I was convinced that I knew how this was going to end with 150 pages left. Boy was I wrong... A brilliant, dark and twisty story of a family trapped together. Slowly they start seeing and hearing things they shouldn’t. Highly recommend this one! Some very jump worthy scenes! Thank you so much to @simonschusterau for sending this to me

So for about 3/4 of the book I felt like I was reading a dream...a dream in which the people I was reading about knew more about what was going on than I did, these moments where something was about to be said and it would fall off the tongue...I also thought I knew what genre I was reading...I didn't, lol.

Spoiler

Is it a Mystery? Oh no it's Mystery/Horror...wait it's Sci-Fi! Oh back to horror. NO complaints about that, btw

It almost feels like it's being set up for a sequel? Maybe? I think I would have to sit down with a pot of coffee and a drawing board to really review this book...mainly because I think I'd need that to figure out how I even feel. Having said all that, I'd read this author again.

Great read. The story starts off typically gothic; a number of people confined incommunicado for a duration for monetary gain, and you might think "yawn, I have read dozens of similar stories" but you would be wrong. Pyper adds spectacular twists and turns that will compel you to finish the book in one sitting.

4.5 STARSSSS
THIS WAS ONE HELL OF A MIND FUCKERY

This was dark, creepy, scary and had a great twist. I didn't see it coming. So brilliant.
Also was a mistake to read this till 12AM cause I could neither read further or sleep.

Secrets—the big ones—are hard to let go of,” I say. “Even when you want to, even when they’re too much to bear. It’s like they hang on to you by a power of their own.”

2.5 Stars (Normally, I would round my stars up but for this book, I had to round down)

I really enjoyed the idea of this story. However, the execution wasn’t done well. Also, I could not stand how it was written. I was rolling my eyes at some of the things characters would say to each other. Didn’t feel like things normal people would say. Rather disappointed.

3.5 stars.

I’m glad I gave Andrew Pyper another shot, after not enjoying his last novel, The Only Child. In contrast to that one, The Homecoming immediately drew me in, and I raced through half of it in one sitting (and probably would have raced through the rest if it wasn’t late at night).

The novel centers around the Quinlan family. After the death of their absentee father, they are summoned to a remote cabin (or perhaps mansion would be a better word) in the middle of a Pacific Northwest rainforest for the reading of his will. They learn that their mysterious father had millions of dollars, which they will inherit on one condition: that they remain at the estate for thirty days. They agree, and the story continues from there.

Pyper does a fantastic job of building suspense and growing an inkling of dread into full blown terror. I really loved the first half of this book, but unfortunately, the last third or so fell short. I loved the concept, but I found the execution lost a bit of the scare factor. And, as a psychology student and mental health advocate, what really upset me was the treatment of acute bipolar disorder and how the character with it had “a defective mind,” was in need of saving because of their condition, and needed a chance at “sanity.” By framing bipolar this way, Pyper is fuelling harmful stereotypes about this disorder, which only works to further stigmatize and alienate those with it (likewise with the character with Alzheimer’s). Having bipolar disorder does not, in any way, make a person “insane” so this sort of implication just really bothers me. I wish these conditions were approached with a bit more consideration.

Despite these reservations (as well as the unnecessary violence against an animal towards the end of the book), I still enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for providing with a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Let me just start off by saying that I'm going to avoid discussing plot details that are anything above and beyond what you can readily gather from the summary.
My suggestion is that you skip the summary AND any reviews (other than mine of course *wink*) and just go into this one blind.
Mother Horror notes: It took me a little while to get involved. To settle in and to enjoy myself. I kept wanting to get out ahead of the pacing and muscle through the confusion but I wish I would have reminded myself to just relax and let it happen.
This is a bit of a slow burn; Pyper keeps all the answers just out of reach for a long time. The game here is to see if you can just hang with these characters long enough to find out what the actual hell is going on.
Much like the show LOST, thousands of questions are presented without an immediate promise to answer them. Many loose ends left dangling at the ends of chapters; very little forward movement on any of the several, big mysteries happens before another plot twist comes and blows all your theories out the door.
Typically, this would frustrate me but Andrew Pyper does a few things very well that saved it for me.
* He writes interesting characters that engage in authentic dialogue.
* Pyper's storytelling narrative is so casual and effortless, the words just melt away and the drama plays out in my mind as the pages fly.
* There is plenty of creepy imagery and supernatural elements to keep an avid horror reader intrigued.
Lastly, I just had to know how this ended.
This is an unpredictable, highly addictive read where the author is totally in control of unpacking this mystery/horror/thriller exactly the way he wants it done. The reader should just take a back seat and let the story unfold without trying too hard to figure everything out--just enjoy being enraptured by the tale. I certainly did.

This was a super compelling Thriller with some horror/sci-fi dystopian undertones.

I thought it was going to be a classic locked room style mystery like Clue because of the set up (absentee father dies and shuffles his family into an unknown estate where they must remain for 30 days to collect millions), but then the twists started and I couldn't have predicted the outcome.
There's definitely some similarities to Blake Crouch's Recursion and I loved it!

I did want more backstory though-- the characters all allude to fairy tales told of this Belfountain places, but the stories are never told. Also, you never find out what happens to a main character and that bothers me, but otherwise a twisty dark read I'd recommend.