I honestly can't believe this is the author's first novel - this was a very strong debut. Broyles manages to convey that nightmarish kind of horror that has you caught in syrup or under water as unseen monsters are closing in with a precise, sharp and beautiful prose that keeps you teetering between admiring his descriptions and biting your fingernails to the quick.

It is dark, creepy, disorienting and frightening, and draws you in with tantalising hints of what is going on. That works as a strength in the first third of the book; after that, I think the pacing suffered a little from the slow speed at which the story developed - which, however, I believe the author used deliberately to add to that nightmarish sense of being trapped.

Parts of the book are set up in a way that is deliberately confusing the reader, and I think that could be annoying to some - particularly as I didn't think that it added anything to the story other than needlessly muddling the waters: the story would have stood just as strongly without it.

However, in the last third he comes into his own again and pulls the story to a very satisfying narrative conclusion that ties everything up beautifully.
I will definitely look out for anything else Broyles publishes in the future!

I was kindly given a free copy of this book by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Three stars from me, which means I like it! I am always thrilled to find a new author to add to my reading repertoire, especially in a genre I prefer. to read. As a fan of horror, I have found myself thinking, as of late, that once you have read a handful of spooky stories, you've read them all. It's become difficult to find a book within the horror genre that is unique, surprising, and not over the top. I will be on the lookout for more works by Broyles as The House of Dust was a delight to read!

Thank you to #NetGalley and to #Inkshares for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Well-written.
Edge-of-your-seat suspense.
I loved all the twists and turns and the suspenseful nature of the book.
Overall a very well-written story.
I'm so happy that I was able to read this one before it was published.

I'm giving this one 4.5 Stars.

I tried so so hard to persevere with this book because I can imagine the plot of it is actually super interesting however I just really struggled to followed the actual writing of it. It is all over the place and really difficult to follow and understand what’s happening, who’s talking, etc. Did not finish.

My thanks to NetGalley and the author for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

Southern Gothic is probably one of my favorite genres out there, and if it's mixed with a bit of good old fashioned folk horror you have one fantastic book on your hands.

This novel starts off with Bradley Ellison, a crime writer who hasn't put out a good article in almost a year, traveling to find the perfect spot to finally end his life. He pulls over off the interstate and drives into the town limits of a little place called Three Summers. He's more than halfway through the process of ending it all when he's stopped by a townswoman asking if he's the doctor they've been waiting for. For reasons unknown to Bradley himself, he states that he is and follows her directions to a house, and that's where the horror truly begins for everyone.

I mean. what a way to start off a novel! Right from the get-go I was invested and wanted to know immediately what led Bradley to this situation and what exactly the town of Three Summers was all about. Luckily for us readers, we're thrown into the haunting, chilling world of Three Summers and the mysteries that surround it rather quickly.

The atmosphere alone was enough to keep me going when it came to this book. It was eerie and creepy, and I felt immersed in the town of Three Summers even after I was done reading for they day. I would picture the events of the novel while watching television, and there was even a point in time that I had the majority o the lights on when I was alone in the house because all I could picture was the characters from "House of Dust" becoming flesh and finding me in my house. This is definitely not something you want to happen!

The story behind the town and its church (or cult, if you'd like) was fascinating. I wanted to know even more than we learned from the novel, even though we're told basically everything. I simply couldn't get enough. The characters themselves were both sympathetic and horrifying simultaneously. I would find myself agreeing with one and terrified of the actions of another on the next page, which was whiplash at its finest. The entire novel was full of dread and suspicion, I never knew who I could trust or even if the POV character was reliable enough to believe.

I will say that one of my biggest criticisms of this book was the POV. At about the halfway point, you are made aware of what exactly was going on, but until that point I was almost a little lost while reading the novel. It was hard to keep track of where or when I was at in the novel. After it's clarified, my enjoyment of the novel grew more. I would also recommend reading this novel on an e-reader instead of the phone; the formatting left a little to be desired. At times I wasn't sure if I had skipped three chapters or if it was supposed to be like that.

Other than these issues, I loved this novel completely! It's a very welcome addition to the Southern Gothic/Folk Horror genre!

The way this book is written is so beautifully done, it is amazingly curated and well kept even for an ARC. The way the author writes is so descriptive, that I felt present in every scene. I could feel the dirt and dust of the scenes, the blaring headache of the main character in the first chapter, the primal fear. I will warn against themes of suicide! If that is a trigger for you it is prominent in the book’s introduction.

The main character is relatable even with his flaws, and his curiosity matched mine. The other characters are well thought out, and all have small quirks that are recognizably human.

This book is definitely a slow burn, with tension rising every chapter. I’m also a sucker for Southern gothic horrors so you already know how much I loved this book. I would a 100% recommend this.

I want to sincerely thank Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC they provided, I enjoyed this book immensely! I will purchase it when published!

This was a decent read, both spooky and there was something almost charmingly elegant about the way this book was written. The main character Brad is depressed and at his wits end with life when he discovers the eerie town of Three Summers. Not on any maps and with a small population of strange inhabitants, Brad is instantly curious enough to rent the large house of a recently deceased woman that is a mystery herself. There are many questions in this book, (that I really don't want to spoil). Why do the townspeople become so active late at night? Who was the dead woman that is revered by the people? Beautifully creepy! I only had one issue, and this has nothing to do with the book itself, but the format of the ebook I was sent did not allow for an adjustment of the text size. The print was so small I had to zoom in on every page, which made it harder to escape into.

I received a free review copy of The House of Dust from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review - my sincerest thanks to both the author and the publisher. :)

This is Southern Gothic at its absolute finest. This book just creeps and oozes around you eventually swallowing you whole...much like some folks in the story.

Mr. Broyles weaves the vivid tapestry for you to tread upon, unravels part of it out from under you, pulling a loose thread slowly until abruptly hog tying you with the loose strand and stuffing the rest into your mouth as a gag. By this point you are a hapless victim as the story consumes you while it unfolds towards its inexorable climax. The old is new, the new is old and we are just caught in the middle; the snake consumes its tail, history repeats. To quote a song from a much loved band out of Tennessee '10 Years' "Days pass, time flies, you don't realize, today you waste."

He does such an excellent job of bringing these characters to life, building the impending sense of doom and destruction then shattering it with a flash of light, hope you think as you read and try to convince yourself, lying to yourself as you know the storm clouds are just boiling out of view. The darkness builds again and rushes through you sweeping you away longer each time until the next patch of light. About halfway through I realized I was caught up in the town's cycles.

I grew up in the Deep South, and this quote from the book sums it up perfectly:
<i>"The South is a ghost, and so am I. Wandering the ways of the night, we return and return to find the place where we died. Walking circles, running cycles, never reaching beyond, never breaking free. Traveling through time orbiting a black star." </i>

I never grew up elsewhere but I can attest to the fact that it seems there is a near constant theme with folks growing up in the South. There is an endemic affecting people who cannot escape the towns, cities, backwaters they were born in, their parents were born in or buried in, their great grandparents, and so on. Doesn't matter if you were born in a place sporting one traffic light, with barely patched, faded roads roiling with heat waves and maybe a Dollar General or born in a bustling metropolis into a family of means.

It's impossible to deny the cycle of the South something about it grips and holds trying to drag you down into a malaise where you talk about leaving but always put it off until tomorrow, until tomorrow finally comes and you join your ancestors in the same exact soil, once again the earth feasting on a blood it already knows, welcoming you to your actual home.

Mr. Boyles takes these cycles, centuries old, and puts them into horrifying life, something almost tangible. This is a triumphal freshman debut.

I thought the description sounded interesting. It fell flat in a lot of places and there was so much going on it was hard to keep up with. There were some great and creepy moments that gave it life but I couldn’t connect to any of the characters. I wouldn’t mind trying another written by Broyles in the future, I think the ideas are there but some of the execution is missing.

This book is advertised as a Southern Gothic and BOY! does it ever deliver on that promise!!!

Not many books start off telling you that the main character is dead. I've got to admit, it took me a little while to get into the story, and it took me even longer to realize that i wasn't reading just one timeline but three!

I also kept getting thrown out of the storyline by the presence of Live Oaks and Spanish Moss in a story set about 70 miles outside of Nashville, TN. But, that concern WAS addressed toward the end of the book. But, it was just a niggling detail that kept throwing me.

The story would make a really, REALLY excellent Netflix series. It reminded me very much of the Sam Neil movie "In the Mouth of Madness' very, very similar vibes. The storyline is like an ouroboros, doubling back on itself more than once until you're not sure whether you're coming or going. BUT, the conclusion when reached is a shock to the system.

None of the characters are particularly likeable. They all have their own personal damage. But the mystery of what is actually taking place in the town of Three Summers and Angel's Landing is gripping and the author's ability to invoke place and emotions is very very well played.

I thank NetGalley for providing me with this advance copy for my unbiased review.

“I was trying to clean that mirror,” his fiancée murmured. “But you can’t clean quiet like that out of a house.”

I was provided an ARC from Net Galley, all opinions are my own. House of Dust was one of those novels you could start late in the evening and you wouldn’t realize how horrified you were to turn out the lights because the slow burn horror crept on you that quietly before it pounced. The back and forth narration between Brad (a struggling suicidal crime writer) and Missy (a prostitute with a dark past she’s desperately trying to escape) create a perfect blend of POVs for newcomers to the sleepy town of Three Summers, Tennessee. Both individuals find themselves in the same Southern home at Angel’s Landing and have to unravel the mysteries of the home and the town it resides in. Noah’s world building is brilliant and thought out-I did dock a point because during the beginning it felt more world building that plot building but once you get over that hump he has a great balance of creepy town description and investigation. The excerpts from Brad’s magazine “Southern Gothic” provide an additional take on the happenings of each chapter prior to start and help insert the reader all the more into the shoes of the narrator. I would recommend this novel to someone who loves imaginative world building, creepy small towns, and dirt. Lots and lots of dirt.

After reading some other reviews I’ve come to realize this is a book problem and not a me problem: this book is confusing.

I think it’s intentional, at least to an extent. We don’t know our main character’s girlfriend’s name at first. Later we learn about a succession of women who all have names starting with “M” and two of the names are actually the same person (Marilyn? And Missy? I think? I’m not even sure). There’s elements of mystery and the supernatural—buried people, the earth breathing, fallen angels. There’s grotesque elements like a girl with no eyelids.

It just felt too fractured and purposely difficult. Like we know Brad is haunted by something the whole time, but when it’s revealed literally in the last 20-30 pages or so it was entirely underwhelming. I don’t understand why it was left as a big bad secret.

The history of the town was interesting enough but I never felt captivated by it all. The little twists were okay but honestly the whole thing was just meh. No attachment to any of the characters, the plot was confusing and the style of storytelling unclear, and the horror element (which I was most excited for) was lacking.

I love a good gothic horror. This charming southern town has a dark history. I think the author did an excellent job creating the characters and I loved the story! Thankyou for the copy!

I love a good horror novel, and a southern gothic one even more. So when the chance to review this book came up, how could I resist. And I was no disappointed in the least. The has a way of gripping you almost straight away, and while it tells you what happened, you find yourself forgetting that and hoping that there may be a happy ending at the... well, end. It gave me everything I could want from a horror, leaving me with an unsettling feeling that liked to plague my mind in the dead of night. Brilliant. I can not wait to read the authors next work!

3 stars--I liked the book.

What I enjoyed: If you like the Southern Gothic or Folk Horror genres, this book blends both. The small Southern town in this book is dripping with sinister imagery, with creepy villagers doing creepy things (my favorite!). There's a dreamy, almost paranoid quality to the writing, which mirrors the narrator's (and reader's!) confused state.

What was meh: The book does a narrative "trick" (being vague to avoid spoilers), which I thought didn't add anything to the story and was unfair to readers (I was confused, flipping back pages until I figured out what was going on). I also thought one of the characters, Jennifer, was a blank slate. I would have liked to get to know her better.

I received this review copy from the publisher on NetGalley. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review; I appreciate it!

"The House of Dust" by Noah Broyles follows a true-crime reporter and a former sex worker as they seek refuge from their old lives on a plantation they thought was abandoned. The main character, Brad, first stumbles upon the forgotten town of Three Summers on a journey to kill himself. While he doesn't succeed, he finds himself emerged in the strange deserted town. There, on a quest for his next story, he settles into the home of a dead woman, stumbling upon a series of rural southern rituals that he never expected.
The book promises to be a new Southern Gothic novel and it delivers that — almost excessively.
Broyles does a phenomenal job creating a strange and atmospheric world where it feels as though anything could happen. Unfortunately, this almost works against the novel as this excess causes the plot to get lost at points. There are almost too many "horror" moments that they seem to blur together and lose impact. It quickly became a struggle to keep track of what was going on, which detracted from the overall impact of the book.
"The House of Dust" has a fantastic premise, though. I was able to appreciate it in retrospect once I finished the book and wasn't bogged down in the details.
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.

This was hugely interesting. Im still a bit confused on how much was real life and what was fiction. But I really enjoyed this and its a slightly spooky and dark topic.

This book was creepy from beginning to end. Loved the rural Tennessee setting. Characters were strong. Thanks so much for letting me read this book!

This strange but atmospheric novel was my first taste of Southern Gothic and I found myself drawn into the story slowly but skilfully by author, Noah Broyles. The novel's brooding sense of darkness and evil is made even more ominous by the vivid and detailed settings that absolutely drip with atmosphere. The author's use of language is sensuous and so perceptive the reader becomes immersed in this decaying small town with its long-buried evil presence just lurking in the background of every scene. Though the switching narrators can prove a little confusing at first, I quickly became accustomed to the sudden changes and found that it helped the novel achieve a kind of fragmented, dreamlike quality, or perhaps I should say, nightmarish! Perfect for horror fans looking for a beautifully written book.

"The House of Dust" is a read-alike for fans of 'In The Garden of Good and Evil;' it's southern gothic with modern sensibilities. The protagonist is a true crime writer for a magazine called Southern Gothic and as suggested by the description, this novel falls squarely into the small town horror category. There is a 'book within a book' trope.
It has enough familiar elements that fans expect from the genre except the setting felt grittier, like a 'True Detective' more than 'Interview with the Vampire.' I found the timeline of events a bit difficult to decipher in terms of sequence. Nonetheless, it's a quick, atmospheric read. The pacing tended to be a bit all over the place, and I didn't have the easiest time connecting with the protagonist, but fans of crime thrillers will enjoy it.