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A review by jen286
Gothic by Philip Fracassi
2.0
This was a really disappointing read. I really enjoy the premise, but the execution was lacking. The way it was written made it have no tension. I also found the order of things a bit odd..when the background of the desk popped up early in the story it felt very out of place. It was not the worst read ever, but I also did not care about any of the characters or what happened and almost dnf-ed it.
This is the story of horror author Tyson Parks whose partner gifts him a new writing desk for his birthday. He has been struggling to write his next book, but once he gets the desk everything changes. And not for the better.
Now other reviewers have likened this to The Shining, and I see where the comparisons would be (there are even references to it), but this is no Stephen King novel. I don't even love The Shining, but it is a far superior read of someone's descent into madness. I just...it was not for me. The writing didn't catch me, the storyline was too light at times and wasn't substantial enough. We have another character Diana, whose family originally owned the desk but it was stolen and she has been trying to track it down to keep it from harming anyone else. I must say she was the most useless character in the book. She almost could have been cut out completely with little change. I mean she does murder a few people, but that could have easily happened another way. She is supposed to know all about the evil in the desk, but the desk kills her in two seconds. Like...if you knew all about the evil why would you be so lackadaisical when around it? It made no sense. At least there should have been a longer struggle with her fighting the evil, but nope it just takes her out almost instantly once she is in the room with it. I don't know what the point of her was...
There is also the private detective she hired, Ben, who in the last chapter could be setting up a sequel. You don't find out much about him, but there are things hinted at that could be expanded upon, though if there were to be another book I would pass on reading it. But the base story, Tyson and what his family goes through was just not very good. I wanted more. I wanted more creepy things happening, I wanted to care about what was going on. The writing didn't work for me so the story didn't work.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.
This is the story of horror author Tyson Parks whose partner gifts him a new writing desk for his birthday. He has been struggling to write his next book, but once he gets the desk everything changes. And not for the better.
Now other reviewers have likened this to The Shining, and I see where the comparisons would be (there are even references to it), but this is no Stephen King novel. I don't even love The Shining, but it is a far superior read of someone's descent into madness. I just...it was not for me. The writing didn't catch me, the storyline was too light at times and wasn't substantial enough. We have another character Diana, whose family originally owned the desk but it was stolen and she has been trying to track it down to keep it from harming anyone else. I must say she was the most useless character in the book. She almost could have been cut out completely with little change. I mean she does murder a few people, but that could have easily happened another way. She is supposed to know all about the evil in the desk, but the desk kills her in two seconds. Like...if you knew all about the evil why would you be so lackadaisical when around it? It made no sense. At least there should have been a longer struggle with her fighting the evil, but nope it just takes her out almost instantly once she is in the room with it. I don't know what the point of her was...
There is also the private detective she hired, Ben, who in the last chapter could be setting up a sequel. You don't find out much about him, but there are things hinted at that could be expanded upon, though if there were to be another book I would pass on reading it. But the base story, Tyson and what his family goes through was just not very good. I wanted more. I wanted more creepy things happening, I wanted to care about what was going on. The writing didn't work for me so the story didn't work.
Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.