shereadstales 's review for:

The House of Last Resort by Christopher Golden

3.5

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

---

 The small, Italian town of Becchina is one of many trying to revitalize. So when American couple Tommy and Kate Puglisi get the opportunity to purchase a home for 1 Euro as long as they live there for five years and work to help bring some tourism back to the area, it sounds like the opportunity of a lifetime. 

Tommy’s grandparents even live there, and they see it as an opportunity to spend the couple’s golden years with them. As they settle in, however, a shadow seems to hover over them, and Tommy’s grandmother is furious when she discovers exactly which house they bought. Everyone in town seems to know the house’s dark history, and when the couple finally find out, they agree it might be an interesting tourism angle. That is, until maybe the stories are true, and maybe that dark history is about to rise up. 

I enjoyed this book. It had a nice slow burn that actually built to something, yet it wasn’t such a slow build in tension that I lost interest. It was an interesting angle on the haunted house story, the haunted history of the Catholic Church, and people’s belief in the supernatural. 

It was a quick, entertaining read, and I’d definitely pick up another book by Christopher Golden.