In the grand halls of Brackenby House, where generations have tread, Kyle Birbeck and his friends find themselves entangled in a chilling tale. The mansion, renowned for a fateful séance orchestrated by Kyle's ancestor in 1876, bore witness to the haunting »Victorian Suffering Massacre«. Though dismissed as mere legend, whispers persist that five vengeful spirits have been haunting the very walls ever since. When the friends take the ill-fated decision to re-enact the séance on Halloween, it unleashes a terror beyond their wildest imaginings.

Released from their spectral prison, the ghosts now roam free, relentlessly tormenting the vulnerable housemates. They can only hope to survive their ordeal by banishing the unwelcome guests once and for all.

The plot is delightfully gothic, a classic haunted house story with a variety of ghostly antagonists. While it clearly bows to the staples of the genre and can thus be somewhat formulaic, the story also incorporates unique twists and interesting concepts.

The overall atmosphere is eerie and unsettling, with moderate levels of gore. Body horror is often hinted at instead of shown in detail, striking a good balance between psychological suspense and creepy moments. However, readers should approach it expecting a brooding, evocative ambiance, rather than fast-paced gory action.

The writing is immersive, conjuring a dense atmosphere and a persistent feeling of dread. While there are minor inconsistencies and unresolved plot points, my engagement with the story allowed me to overlook them and just enjoy the ride. However, veterans of the genre might find it too smooth and polished, lacking a certain oomph or gritty exposition.

To me, the characters come across as somewhat clichéd, prone to exasperatingly foolish decisions. The story railroads them to an ending that is predictable, if you're not a complete newbie to the haunted house trope.

Still, they are likeable and relatable enough, although they lack significant depth or development, dutifully serving their roles within the confines of the haunted house narrative.

The Suffering has everything that I love in a horror/paranormal novel; a spooky house with a chilling history, a seance that didn't quite work the way it was intended, ghosts, secrets, and so on. I enjoyed the overall story as it was interesting and the descriptions did manage to keep up a certain level of tension. I did like the ghosts as well the action surrounding them, but felt it got bogged down by the author using lack of communication and secrets to move a plot point along which just made me shake my head.

Kyle and his friends live in a Victorian house that has been in his family for a very long time. Despite the sordid background and the tragedy that occurred there, the five students are overjoyed to be living in something that is cheaper than the usual student accommodations, and decide to have a seance on Halloween. Okay, this I totally buy as college students do silly things all the time and even I played around with this kind of stuff when I was younger. Unfortunately, they do release something horrifying and five ghosts attach themselves to the five of them feeding off of their self-doubts. I did find this interesting in the beginning and liked what was happening, even if I didn't find it very terrifying. This could be my fault though as I went in thinking it would be scarier than it was, but it wasn't.

Things kind of went sideways for me about one-third into the book as I got tired of the lack of communication between the characters and the big secrets. Kyle wasn't very forthcoming with information and I just couldn't figure out why he wouldn't tell the others where he had been and why. And why would he not have brought back protection charms for the rest of them? And when things did start happening, why would you not call the police to check things out to make sure there were not pranks happening? And when things ramp up, do the kids try to split and run? No, not really. I would have been out of there in a flash.

While the author can write, and there were definitely some interesting moments, I don't feel like I really got to know the characters very well. To me, they were pretty bland and I wish the story had focused on one of them rather than all of them as it would have added depth to the story. I did like hearing about the ghosts, but the characters and their foolish decisions kind of pushed that to the background regularly and I found myself jolted out of the story. It made me focus on the plot holes and lack of character growth a bit more than I normally would have.

The Suffering had a lot of potential and I did enjoy the story, especially the parts where the ghosts were involved. I did feel the characters were one-dimensional and bland, and their lack of communication and decision-making skills got on my nerves after a while. There really wasn't anything particularly spooky about this book, but there were a lot of fun elements, so I would definitely pick up another novel by this author in the future.

This book turned the creep factor up to a 10!
It definitely had a slow start and i struggled at first to keep interest but it definitely took a turn and got me hooked.
This book had all the things, ghost story, creepiness, that eerie "Don't sleep in the dark" feeling.
But it also has enough funny banter throughout to not give you nightmares.
The cover is a HUGE draw in. such a eerie cover and so fitting.

Thank you publishers and Netgalley for the advanced copy.

I really tried to get through this one. First, all those characters, it felt like an exam trying to remember who was who. The story got to the point pretty quickly which made me wonder what could possibly hold up the remaining bulk of the book. The characters weren’t interesting enough and the repetitive thumps, bumps, and running on the landing got boring really fast. Not my cup of tea, thanks #NetGalley for the ARC.

okay hear me out. i really wanted to like this book. truly, i did. but alas, it did not work for me. i'm so sorry! but i'm so thankful to netgalley for allowing me to read it early!!!

I read the first few chapters and just felt as if I could not get in to this story,
not anything that the author had done, the work seems well done.
I have just tried a few times over the last few months to get into this book and just have been unable to do so.

A fantastic slow burn ghost story. It took me a little while to get into it but I'm slow glad I stuck with it, it's definitely worth the read. If you're a fan of horror/the paranormal then you'll love this one

This kinda almost reminds me of the movie 13 ghosts...killer spirits trapped, doing bad things. People trying to figure out how to make to everything stop...spells and books.

A fantastic read...spooky, horrifying. And reminds me why I never play with a oujia board.

Creeeeepy af, I really enjoyed the eerie atmosphere and setting. Writing was good but I wanted a bit more plot and character depth to be honest. Still very enjoyable.

Four stars because this book felt like it was written by two different people. It starts off quite badly, with a pick-me 'not like the other girls' character, a model who can only talk about sewage which makes it unappealing as soon as you speak to him (?) and others that just kinda mesh together and are unremarkable. But as the story progresses you can SEE the author getting better! It's fascinating how the writing evolved from the first to the last page. In the end, I cared deeply for the characters and was enthralled by the plot, I needed to read. If the quality had been consistent, it would've been 5 stars.
The plot was quite farfetched, but amusingly so. It was absolutely bonkers and I loved every second - lots of blood, gore, jumpscares, chills, and tension. This is a brilliant horror novel and I recommend it to every single one of you who loves the genre.

Thankyou to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this ARC.
This is my first title by this author and I will be reading more from them in the future.
This book has horror, mystery and haunted house vibes which I love.
This is a heart pounding thriller which left me on the edge of my seat.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. Definitely one of the best books this year.
Thankyou again.
5/5 stars

Let me start by saying, I absolutely love the cover of this book! I went in with high hopes, and it was an ok read. I felt it was a bit all over the place, and unrealistic in some of the behaviors of people who were obviously in danger.

I look forward to reading what this author comes up with next.

I was given an ARC for an honest review.

Haunted house and a mystery, what more could you ask for? An enjoyable read throughout, well-written and well-fleshed out. The ghosts having fun and interesting backstories also lightened the mood. Rarely do we see comedy and horror go hand in hand, but here we have it done well.

Actual rating: 1.5 stars

I was excited to read this book because it pretty much has all the things I love about a horror book: séance, terrifying ghosts, and a haunted house. I loved the adrenaline and rush of fear when reading scary stories. On the contrary, The Suffering became a tedious read.

The one thing I loved the most in this book was the 5 ghosts and how they haunted Kyle and his friends. I found it cool as well when the ghosts started to manifest their presence. Unfortunately, I got lost in the sea of characters. It feel crowded and I was mostly confused until the end.

Overall, it was not an immersive read as I hoped it would be.

Thank you Netgalley and Wicked House Publishing for the ARC.

I tried to get into this but it didn't hit me like any other horror thriller book ive read it. It just wasnt likeable. I put it down around the 30% mark and couldnt finish

I really likes the story of this book. It was great and kept me interested and motivated to read all the way through! But…..the language (which wasn’t too bad for me because it wasn’t bad enough for me to not be able to skip over, but still didn’t like that I had to skip over, because you still see it and still read it) and vulgar, sexual content was awful. There were two - three places with it in it and I wouldn’t have been able to finish if it had been worse. So great story, I loved it. But no for the language and sexual content. No books have to have that in it, I believe. Thank you to #NetGalley and the author, and publishers, for a opportunity to read and review #TheSuffering with my honest thoughts and opinions.

What a fun and creepy ride! I really enjoyed reading this one, it’s rare that I can find a book that genuinely gives me the creeps and this is one of them. I don’t think it graduates into true horror but is rather a supernatural thriller. The tension is broken up with funny banter among the roommates as the haunting amps up. And the ending was just perfect. I would definitely recommend this read. It’s a page turner for sure.

Holly cow bat man! If you want a good scare read this book! Creepy vibes all day long! I can’t even talk about it without giving anything away! If you are a fan of old houses with gruesome history this is a book for you. Every one in town knows that the place is haunted. The deaths made newspapers and even a photo of the house sits in the history museum. A séance gone wrong or exactly to plan depending on who you ask… unleaded the most horrible ghosts into the house that night. All but one was murdered. The house was passed on through family and now is inhabited by a group of college kids who are happy about their new digs off campus and definitely cheaper, oh and it’s huge! Did I mention it’s haunted? Some say it’s all crap just town lore until one of them decides it would be creepy fun to host a séance again on Halloween to see if they really do have spirits. What happens that night changes each of their lives forever! Do they survive or are they doomed to suffer the same fate as the others from the original séance? Gotta read it to find out!! Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me access to this book. This is my honest review.

Horror at its best - an excellent debut novel from MJ Mars! Gripping! Horror is my go to book genre, and this book held the bar! I loved The Suffering!

The Suffering by MJ Mars was received directly from the publisher and I chose to review it. I had never read this author before and the reviews were good. That being said, this haunted house story was too "juvenile" for my tastes, in that it was not really horrific. I did like how each ghosts backstory was explained. If you, or someone you buy gifts for wants to read a haunted house horror story that is not really horrific, give this book a read.

3 Stars