“…nearby trees dared them to come closer, their branches dangling like tentacles in the beams of the headlights waiting for their prey to enter.”
Seth McCartney looks forward to one thing and one thing only every fall – Haunted Houses. And despite years of this spooktacular hobby, there was one house that has eluded him all this time.
A certain extreme house – one that promises riches to those who succeed and horrors to all who don’t. He’s heard whispers and rumors online but never found the house…until now.
“I just wonder if he’ll get more than he bargained for.” “That’ll be funny to see. The horror nut getting a taste of actual horror.”
No matter what his friends say, Seth is PUMPED to finally get to do this house – one last hurrah to his childhood and adventure before graduating college and entering the real world.
“Holy shit,” Peyton exclaimed. “Dude, look at that fucking place.”
At first Seth was elated to find the house after all this time. The rooms – incredible. The attention to detail – stunning. The horrors – HORRIFYING!
As the group climbs floor after floor, they begin to realize that there’s something off about this house. It’s too real. Way, way too real.
“We have to hurry,” Seth said …So much uncertainty up ahead. So many ways to perish. But they couldn’t go back.
4.5 stars for this one!
I was a bit torn on my rating – because while the content wasn’t my cup of tea, I do have to admit the author did a great job writing this one and it’s been a long time since I felt that high of a level of anxiety as I read a book.
Seriously.
Yikes.
The story itself definitely delivers on the premise – there are ten levels to this haunted house – each one twisted and cruel in its own way.
I liked the creativity showed with the various creatures, traps and horrors. Each room brought a new level of “YIKES” from me and a frantic promise to NEVER go to a haunted house in Wisconsin ever again!
I thought the “big bad” of this book was quite clever and when everything was revealed – I was pleased by the direction the author took for that element.
Warning: there be spoilers ahead!
However, what kept me from enjoying this book is that I felt that no one really deserved their fate (minus one character, fck that guy in particular). Because of that, I spent a lot of time feeling genuinely bad for the fate of most of the characters in the story and therefore, I struggled to enjoy the story.
Horror is a tricky genre and I do feel that the fate of the characters needs to have some level of “deserved” in order to make the story enjoyable.
Take Home Alone – it’s an enjoyable story because Kevin fights against the “bad guys” who are far more experienced, stronger, and manipulative than him. We root for the little guy and are happy when he “wins”.
If the burglars (Harry and Marv) were the ones who had the upper hand and inflicted torture upon Kevin – the movie wouldn’t have made it past the cutting room floor. It would be too dark, depressing, and unenjoyable.
I wouldn’t say that it was to the extreme of my example above, but I did have a hard time sinking into this one. I appreciated the cleverness but did not like the reading experience.
