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A review by ebbiebooks
The Spite House by Johnny Compton
5.0
This was incredible, and I'm giving it a full 5 stars.
At first, I thought I might have stumble on a cozy horror book wihtout knowing it beforehand, and I was very pleased by it. I wouldn't say it's exactly that having finished it now, though I wouldn't say it's super scary. The feeling it gave me was more of a thrill, of a "oh shit, what's gonna happen next", and all in all, I would say it's less a horror book, and more a paranormal mystery. And that was good for me as I mostly read at night and I could continue reading even through the more "scary" chapters without compromising my sleep. On top of that, it was never gory, which I also liked. The scariness factor is more psychological, if not spiritual.
I really liked how at first, you're pretty much in the dark, and you get only bits and pieces of things that jumpstart the mystery of it all, which is not only about the haunted house, but also about the main characters and their own experience, their past, their ancestors' past, and their relationship with death. The mystery build itself slowly and, throughout, even when some things get resolved, it seems like the resolution also bring another mystery you didn't know was hiden inside.
I feel like the characters where the strenght of the book, other than the idea for the haunting. They were complex enough, their voices were different enough, and I feel like that's usually not so easy to do for a debut novel.
I understand why some people see flaws here and there, but for me, the multiple POV wasn't that big of an issue. I think I even enjoyed it, because when the POV shifted to more minor characters, it gave the story time to breathe a little between more "intense" chapters. I guess not having the POV of Dana or Lafonda or even Millie wouldn't have been a big deal, but I enjoyed the few times we had these chapters and having a more "external" POV from the main story and the main characters with their feet deep in the proverbial river of caca.
I would say that the main thing I could take issue with, is a few minor scenes and characters where something happen that seem important, yet you don't seem them or return to a resolution for the scene ever again. The orphanage is one of the thing that was not super well explained in how it works at the present. I would have enjoyed a few pages more that took care of giving me some info on why it does what it does.
And then, though maybe it's a big ask for such a mystery, I would have liked to have some kind of answer towards the whole "how did they return" thing (not to be too spoilery). Maybe an epilogue would have help, even if there wasn't an answer given, to give some kind of satisfaction in a sense, or more of a closure concerning the Ross family (mainly the parents), and maybe even the house as well.
That being said, I enjoy my experience fully. I was never bored. This is a SOLID debut and I'm going to keep a close watch for anything this auhtor give us next.
At first, I thought I might have stumble on a cozy horror book wihtout knowing it beforehand, and I was very pleased by it. I wouldn't say it's exactly that having finished it now, though I wouldn't say it's super scary. The feeling it gave me was more of a thrill, of a "oh shit, what's gonna happen next", and all in all, I would say it's less a horror book, and more a paranormal mystery. And that was good for me as I mostly read at night and I could continue reading even through the more "scary" chapters without compromising my sleep. On top of that, it was never gory, which I also liked. The scariness factor is more psychological, if not spiritual.
I really liked how at first, you're pretty much in the dark, and you get only bits and pieces of things that jumpstart the mystery of it all, which is not only about the haunted house, but also about the main characters and their own experience, their past, their ancestors' past, and their relationship with death. The mystery build itself slowly and, throughout, even when some things get resolved, it seems like the resolution also bring another mystery you didn't know was hiden inside.
I feel like the characters where the strenght of the book, other than the idea for the haunting. They were complex enough, their voices were different enough, and I feel like that's usually not so easy to do for a debut novel.
I understand why some people see flaws here and there, but for me, the multiple POV wasn't that big of an issue. I think I even enjoyed it, because when the POV shifted to more minor characters, it gave the story time to breathe a little between more "intense" chapters. I guess not having the POV of Dana or Lafonda or even Millie wouldn't have been a big deal, but I enjoyed the few times we had these chapters and having a more "external" POV from the main story and the main characters with their feet deep in the proverbial river of caca.
I would say that the main thing I could take issue with, is a few minor scenes and characters where something happen that seem important, yet you don't seem them or return to a resolution for the scene ever again. The orphanage is one of the thing that was not super well explained in how it works at the present. I would have enjoyed a few pages more that took care of giving me some info on why it does what it does.
And then, though maybe it's a big ask for such a mystery, I would have liked to have some kind of answer towards the whole "how did they return" thing (not to be too spoilery). Maybe an epilogue would have help, even if there wasn't an answer given, to give some kind of satisfaction in a sense, or more of a closure concerning the Ross family (mainly the parents), and maybe even the house as well.
That being said, I enjoy my experience fully. I was never bored. This is a SOLID debut and I'm going to keep a close watch for anything this auhtor give us next.