Reviews

House of Echoes by Brendan Duffy

nicmay's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

zaisgraph's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

There is something amateurish about this book. I regret buying it from the discount pile. I felt like I was reading a school project. I mean there is a story here, some mild thrills, some elements of folklore I can appreciate but it felt like a much younger person wrote it, like someone still in highschool--someone very inexperienced and does not have any storytelling nuance (?) I don't know. There's a wooden quality towards everything. Very entry level. It's like a B movie book.

snowbenton's review

4.0

Ben, like any good middle class horror protagonist, moves his wife and two sons to an abandoned house with a creepy history in a small town so that they can restore the house to make it into an inn. Along the way he meets a cast of small town elders who are pleased to have one of their founding families relatives back in the area, a kindhearted priest, and a creepy deputy.

Yet despite the plot's familiarity, Duffy does a great job of keeping you on your toes. I was suspicious of every one by the time the book ended, suspecting trouble from the priest, Ben's own son, a wendigo (at least, I suspected a wendigo after about five minutes, which probably means I read too many supernatural books and watch too much supernatural tv), and everyone else Ben encountered. I liked that I didn't know if it was going to be a supernatural story or a realistic one, and the interweaving stories of revamping the inn with modern conveniences blended nicely with the tales of the town's past.

Would recommend to someone looking for a nice modern horror.

Review copy granted by NetGalley.

brielle619's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

pixeledash's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

3.0

bookslovejenna's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

cora273's review

2.0

This book was okay. It sounded good but it just wasn't that good. I wanted to like it but just struggled with it. I don't think there were any bad words or sex scenes so I give the author credit for that! But the characters didn't seem fully developed, the story was a bit slow and it was also written in a weird way. There are some older "letters" throughout the book but they didn't really tie in as much as you'd think they do and they are written in a different way so that they sound like they're written a long time ago but it seemed forced. The end chapters also start getting weird because they are suddenly written from different people when that wasn't happening throughout any of the rest of the book and then one has weird spacing - but it's formatted to be different but I don't quite understand why. Overall, I think the idea of the book was good but it just didn't play out that well. I definitely wouldn't recommend this book but maybe check out this author in a few years if he's still writing!

quinnster's review

3.0

This was a little too similar to Chris Bohjalian's The Night Strangers.... 

A family buys a rambling old house that they're going to restore, moving to a small town after trouble in their past.  In House of Echoes the family has two sons, The Night Strangers it was two girls.  Something is off about the town, the people.  And then the real strangeness happens.

Not a bad book at all, actually I probably enjoyed it a little more than The Night Strangers.  Maybe if I read them two years apart instead of two weeks!

cwiegmann24's review

5.0

I received this as an ARC from Netgalley for review.

Incredible! I was 2 chapters into this book and I already thought it was great. I loved the style of writing, the author is an incredibly talented wordsmith. He's able to describe a scene and relay the characters' feelings without losing sight of the overall plot and pacing. The story is just so intriguing. I loved every minute of this.

I hate when reviews just rehash the story, but this story starts with Ben and his wife Caroline buying a big house in a small town and trying to turn it into an inn. I am looking to buy a house currently, so this was a nice tie in to my current state. I was also interested in how Ben was always looking for a story for his next book. Of course you're going to appeal to readers if you talk about a writer trying to craft a new book, right?

This book pulls in so many emotional directions. From a feeling of a new start, then on to an accomplishment of the work on the house, then to concern over Charlie, then fear of the Watcher, and a hundred things after that. There were times that I wasn't sure what type of ending I would read. This book really created an awesome setting and gave the whole thing a spooky feel. I know that this is the first book by Duffy, but I am on board for reading anything else he puts out. I recommend this to anyone who loves a good spooky mystery.

ainwena's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is slow going and then seemed rushed at the end. Not very spooky, but it could have been.