(I should mention that this takes place in the 80's as most teenagers today have porn at their fingertips in the form of cell phones.) Seth, too, is also an artist and they take it upon themselves to make the abandoned shop into a witches lair. He let's his friend, Seth, in on his secret place and as any seventeen year old is he's amazed at the *inventory* that has been left behind. The locks haven't been changed and he still knows the alarm code so what's the harm. A place that was at one time an adult sex shop, that is abandoned by the tenant for continual rent increases, where a teenage employee to that store, Derek, continues to go to read and draw in privacy. I say that because this book blurred the lines between fiction and non-fiction as our MC, Gage, is a true crime writer investigating the mystery surrounding Devil House. This book reminded me a bit of the recent blockbuster hit Chasing the Boogeyman.

So many positives are to be said about this novel. I would definitely be interested in picking up more from him in the future.įinally, I will be keeping this one my shelves. I do enjoy when an author has a message, but this one would require way to much time and analysis for me to get the point, I believe.ĭarnielle's writing is quite pleasing, however, and obviously he has an incredible imagination. I'm not sure if it was just too cerebral for me. I also loved the details of Devil House itself it's sordid history and final chapters. I loved what it had to say about story telling, particularly true crime story telling. There were glimmers of gold throughout this book, don't get me wrong. It kicked me out of the entire story and then it was very hard for me to start to care again.

I was finding the different sections enjoyable, but that one.dang. There were entire sections where I was unclear as to who the narrator was.Īlso, there was one part in particular, part four, I believe, that I have no freaking idea why it was included at all. Because of this, it felt extremely disjointed. The book was broken into different parts and to me, each part felt like it's own short story. I won't even go about a weak attempt to summarize this story. I'm not mad about it, but if I said I wasn't disappointed, I'd be lying. From this cover, and even from the synopsis, I was getting The Amityville Horror vibes, mixed with a little Sinister, the 2012-supernatural Horror film starring Mr. Y'all, I preordered the heck out of this book.

I put off reviewing this one for a while. Ahhhh, Devil House, Devil House, Devil House.

Devil's house novel