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drewdietsch's review
3.0
Starts and ends strong with plenty of creepy potential, but rarely commits to its devilish fun in ways you'd want. Just made me want to revisit The House Next Door really bad.
lakecake's review against another edition
3.0
Yeah...this is basically Amityville Horror but fictionalized. It was ok, it was a really quick read, but it was the book version of a super schlocky horror movie. Also...Anson is really fond of unnecessary exclamation points for emphasis! Oh no...look over there...a dead bird! But the bird was fine just a minute ago! *Gasp*! It's a little annoying, but in the good clean fun kind of way.
cjm1701's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I found the mystery in this book very compelling. The first two thirds of this book were very enjoyable, and I found the characters pretty interesting. As time passed that lessened considerably.
I have to guess in a lot of ways this book suffers from just being dated. The three main characters in the book to me all be came pretty unlikable and flat as the tension developed. I also have to say specifically that I don’t think the author knew what to do with his femme lead.
All-in-all though, I’d recommend it. There are some great little twists and as the pieces all fall together it’s quite gratifying!
I have to guess in a lot of ways this book suffers from just being dated. The three main characters in the book to me all be came pretty unlikable and flat as the tension developed. I also have to say specifically that I don’t think the author knew what to do with his femme lead.
All-in-all though, I’d recommend it. There are some great little twists and as the pieces all fall together it’s quite gratifying!
lkmreads's review
5.0
Not counting young adult novels of less than 20 pages, this is the first "real" book I ever read, and I loved it. I still read it once in a while again.
cerfluffled's review
mysterious
tense
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
2.0
ghoulnextdoor's review
2.0
666, our main characters, a married couple, arrive home from vacation to find that a new house has somewhat mysteriously appeared more or less across the street from their own home. We learn from vague visions and various forays into the house that this structure is evil because it was built from various pieces of diabolical or horrific materials throughout history? (i.e. pieces of torture devices, stones from notorious dungeons, nails from the cross Jesus was all got up on, etc.) I’m probably oversimplifying, and this is already a dumb book to begin with. Anyway, this house reappears and disappears over the years after inciting its inhabitants to dreadful violence. Somehow the devil is involved. The devil is a realtor? Or a house flipper? I don’t know. One amazon reviewer enthuses, “Every christian should read this book”. OKAY THEN!
nevaehbecker's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
megan_bbender's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The foreshadowing is amazing and the parts of realization had my jaw on the floor. The way that the author slowly reveals that everything is connected is done extremely well, and works out very greatly for the book. The author never gives away too much at once so it was a very hard book to put down, especially towards the end! The ending could have been predictable, but while reading it was totally unexpected. However, the epilogue gave great continuation. I would definitely recommend this book to a lot of people. It is a super quick and easy read, but definitely worth it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder