Starting off as a successfully creepy Young Adult novel, "House of Dark Shadows" turns into an adventure reminiscent of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series, though the book remains surprisingly mature in its its emotional presentation and physical aggression. The horror elements take a backseat by the novel's end, which both sets up the series and adopts an even stranger path to travel forward. A good book, but I would have been happier with a story that was more settled in one genre or the other.