The Haunting of Old Splinter, a new, young-adult ghost story by Jack Mackay, is a modern riff on the "The Monkey's Paw," a short story by W.W. Jacobs, first published in 1902 and every bit as creepy today as it was 124 years ago.

For those among you who aren't familiar with the original story -- and if you're not, shame on you, go out and read a copy, and stop neglecting the classics! -- it's about a mummified monkey's paw that was enchanted by an Indian fakir and brought back to England by a soldier who, after telling its story to a poor friend and his family, tries to destroy it. But the friend, Mr. White, seizes it from the fire and uses its three wishes, much to his eternal regret. It's a cautionary tale about the perils of messing around with fate.

Mackay, inspired by the story, devised his own version. In Old Splinter, two teenage brothers live in an old gardener's shed on a rundown English estate with their parents; their mother spends her workdays as a nurse and her free time stuffing roadkill to decorate their home, while their father works for their rich uncle restoring the dilapidated old mansion next door that has stood empty for many years. Alfie, a local homeless man, tells the boys, Peter and Adrian, about the legend of the place: about the magician who discovered a mummified human hand in "some far-off land" and bought it from a peddler who insisted it could grant wishes; he used it to make his fortune, then allegedly severed his own hand and grafted the mummy's hand in its place to keep its power close to him before disappearing under mysterious circumstances.

The boys think it's just an old story, but while helping his dad work on the mansion, Peter discovers a dead body trapped behind a wall -- a body that is missing a hand.

Despite Alfie's warnings not to seek or use the hand, the brothers can't resist the chance to ease their family's burdens. They look for it and, of course, they find it, although the method by which they obtain it is morally questionable all on its own. To test its powers, their first wish is simple: they want a dog, despite their parents' previous refusals, and soon enough a stray finds its way into their home and wears down their parents' reluctance.

Their second wish is more personal and, although it has has unforeseen consequences, it accomplishes their goal well enough that the boys are satisfied that the hand's power is real. Peter's third wish -- made without Adrian's knowledge or participation -- is made without sufficient forethought, and the price it exacts from their family is immediate and devastating in its impact.

Things get worse from there. Without giving too much away, a crux of this story answers a big question from the original story: What if Mr. White had opened the door at the end? If you've read the story, you know what I mean.

The Haunting of Old Splinter is written for a younger audience, but Mackay doesn't soften the horror as the hand's magic goes to work and things for the boys' family quickly go sideways. The danger -- and their terror -- feels real.

Woven into the story is a subplot addressing the gulf that can divide sons from their fathers ... or stepfathers, as the case may be. There are emotional beats in Old Splinter that had me wishing I could talk to the people involved to help them sort things out -- things that I, as a stepfather, have experienced and wish someone had told me. Fortunately, Mackay gets there in the end and his characters figure it out for themselves.

The Haunting of Old Splinter is not destined to be the timeless classic that its antecedent has become, but it's a good yarn that expands on the theme in very real (and modern) ways. Mackay has written a good, solid reinterpretation, with sympathetic characters you'll wish had found a friendly genie rather than a malevolent hand to solve their problems for them.