Scan barcode
A review by audreyintheheadphones
The House Where Nobody Lived by Brad Strickland, John Bellairs
4.0
I am a huge Bellairs fan, and was ver' ver' suspicious when Strickland took over his series. That said, I haven't been disappointed yet in one of the Bellairs book's Strickland's finished, but this was my first of his solo outings using Lewis Barnavelt and company.
And it was awesome.
David Keller and his family move into an old house in New Zebedee with a storied past, one rife with mystery and tragedy. After befriending David, Lewis and Rose Rita get mixed up in the mystery and the tragedy which turns out to be not so old as everyone might've thought.
I loved the story of the house, and I loved the way tiny clues to the mystery were sprinkled through the story. There's a bit at the very beginning, which I won't spoil for you, that I found every bit as scary as anything Shirley Jackson wrote. The whole book is atmospheric and mellifluous, Lewis actually sounds like a thirteen year old boy, and best of all, the book passes The Bechdel Test.
Hard to resist flipping the book back over and re-reading it immediately, but it's definitely going on my favorites shelf.
And it was awesome.
David Keller and his family move into an old house in New Zebedee with a storied past, one rife with mystery and tragedy. After befriending David, Lewis and Rose Rita get mixed up in the mystery and the tragedy which turns out to be not so old as everyone might've thought.
I loved the story of the house, and I loved the way tiny clues to the mystery were sprinkled through the story. There's a bit at the very beginning, which I won't spoil for you, that I found every bit as scary as anything Shirley Jackson wrote. The whole book is atmospheric and mellifluous, Lewis actually sounds like a thirteen year old boy, and best of all, the book passes The Bechdel Test.
Hard to resist flipping the book back over and re-reading it immediately, but it's definitely going on my favorites shelf.