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3.3 AVERAGE
3.3 AVERAGE
1.5 stars. October has been my worst month of the year as far as the quality of books I've read goes. Several 1 and 2 star books and yet I have yet to DNF these for the sake of giving the book a chance. In the case of Twelve Nights at Rotter House, I wouldn't have had more than a few sentences to write home about had I DNF'd at any point before the last 10% of the book.
This is where Ocker drops the hot goss that there is drama between the protagonist and his friend that's been begrudgingly occupying the same haunt. Nine days into the worst staycation ever is maybe..... oh I dunno, nine days too late to be dropping that on your readers. It shows the flimsiness of your plot and characterization, that you would give away the whole ball game if this information were available any earlier. This big reveal of their history was so major, there's no way it wouldn't have colored every interaction they'd had prior, but Ocker preserved the relationship between the two for a real "gotcha" moment, which cheapens it a lot.
It's an irritating habit of some authors to tiptoe around a lore drop that readers aren't allowed to know about until the pacing and expectation are just right (a.k.a. enough of a word count was reached in the book, that we are allowed to have the curtain pulled back). Even worse, is to forget to include ANY foreshadowing at all and instead write what is a completely boring collection of thoughts some guy has about haunted houses before -- oh yeah! -- remembering nobody wants to read all that.
So much of this book was tedium. The speculation about the existence of the paranormal was fine until the concept -- like every other in this book -- was beaten to death. Repetition and rehashing the same exact arguments in every chapter! It's also ridiculous seeing how often they would obviously witness something paranormal that scared them shitless, but the protag decides a few hours later that he doesn't believe in ghosts. This happens OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
But if you thought this book was just boring until it gets good, do I have a deal for you! Buy one collection of "some guy's completely unoriginal thoughts he perceives as profound" and receive "his repulsive sexual habits completely out of left field" absolutely free!
This would've been good as a short story, but stretching this into a nearly 8 hour audiobook when there truly isn't anything worthwhile to fill the first 8 days of this foray into a 12 day stay is torture. It seems like Ocker gets nervous in the last quarter of the book and starts throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks, including such vile things as masturbating on a doll in frustration and the fetishization of a woman's stomach that "makes [the protag] want to cum on it." Please get a room, lock yourself in, and think about what you did.
I was surprised by the ending (pleasantly, I guess), though I am not a fan of its execution. The "big reveal" is yet another "gotcha" which we only get about 2 minutes to process before the book ends. J.W. Ocker, I need you to meet my good friend Pacing and take notes.
This is where Ocker drops the hot goss that there is drama between the protagonist and his friend that's been begrudgingly occupying the same haunt. Nine days into the worst staycation ever is maybe..... oh I dunno, nine days too late to be dropping that on your readers. It shows the flimsiness of your plot and characterization, that you would give away the whole ball game if this information were available any earlier. This big reveal of their history was so major, there's no way it wouldn't have colored every interaction they'd had prior, but Ocker preserved the relationship between the two for a real "gotcha" moment, which cheapens it a lot.
It's an irritating habit of some authors to tiptoe around a lore drop that readers aren't allowed to know about until the pacing and expectation are just right (a.k.a. enough of a word count was reached in the book, that we are allowed to have the curtain pulled back). Even worse, is to forget to include ANY foreshadowing at all and instead write what is a completely boring collection of thoughts some guy has about haunted houses before -- oh yeah! -- remembering nobody wants to read all that.
So much of this book was tedium. The speculation about the existence of the paranormal was fine until the concept -- like every other in this book -- was beaten to death. Repetition and rehashing the same exact arguments in every chapter! It's also ridiculous seeing how often they would obviously witness something paranormal that scared them shitless, but the protag decides a few hours later that he doesn't believe in ghosts. This happens OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
But if you thought this book was just boring until it gets good, do I have a deal for you! Buy one collection of "some guy's completely unoriginal thoughts he perceives as profound" and receive "his repulsive sexual habits completely out of left field" absolutely free!
This would've been good as a short story, but stretching this into a nearly 8 hour audiobook when there truly isn't anything worthwhile to fill the first 8 days of this foray into a 12 day stay is torture. It seems like Ocker gets nervous in the last quarter of the book and starts throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks, including such vile things as masturbating on a doll in frustration and the fetishization of a woman's stomach that "makes [the protag] want to cum on it." Please get a room, lock yourself in, and think about what you did.
I was surprised by the ending (pleasantly, I guess), though I am not a fan of its execution. The "big reveal" is yet another "gotcha" which we only get about 2 minutes to process before the book ends. J.W. Ocker, I need you to meet my good friend Pacing and take notes.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A slow going read and a slow burn, I didn’t see the ending coming and it was a good one.
the plot twist of this book had me screaming ! i couldnt put it down i had to know what was coming next with every new page and jesus christ its one of the best haunted house books i've read
I really enjoyed the meta-ness of this haunted house story and the banter between the narrator Felix and his friend Thomas, both of whom are total horror nerds. However, I really disliked the ending and I’m taking a star off for that. A book so knowledgeable about horror tropes should have had a more clever ending; this one was too facile and unearned.
Alternative title "How many horror pop culture references can you shove into a story?"
This is a slow burn horror, and with all slow burn horrors, the climax is what makes or breaks it, and in this case, it broke it. Hard.
The end of the story makes the rest of the story not worth the time and effort. It could have been a decent slow burn story with the right ending, but it was just so anti-climatic, clichéd, and obvious that I just ended up wanting my time back.
This is a slow burn horror, and with all slow burn horrors, the climax is what makes or breaks it, and in this case, it broke it. Hard.
The end of the story makes the rest of the story not worth the time and effort. It could have been a decent slow burn story with the right ending, but it was just so anti-climatic, clichéd, and obvious that I just ended up wanting my time back.
Not sure how I feel about this book, a lot of times it felt so repetitive and I found it annoying how it kept on hinting that there was something amiss with the main character and his friend's friendship - like obviously, isn't this the whole point of the plot? I think these things really took away the enjoyment for me and the ending felt more like a relieve that the book was over. I also saw the plot twist coming because of the persistent hints throughout the whole book.
... what the fuck.
I did enjoy some of the writing style. I enjoy a good countdown and playing with some horror movie tropes. Some things did give me the ick and not in the "omg this is scary horror!" way. It was just ew. Like, why masturbate on a doll after fighting with your friend
I did enjoy some of the writing style. I enjoy a good countdown and playing with some horror movie tropes. Some things did give me the ick and not in the "omg this is scary horror!" way. It was just ew. Like, why masturbate on a doll after fighting with your friend
Nope.
Over descriptive, and with two adult characters who talked like a couple of teenagers with 80% of their conversations being references to pop culture. Add to that a boring twist ending, an unoriginal plot that doesn't hold up because of the writing, and a couple of sentences to grab forced diversity points and I'm out.
Not for me.
Over descriptive, and with two adult characters who talked like a couple of teenagers with 80% of their conversations being references to pop culture. Add to that a boring twist ending, an unoriginal plot that doesn't hold up because of the writing, and a couple of sentences to grab forced diversity points and I'm out.
Not for me.