Do you believe in ghosts? Whether you do or not, Arthur Mills' traumatic true-life experience in The Empty Lot Next Door will make you question the nature of reality. Find out who Candle Face was, her taunting behavior, and how she turned a boy's childhood into a living nightmare. The Second Edition: More Truth, More Terror
The much-acclaimed memoir The Empty Lot Next Door (originally published in 2010) returns in its more terrifying second edition, released in 2023. While the original captivated young readers worldwide, this reimagined version is crafted to unsettle even the most seasoned horror fans. Arthur Mills masterfully reworks the story to align more closely with true events, adding greater depth, psychological tension, and vivid imagery.
The Empty Lot Next Door Storyline
In an Austin neighborhood, Ray (Arthur's childhood name) and his family excitedly moved into a small house in the midst of a big, green lawn. Beside their house is a strange, vacant lot where a house once stood, and a huge hole in the back lies mysteriously. As a young boy with many new friends, Ray considers the empty lot an exciting playground. But the tale behind the lot keeps the boy intrigued and frightened as he learns that the house that was once there was burned down years ago, leaving a girl dead amid the fire. As the neighborhood kids say, the little girl will haunt anyone who dares to jump into the hole. Determined to validate the authenticity of this tale, Ray daringly and mistakenly challenges the ghost, a challenge that he will forever regret. Soon, he becomes haunted by the little girl, whom he named Candle Face, due to her charred face and body. The apparition began visiting his dreams and leaving handprints and other signs around the house, even when Ray was awake.
The Empty Lot Next Door is more than a ghost story. It's also a story of the desperation, pain, and helplessness experienced by children whose parents work long hours away from home, necessarily leaving them to fend for themselves against real and imagined evils. It's about sibling abuse and the scars that such abuse leaves on the victims and the abusers. The Empty Lot Next Door is also a story of an intense struggle of a child to make sense of the world without communicating his fears and thoughts to the adults in his life since he doesn't want to add to the family's problems.
What the Critics Are Saying
Critics agree that The Empty Lot Next Door is a ghost story at its finest, perhaps all the more so because it's a true story. Professional book critic Lisa McCurley says, "After the first night of sleeping with the light on, I ended up taking off two afternoons from work to finish it which is all it took because I couldn't put this book down." Kirkus Reviews agrees, "In a coming-of-age story that's well paced and layered with emotion, Mills creates moments of true suspense through guileless prose as he unearths a family tragedy." Anyone who enjoys being scared or wants to investigate whether ghosts are real will add The Empty Lot Next Door to the must-read list.
Award-Winning Book
When Arthur Mills wrote The Empty Lot Next Door, some neighbors and family quit speaking to him; they didn't want to acknowledge the local element of his true-life story of ghosts, bullying, and suicide, but that didn't stop his new book from winning awards.
Reviewers Choice Awards (First Edition)
Kids Award for Best Teen / Young Adult Book of the Year Teen (12-16) - First Place Regional South - First Place Parenting, Family, and Relationships - Honorable Mention
