librarianryan 's review for:

Diavola by Jennifer Marie Thorne

DID NOT FINISH: 37%

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Maybe I would like this more if it was a movie. This is supposed to be a horror novel and it feels like an art house horror novel where it spends most of the book going ooh look over your shoulder see that creepy thing, see this creepy thing here, this creepy noise, etc. The creepiest thing just happened which is this  family who’s on vacation in Italy came back to the villa and found all the drawers opened,  chairs unturned, as if the house had been searched. Our main character has been hearing voices at night. The kids keep asking me to play with the neighbors, but there’s no neighbors close. There is a locked empty room at the top of the tower. The brother-in-law is kind of a douche human being who insists on opening the door even though they’ve been told multiple times not to. You get the feeling that some sort of evil presence was let out of that locked room, but you’re not seeing hide nor hair of it. This book is spending way too much time, even sped up audiobook time,  giving you the background of the characters and how the family doesn’t get along.  I am bored to tears. Part of me wants to see the devil and the craziness come out, and the other part of me wants to move on something more exciting that would keep my interest more.