasing the air out, fitting it closer and tighter to [her] flesh with every turn,” and can only remember a version of the story where the knight is killed by the dragon (a.k.a. heteronormativity). Carroll draws creepy things so well, and is so good at creating an ominous atmosphere through black panels, facial expressions and empty space. Blending aspects of fairy tales—such as knights, dragons, sirens, Bluebeard, and Rapunzel—A Guest in the House is a chilling narrative that keeps the reader guessing about who the villain actually is. —Kelsea O’Connor