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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Unpredictable but a little bit too long. There's something about horror and length, it's the same with movies, a horror movie has to have a pretty good excuse to stretch beyond the 90-minute mark. In this book, as the title says you get twelve nights at Rotter House, but that also means that the author can't skip ahead. There can't really be any letup because the characters can't leave Rotter House, and unless the characters are wildly interesting you have twelve nights and twelve days to get through before everything's said and done. And though this story does have some interesting twists and turns, there is an awful lot of the characters sitting around, shooting the breeze and listing every horror movie they've ever seen. And all the while you're waiting for the twelfth night, because surely something happens during the twelfth night that prevents the characters from spending thirteen nights at Rotter House, as they planned.
In other words, you kinda know what to expect from the off, you keep reading because you want the details, but in the meantime there are stretches that I could have gone without.
Also, more of a psychological thriller than a horror novel.
In other words, you kinda know what to expect from the off, you keep reading because you want the details, but in the meantime there are stretches that I could have gone without.
Also, more of a psychological thriller than a horror novel.
That ending was....something
This was the first book I started after I had not read a proper book in years. As a result, it got read over the span of several months and spend a lot of time in the back seat of my car, only getting picked up when I remembered I had started reading again.
Overall I did enjoy this book. The narration is this has an aspect that you don't realize until literally the last few pages. That threw me for a loop.
This was the first book I started after I had not read a proper book in years. As a result, it got read over the span of several months and spend a lot of time in the back seat of my car, only getting picked up when I remembered I had started reading again.
Overall I did enjoy this book. The narration is this has an aspect that you don't realize until literally the last few pages. That threw me for a loop.
I liked this fine. It was a fun spooky season listen. But it was also nowhere near as scary as I expected. And I for sure thought the tension between Felix and Thomas would be because they had hooked up and were exploring feelings for each other. But no. Thomas had a threesome with his wife and Felix's? And no one remembers what happened? Sketch.
The reveal that Thomas and Elsa kept sleeping together and that Felix apparently killed them before coming to Rotter House was surprising but also the mention of "one of us could be a ghost" trope earlier on kind of telegraphed it. Or just set groundwork and I just latched on too much lol
The random weird, gross "men" things were totally upsetting. Felix masturbating over the doll, commenting on how Elsa's stomach was the kind he'd want to come on. They just happened to rarely and randomly that they felt unnecessary and uncomfortable.
But it was a fun and quick spooky season listen!
The reveal that Thomas and Elsa kept sleeping together and that Felix apparently killed them before coming to Rotter House was surprising but also the mention of "one of us could be a ghost" trope earlier on kind of telegraphed it. Or just set groundwork and I just latched on too much lol
The random weird, gross "men" things were totally upsetting. Felix masturbating over the doll, commenting on how Elsa's stomach was the kind he'd want to come on. They just happened to rarely and randomly that they felt unnecessary and uncomfortable.
But it was a fun and quick spooky season listen!
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Felix Allsey writes nonfiction books about haunted locations except that he doesn't believe in ghosts or anything supernatual. For his next book he decides to stay at Rotterdam Mansion for two weeks. He's joined by his best friend Thomas Ruth, who does believe in the supernatural. Jeff and Felix haven't spoken to each other in a year due to something that happened, so besides finding evidence of a haunting, it is also an opportunity to repair their friendship.
At first I thought this was good. I was interested in the conversations between Felix and Thomas and their views about otherwordly things. However the way they spend more time talking and arguing than investigating started to really irritate me. Every time something scary happened, they would talk so much about it that I eventually stopped caring. The constant mention of horror movies and books also really annoyed me, even if horror is my favorite thing. At least I now have some movies to watch later. Anyway, when I learned what caused them to not talk for a year I felt like my time had been wasted and I just wanted this book to end already. I should have dnfed it but I was curious about the twist, and when I read it I really wish I had quit reading. While I read this I had forgotten that also I've read this author's nonfiction book The United States of Cryptids which I found neither great nor terrible, just okay. But after finishing this book I'm not motivated to read anything else he's written.
At first I thought this was good. I was interested in the conversations between Felix and Thomas and their views about otherwordly things. However the way they spend more time talking and arguing than investigating started to really irritate me. Every time something scary happened, they would talk so much about it that I eventually stopped caring. The constant mention of horror movies and books also really annoyed me, even if horror is my favorite thing. At least I now have some movies to watch later. Anyway, when I learned what caused them to not talk for a year I felt like my time had been wasted and I just wanted this book to end already. I should have dnfed it but I was curious about the twist, and when I read it I really wish I had quit reading. While I read this I had forgotten that also I've read this author's nonfiction book The United States of Cryptids which I found neither great nor terrible, just okay. But after finishing this book I'm not motivated to read anything else he's written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Murder
Moderate: Infidelity
mysterious
medium-paced
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes