A review by illiterate_lobster
The Suicide House by Charlie Donlea

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? It's complicated

2.5

A solid, resounding, meh. It had a lot of promise initially, but the writing and concept quickly became repetitive and predictable. Like, seriously repetitive. It’s like it should have been half as long but the author tried fattening it up by just restating things multiple times. The twist at the end was okay, I guess, definitely didn’t expect it, but it didn’t seem like there was much build-up to that result and was followed by an anti-climactic ending. Which sucks, because it really did have me guessing at points and I was really excited to find out more about the man in the mirror game, and how it played into the plot (spoiler alert;
it doesn’t. It’s literally a set piece. There aren’t any ghosts, either, despite being pretty explicitly talked about in the beginning
). The final nail in the coffin for me though, was the abysmal handling of Rory’s OCD and Autism. I don’t think it could’ve been written any worse. Constantly referring to her as broken? Calling it an affliction? Good God, dude, you published this book in 2020. The way he describes her neurodivergence you can almost smell the 1940s asylum on him. It is actually sort of pissing me off right now. The only consolation is that I kept imaging Lane as looking like Will Graham which was a nice bonus. Overall, would not read again, but if you want an okay murder mystery you can read the first half or something. The ending you come up with in your head is probably better anyway. I know mine was.
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