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3.13 AVERAGE
3.13 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A disappointing read. For a book in the horror genre, it was extremely slow to reach the creepy sections. The main characters were both quite unlikeable, with their privileged outlook on the town they had moved to and the people who live there. It also seemed to be a platform for a lot of bashing of the Catholic church, which became repetitive and annoying.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I chose this book as my February 2024 book from Aardvark book club. I’ve purchased 13 other books through Aardvark and loved all of them, so I had high hopes for this one too. I also traveled to Italy recently and thought it would be fun to read a book that takes place in an old spooky town in Sicily. Unfortunately I couldn’t stand this book.
The writing itself was awful, the dialogue between characters was cringey, the characters were flat, and there were tons of plot holes. Also I hated the rhetoric of foreigners coming into small Italian towns to “save them” with tourism. Also as other reviewers pointed out, the author made little to no attempts to accurately portray Italian culture.
And to top it off the book wasn’t even scary or suspenseful. I read it as fast as I could to get through it and see if it got better at any point, it didn’t.
The writing itself was awful, the dialogue between characters was cringey, the characters were flat, and there were tons of plot holes. Also I hated the rhetoric of foreigners coming into small Italian towns to “save them” with tourism. Also as other reviewers pointed out, the author made little to no attempts to accurately portray Italian culture.
And to top it off the book wasn’t even scary or suspenseful. I read it as fast as I could to get through it and see if it got better at any point, it didn’t.
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
this book had me, then it lost me, then it had me again and then lost me HARD. I went in pretty blind, and although I enjoyed it I didn't like the direction that it went. the only thing driving the plot for me was the really wholesome connection between the main characters, which was not the intention of the book. this is advertised as horror but the "horror" was almost laughable and I found myself looking forward to the interactions between Kate and Tommy and reading about how they were so in love with each other rather than the ghosts and demons etc that were meant to be the focus . I had a very hard time visualizing their house. parts were well written but I caught myself rolling my eyes more than once and skimming for it to be over.
slow-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
slow-paced
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Such a wonderfully creepy book! More than once, I found myself getting goosebumps while reading it late at night. The author did a great job of setting up an increasingly tense situation and I was glad to have several hours to devote to finishing the book all in one go because the last couple of chapters I was glued to it. There were some genuine surprises, but looking back, it was easy to see how the story was setting them up. Definitely going to read more by this author!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture, Forced institutionalization, Dementia
The house is a former place where the Catholic Church sent people who were possessed by demons and had multiple unsuccessful exorcisms. Essentially the priests there would continue to torture/exorcise the people until the demon was exorcised or the person died.