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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Lucas is a crime writer who career is now in a slump, his personal life has also taken a drastic downwards swing so when a mysterious offer comes in for him to interview notorious cult leader, Jeffrey Halcomb, he decides this could be his last chance at a best seller and moves across the country with his daughter Jeanie, to where Halcomb is confined.
Along with the offer of an interview, there are some strange conditions that go along with it. The main one is that Lucas must stay in the house where the cult's final atrocities, mass suicide and the murder of Audra Snow, were committed. Lucas and Jeanie both experience disturbing incidents in the house but each have their own reasons for wanting to stay.
When Halcomb reneges on his offer of an interview, it is left up to Lucas to piece together what happened with the 'family' members and why there are so many strange and fatal coincidences that surround Halcomb and his religious followers.
I'm a bit torn with this one, for the most part I did really enjoy it but it's not without it's issues however they weren't big enough for me to drop more than a star in rating.
There are two storylines going in this one, the present day one with Lucas and Jeanie and the 1983 storyline that follows a young congressman's daughter, Audra Snow, as she meets the family, invites them into her life and slowly starts to question her role in the group. The 1983 story was the one that hooked me the most, although Audra is by no means perfect she was particularly engaging with her many weaknesses and flaws. This made her very real and although I knew her outcome I still felt very invested in her character. Lucas and Jeanie on the other hand, came off as very inconsistent, although I felt a bit of sympathy for Lucas in the beginning I didn't really like his character that much, especially as the book progressed. This was the same for Jeanie, I thought she was great in the beginning but I lost the connection to her character as the book progressed, she came off as an independent kid and the storyline development with her didn't feel very authentic.
The story is really well written for the most part however this didn't give me the creep factor I was expecting and as the story came to it's conclusion I felt it lost it's coherency a bit, it was hard to keep track of what was going on and where they were in the house.
This is still a great story but probably not the one I was expecting, the writing flows nicely but it's the 1983 story that really stood out.
Lucas is a crime writer who career is now in a slump, his personal life has also taken a drastic downwards swing so when a mysterious offer comes in for him to interview notorious cult leader, Jeffrey Halcomb, he decides this could be his last chance at a best seller and moves across the country with his daughter Jeanie, to where Halcomb is confined.
Along with the offer of an interview, there are some strange conditions that go along with it. The main one is that Lucas must stay in the house where the cult's final atrocities, mass suicide and the murder of Audra Snow, were committed. Lucas and Jeanie both experience disturbing incidents in the house but each have their own reasons for wanting to stay.
When Halcomb reneges on his offer of an interview, it is left up to Lucas to piece together what happened with the 'family' members and why there are so many strange and fatal coincidences that surround Halcomb and his religious followers.
I'm a bit torn with this one, for the most part I did really enjoy it but it's not without it's issues however they weren't big enough for me to drop more than a star in rating.
There are two storylines going in this one, the present day one with Lucas and Jeanie and the 1983 storyline that follows a young congressman's daughter, Audra Snow, as she meets the family, invites them into her life and slowly starts to question her role in the group. The 1983 story was the one that hooked me the most, although Audra is by no means perfect she was particularly engaging with her many weaknesses and flaws. This made her very real and although I knew her outcome I still felt very invested in her character. Lucas and Jeanie on the other hand, came off as very inconsistent, although I felt a bit of sympathy for Lucas in the beginning I didn't really like his character that much, especially as the book progressed. This was the same for Jeanie, I thought she was great in the beginning but I lost the connection to her character as the book progressed, she came off as an independent kid and the storyline development with her didn't feel very authentic.
The story is really well written for the most part however this didn't give me the creep factor I was expecting and as the story came to it's conclusion I felt it lost it's coherency a bit, it was hard to keep track of what was going on and where they were in the house.
This is still a great story but probably not the one I was expecting, the writing flows nicely but it's the 1983 story that really stood out.
Surprisingly exciting and more than a little creepy, I was pleasantly surprised by this story! Many of the scenes and moments stayed with me after I had read them, and I genuinely had no idea what was going to happen next. And the ending was surprisingly dark -- definitely did not see that happening.
That being said, it felt a bit fragmented at parts and much of the premise relied on leaps of faith from the reader that I couldn't quite make. The entire idea of an author moving coast to coast on the whims of a serial killer seemed foolhardy from the beginning, so the gradual disillusionment seemed slow and obvious.
Still, a wonderful and chilling palette cleanser that ranks somewhere between Agatha Christie and Stephen King on the Horror spectrum ;)
That being said, it felt a bit fragmented at parts and much of the premise relied on leaps of faith from the reader that I couldn't quite make. The entire idea of an author moving coast to coast on the whims of a serial killer seemed foolhardy from the beginning, so the gradual disillusionment seemed slow and obvious.
Still, a wonderful and chilling palette cleanser that ranks somewhere between Agatha Christie and Stephen King on the Horror spectrum ;)
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-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
I liked the premise, but wasn’t so crazy about the plot’s execution. It felt like a mashup of Helter Skelter and season 1 of American Horror Story. It kept me reading and the author used interesting devices, like flashbacks and shifting points of view. Ultimately, the unlikeable characters, plot holes, and questions left unanswered have me sitting at a solid 2.5 ⭐️ for this review.
I really liked In These Walls. I don't read a lot of horror so I don't have a lot to compare it to genre-vise.
The beginning is a bit boring but the suspense builds up until the end. The characters are pretty one dimensional but they serve their purpose. The most interesting to me was Audra and we get quite some time with her, so that's a plus.
All in all a good book.
The beginning is a bit boring but the suspense builds up until the end. The characters are pretty one dimensional but they serve their purpose. The most interesting to me was Audra and we get quite some time with her, so that's a plus.
All in all a good book.
engaging writing. love to hate characters. a little too reminiscent of the manson family for me but the ending kept it at a 4 star rating.