Unfortunately I was unable to download this book before the archive date, so I'm not able to leave a review. I look forward to reading and reviewing books by this author in the future.

A big eye roll from me. Early hype had me excited to read something new & exciting. This wasn't it. Slow to start, I just could get into the characters or scenario.

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

I really enjoyed this title. I liked the twists and turns and the writing style is nice and smooth. The story flows well and kept my attention. Thank you for the opportunity to read this title. I will be recommending this one to friends.

I really enjoyed that this book was based on some real historical elements. I love ghost stories and this one did not disappoint. There were lots of creepy moments and the suspense was great.

Loved it! It’s such a creepy & unique idea for a story. You can’t go wrong with Pyper’s writing, I’ve read some of his other ones & I highly recommend them.

This was a DNF (did not finish) for me. I did not enjoy this book and prefer not to provide any feedback at the moment on any of my social media networks. I may come back to this at a later time and will update this review at that time.

This is my 1st novel by Andrew Pyper and it definitely won't be my last.
Based on actual facts this spooky ghost story is set in the White House during Franklin Pierce's administration in the 1850's. The President's recently deceased son haunts the White House, threatening all who live in it.
In the face of overwhelming grief Franklin and First Lady Jane are plagued by bizarre and disturbing events. As the horrors quickly unfold Jane and Franklin hope to work together to rid themselves of this entity at their side.
Well written and well researched the author includes a fascinating notes section at the end of the book detailing actual events and historical facts he has based this book on.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

THE RESIDENCE by ANDREW PYPER was a book that I was extremely excited to read because I thought the premise of it sounded great. It started off a little slow and it was really hard for me to get into the story and stay focused in what I was reading. I also wasn't all that sympathetic for Jane and lost interest in her. Sadly this book just wasn't for me.

Thank you so much to Simon & Schuster Canada, Andrew Pyper, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

In 1853, President-elect Franklin Pierce is traveling with his family to Washington, DC, when they’re involved in a train accident and the Pierces’ son, Bennie, is killed. As Pierce and his wife move into the White House they’re plagued by strange occurrences and start to suspect that it’s being haunted by Bennie’s ghost. Although fiction, this is based on historical facts and characters which I think made this seem spookier than it might have otherwise. An interesting, creepy read which left me interested in finding out more about the true story of this family. This was my first book by this author but I would definitely pick up more by him in the future. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

A ghost story about the President's late son haunting the White House and his family. Sorry. This was just not a book that I could enjoy. Well written as Pyper's books always are but just not my cup of tea. It definitely made me feel uneasy and I unfortunately could not enjoy the read. Would be better for those readers who enjoy the supernatural mush more than me.

I became absorbed in The Residence. It’s the second book I’ve read by Canadian author, Andrew Pyper. This could be classified as supernatural or Gothic horror. What I enjoyed the most is that it is also historical fiction, inspired by true events.

It comes from a story I never heard of before. The story about Franklin Pierce, the president of the United States in 1853. He is traveling by train to Washington with his wife, Jane and son, Bennie. When a horrible accident takes place, unfortunately, Bennie dies.
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There has already been enormous loss for the Pierce's and the grief of the loss of Bennie overcomes the First Lady and the President is trying his best to grieve for his son but also run the country. The first Lady hides herself away on the second floor of the white house, writing letters to Bennie, pleading for him to return and she believes that he does.

This is not a gory, bloody, or gruesome horror story. This is a haunting, ghost and horror story that revolves around fears of death and how our minds try to deal with horrendous grief. There are noises and sightings of several ghosts, including the slaves that built the White House and there is a grief room.

The haunting ghosts try to cause the greatest pain for both the First Lady and President by flinging truths to them. Will they fight back? Will they succumb to the paranormal activity? What is this intrusion of the spirit that Jane speaks of?

This book is so well written and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to read it. Loved the nod to Nathaniel Hawthorne and the link to Abe Lincoln's son.

Bookworm Rating: 🐛🐛🐛🐛

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Canada for an e-copy of this book for an honest review.

This book is absolutely magnificent, and completely unique and not at ALL what I had anticipated it was going to be! I love books that surprise me and this one fits the bill.

Andrew Pyper writes such incredible spooky content in completely new and unnerving ways. I LOVED that this was set so many decades ago and Andrew nails it with the sound and tone in this book. More than that I love that this book still felt completely contemporary and relevant to today's society. That is no easy feat and Andrew pulls it off with ease.

I also love that the premise of a ghost story like this could be so utterly terrifying while still being so incredibly compelling. I had no idea who I was rooting for in this story, I just could not set it down until I found out what happened in the end.

Devious, face paced and a joy to lose myself in for an autumn afternoon, an absolute must read for bookworms this fall!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Franklin Pierce and his wife are about to become the newest President and First Lady to reside within the walls of the White House. The year is 1853 and during a train trip to Washington, DC, the train derails , their son Bennie is the only fatality. Jane, the First Lady, spirals down into a well of sorrow, nothing can console her. She begins a foray into the occult hoping to connect with her lost son and opens a door into evil. Her longing for her son manifests an evil being that starts a reign of terror in the White House.
I found the beginning of this book to be a little slow with the storyline picking up towards the middle of the book. There is a definite dark and ominous feel to this story that will have your skin crawling.

The story was hard to follow and got kind of weird at one point. It was not my favourite of Andrew’s books. The writing was okay, but the story was not the best.
#theresidence #netgalley #indigoemployee

This book has a wonderful premise and I was excited to read it. It started off slow and I liked the melancholy, haunting vibes. Unfortunately, after reading through almost 100 pages, there is still nothing much going on and the plot meandered, with (in my humble opinion) unnecessary ramblings. Moreover, I couldn't connect with the characters at all. Sadly, I didn't power through to finish it. This book wasn't for me.

*** Thank you Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for this gifted review copy in exchange for an honest review. ***

I have a list of authors who have pulled me into one of their stories; I can’t wait to get my grabby fingers on their next new release; Andrew Pyper got on this list with The Homecoming.

I have spent months looking forward to reconnecting with Pyper’s writing, ever since I saw that The Residence was set to release. I know that I like his style, who doesn’t love an old-fashioned ghost story?

Unfortunately, I just didn’t connect with Pyper’s characters this time around.

I like to figure the how and why when this happens. The last thing I want is a book that feels like a chore to finish, but I hate to abandon what I have started; this is a good author, he must be able to create that connection before the end of the story.

In the end I can only say that there was some kind of vacuum in the space-time continuum. The wrong time, the wrong place. I found The Residence lacking a connection, I just didn’t care. Perhaps with White House BS everywhere right now, I just wasn’t in the right mind for more White House; perhaps Pyper’s characters were a bit too one dimensional this time around.

There are some stories that can go dark and gloomy, without any comic relief; but others need it. The comic relief can help to build connections, make the characters more tangible, more relatable. Perhaps it was this lack of comic relief that was missing.

Pyper’s writing was solid, his plot unique and interesting; but this story failed to captivate me. I want to immerse myself in the stories I read. I wanted my Calgon moment with The Residence and it never materialized.

*3 Stars

The Residence has potential as a spooky Fall ghost story but wasn't quite my favorite of the genre.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
President-elect Franklin Pierce, wife Jane and son Benjamin are travelling by train in 1853 to Washington D.C. when the train derails. Bennie is killed and the Pierces are left to pick up their lives while Franklin becomes the leader of the United States.
The White House sets the scene for mysterious and supernatural occurrences toward the grieving parents, including the room once intended for Bennie being set up as the "Grief Room".
I know many Canadian authors choose to set their novels in places other than Canada, but this one felt odd to me to be in the ultimate symbol of the United States government.
Andrew Pyper's writing style took me a bit to get used to, but the formality works for a turn-of-the-century tale.
For release on Sept. 1, 2020.

Question of the day:

Why is Andrew Pyper so clever at being so scary? This is a serious question. Mr. Pyper is unquestionably a talented writer but he takes being scary (without being gross and gory all the time) to a whole other level. I feel as though if he would have written this pandemic we are all in, it would be a thousand times scarier than the reality.

The Residence is the latest installment from Mr. Pyper in his cannon of work and it doesn’t disappoint. It has all the chills and psychological fears that one expects from Mr. Pyper’s work but this particular work also has a depth to it that elevates it above his other work. Perhaps it is Jane’s grief which is a tangible, living, breathing thing on every single page after the incident, or the way that Franklin is bemused by the response he gets when he goes to find out why the heating hasn’t been started up yet; perhaps it is the memory that he shares of meeting Jane or the early glimpses of Jane being absolutely not what she appears on the surface. The depiction of a popular thing to do at the time (the Mediums) was spot on and as a reader, I was screaming at them that this was asking for trouble with a capital T.

There are many incidents great and small that make this a really good read but for this reviewer, it all comes down to the characters and narrative and how tightly woven they are. Mr. Pyper, as usual, doesn’t disappoint. I could see and feel these characters. I could taste Jane’s duplicity in the air. I could see both their weirdness and their perfection as a couple – i.e. they don’t really suit but they actually suit each other perfectly – the flashes of perfect synchronicity of these two people are so well placed. It fascinated me that I didn’t particularly like either Jane or Franklin but I could empathize with them, I could feel their pain and fear.

Who knew that haunted houses and mediums and ghosts of the past could make such a terrifying novel. Mr. Pyper. That is who.

Award-winning author Andrew Pyper hit the ground running with The Demonologist (2012). Not his first novel—it was his sixth—that story grabbed readers around the world because it focused on a popular theme in supernatural fiction: rescuing a innocent from the jaws of darkness. The motif, with a twist, is the melody of his new work The Residence: the harmonizing element, the presidency of the United States.

Historically, Franklin Pierce—the 14th POTUS—was initially known as a moderate. His climb to one term in the White House (1853-1857) was easy. Viewed as a fence-sitting non-boat-rocker, this handsome man was seemingly a bridge between political parties and helpful as a calming influence on both sides of the growing extremism in the U.S., particularly the pro- vs. anti-slavery issue. This staunch Democrat married Jane Appleton, a strong-willed, uber-moral religious woman who came from a long line of Republicans. Pierce’s closest friend was the writer Nathanial Hawthorne. No one could have imagined that Franklin Pierce would become the most vilified president the country had ever seen. Here was the man whose policies led to the American Civil War!

Pyper blends the real and the fictional Franklin and Jane into a haunting tale that draws on the fascination with Spiritualism that began in the mid-1800s, capturing the attention of the FLOTUS. Most devotees of Spiritualism were drawn to it by a longing to contact via séance their beloved dead: spouses, parents, siblings, friends, but especially children who had passed over. Of their three children, all boys, all lost in infancy or early childhood, the Pierces are obsessed with their most recently deceased son, Bernie, almost a divine child in their eyes. His shockingly fatal accident coincides with Franklin’s ascension to the White House. Jane, traumatized on all fronts, desperately wants to bring her son back from the dead.

This story is a clever setup: a mourning couple who cannot come to grips with the loss of their special child, while at the same time struggling to adapt as they are catapulted to the top of the most powerful institution in the world. The White House, which Jane hates living in as much as she hates Washington, DC, is the third main character in the story. It is not only a residence for the First Couple, but also houses the entities that Jane packed in her trunks for the move. These new demons blend well with the souls of the dead already inhabiting the haunted mansion.

The tone of this riveting tale is both melancholic and macabre. Franklin and Jane as grieving parents evoke sympathy. Yet neither Jane, plagued by ESP since childhood, nor Franklin, overwhelmed by a position for which he is eminently unsuited, possess the fortitude to stand up to the preternatural—until they do. But demons feed on fear.

Fact and fiction blend seamlessly in The Residence, and it would take a scholar specializing in the Franklin Pierce presidency to identify which is which. Pyper excels at characterization, and that’s what gives his work power and depth. These characters feel like real human beings, and that only exacerbates the horror with which they must contend. The novel is personal: parents locked in grief; trapped in a house that they cannot retreat from; unable to put a halt to the abomination called slavery; under the thrall of the increasingly menacing supernaturals that the two, in their naivety and pain, called up. It’s a spooky tale, written to imitate the style of the day, set within the accouterment of elitism that opens a door to the world, and at the same time slams it closed. Pyper is always worth reading and this novel, released in the fall of a U.S. election year, could not be more timely.