In the wake of his parents' tragic deaths fourteen-year-old Richard Elauved has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the remote town of Ballantyne.
Richard quickly earns a reputation as an outcast, and when a classmate named Tom goes missing, no one believes him when he says the telephone booth out by the edge of the woods sucked Tom into the receiver like something out of a horror movie.
No one, that is, except the enigmatic Karen, who encourages Richard to pursue clues the police refuse to investigate. He traces the number to an abandoned house in the woods. There he catches a glimpse of a terrifying face in the window. And then the voices start.
When another classmate disappears, Richard grapples with the dark magic that's possessing Ballantyne to try and find them before it's too late...
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'You're crazy' Tom said, and I could tell he was scared, seeing as he stammered one more time than he usually does.- 1
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(Vintage Digital, 28 September 2023, e-galley, 284 pages, copy from publisher via NetGalley)
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I really enjoyed The Night House. It's a lot of fun for a horror novel. It's a book of two halves really. The biggest chunk of the book takes place when Richard is a teenager, moves to Ballantyne and discovers some very sinister events with the finger of blame pointed squarely at him. This chunk of the book is ripping horror yarn with a few gory moments. Then things take an unexpected turn, and we meet Richard as an adult and successful author who's written a bestselling novel about some creepy events. Do you see where I'm going? I enjoyed the second half of the book when Richard's an adult a bit more than the sections when he's a teenager. This is well written and gripping.