I was really looking forward to reading this book. Yet for some reason it took me a while to get to. And having read it, now I’m thinking maybe I was right in putting it off.
But the initial appeal – the awesome retro style cover, the fact that the author’s previous book was pretty great, the plot summary – was so there. Two days and 416 pages later I wanted my time back. Why? Well…
First and foremost, this book is overwritten. Dramatically indulgently so. It’s the sort of story that makes perfect sense to the author, but the way he takes his readers there is so convoluted, so meandering, so serpentine that by the end of the journey you’re mostly exhausted into indifference. And lamentably, the end of the journey is so underwhelming, that it doesn’t even seem worth the trip at all.
The basic story of a true crime writer moving into the place where crimes occurred to write his next bestseller and becoming obsessed with it, blurring the reality and fiction, it great. But the perspective shifts are tiresome. Also, a good reminder of why I don’t care for true crime as a genre – it’s so sensationalist, so prurient, so loaded with presupposition and speculation. Was this book meant to satirize it? Who knows. For all I know, this book was meant to be a sleeping aid. It’s certainly effective at that.
The sad thing is that Darnielle is such a talented writer. If you just focus on writing in this story. If you can do that somehow. If you can ignore things, like random Arthurian-style legends popping up. If you can ignore how blatantly self-aware Darnielle seems to be of his writing skills and how indulgent he is with it. The endless sentences, the endless paragraphs, the narrative so dense you need a machete to get through. The substance here ends up all but obscured by the padding. The trees take over the forest. It’s a muddle and a slog and a labor to get through.
And so, despite the awesome cover and despite the praises, I definitely wouldn’t recommend it and I definitely didn’t think it was worth the time. It’s the sort of book that ends up a critical darling, especially when a serious source (New York Times or the like) wants to feature a work of speculative fiction, but there is a striking difference between literary and overwritten and this sizable tome lands heavily on the overwritten side of the fence. Overstylized, overdone, messy. Very disappointing. Nowhere as scary as it is marketed. Nowhere as thrilling as it thinks it might be. Slow, slow, slow. Pass. Thanks Netgalley.

I’m so excited to read this book when it gets published and I can buy an official ebook or physical copy. Right now though I had to DNF it because the ebook I was given from Netgalley (thank you Netgalley!) wouldn’t keep my spot and so I would have to keeping swiping over a ton every time I stopped reading the book for even an hour.

From what I did read though this book has the potential to be a super atmospheric read and I was very into what I did read (about 15% of the book) cant wait to read the rest when it gets released!

The thing about the "true crime" genre is that it's never really wholly true -- the story is always warped by those who tell it, who choose the heroes, the villains, the helpless victims and the narratives that hold them all together, when the story is often never that straightforward. "Devil House" isn't so much a true crime story as an excavation of memory and the gravity of storytelling.
This book reminded me of "Trust Exercise" -- how one story transmutes based on the teller and their audience. It took a similar shape to Susan Choi's novel, too, bounding through time, relieving one narrator for another -- one whose POV of our initial narrator colors our opinion of them -- and stories that change shape and muddle truths throughout. This is one of its strengths -- it seems simple enough until it isn't, and Darnielle challenges the conclusions we make as soon as one section ends. It preys on its readers' appetite for horrible things, as the genre has groomed us to crave, then flips it on us.
Some of the sections dragged -- I quickly grew weary of Gage's meticulous process (and as a journalist, I appreciate his commitment to thoroughness but envy his extended deadlines), and the many pages devoted to it took me out of his story (and the stories he's telling) for a bit. I'm not sure I bought the ending and Gage's explanation -- it seemed a bit sudden and perhaps out-of-character that he'd alter his process so drastically. This is a man, Darnielle tells us, who is so dedicated to getting the story right that he'll move into the home where a grisly double murder took place, dig up layers of carpet to reveal its old floorboards and recreate the environment in which the crime scene took place, right down to the ambient scents. Surely, he's gotten flack for his work before and hasn't flinched.
For its less-than-compelling narrator, this is still a book that hums when it's with the characters Gage is tasked with writing about. Darnielle (and Gage) flesh out their worlds so vividly that it's disappointing to leave them. The Devil House itself -- its gnarly booths, its position on the street, its desolation from the inside -- was as clear to me as Bilbo Baggins' home at Bag End. Like Gage, I relished these rich descriptions. He almost convinced me that his story of what happened at Devil House was real.

To be honest, I’ve never been much of a fan of true crime.

But what makes Devil House interesting is that it isn’t really a true crime story, but a novel about the tellers of true crime stories. It essentially contains within it two or three true crime narratives, depending on how you count them, and while they comprise the bulk of the novel, as well as the most entertaining sections, they’re not really the point here. They’re the bait.

I have to applaud this experimental, unique approach in storytelling. I do however think that the whole of Devil House ended up being less than the sum of its parts, even though it did contain some brilliant parts. There’s a lot of thematic mirroring, and repeating elements in and outside of the nested stories. I found it incredibly clever. There’s also a brilliant chapter in the latter half, wherein the mother of one of the victims in our protagonist’s book corresponds with him in an attempt to communicate just how reductive and damaging his telling of her son’s life was. This section shows a terrific understanding of the murky, complicated dynamics present in abusive familial relationships; the ways in which victims can unwittingly evolve into abusers through sheer self preservation. It’s expertly handled.

Ultimately, I see Devil House as an indictment of the genre of true crime storytelling itself, those that produce it, and those that consume it. The way that the mode of true crime reductively mines elements of real lives in order to create something that ultimately harms real people. The way that it can damage entire communities. It’s also a piece of metafiction wherein a writer writes a story about a writer writing a story about the process of story writing - if that makes sense.

John Darnielle has consistently shown himself to be a master of creating disquieting atmospheres in his fiction. It’s something I think he particularly excels at, especially in Universal Harvester. Devil House is no exception in this regard. All the way through, there’s a sort of creeping dread between the lines. It’s something that’s difficult to nail down, you just feel it.

Devil House is by far Darnielle’s most ambitious writing, and contains some of his best work, but ultimately it fell flat for me because it doesn’t stitch itself together very well. There’s an ongoing motif of Kings, royals, royal lineage, castle defense, etc that has little to no pay off. I kept scratching my head trying to figure out what the plan was with these elements, and after finishing it I still don’t know.

Read Devil House for the terrific creeping atmosphere, creative true crime narratives, and metafictional storytelling. Just don’t expect everything to come together in a thrilling, satisfying conclusion.

Devil House was a thoughtful, complex, and extremely engaging book about storytelling, and the impact of the ways stories about real people, particularly true crime, are told.

The story follows (or perhaps more accurately, the several intertwined stories) Gage Chandler, a true-crime writer who, at the encouragement of his publisher, moves into a house where a murder occurred some years earlier, in order to write a book about it. It skips from Gage in the modern day, to the events he's writing about, to the events of his previous true-crime book, which established his name in the field.

I came in expecting horror, which this book is not; I do think fans of horror will find worthwhile, interesting threads here, but it's *not* a horror book, per se. The storytelling is ambitious, and I think sometimes falls a little short of its goal and becomes a little overly opaque. But the stories told are compelling and immersive, even when they seem to diverge strangely from the main plot, and the themes that tie them together are clear, and very interesting. I'm not sure I understood everything that happened in this book; frankly, I think I'll need to read it again if I want to.

Lots to think about here, and definitely recommended. I suspect I will be coming back to this one.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this in exchange for my honest review!

I'm truly not sure how I feel about "Devil House." The description of the book is spot-on — even more now that I completed the book. I gobbled up the first half, but slowed as I neared the end due to the shift in writing styles. The concept is fascinating and, unfortunately, the ending felt a tad underwhelming. However, the ending was fitting and made sense. It just felt like a bit of a low note given the rest of the novel. John Darnielle ramps up the plot so well and creates this immersive story and then it's just over. It's unsatisfying, but it feels realistic for the novel. I imagine this is one of those novels that I will regard more fondly the further I get from reading it. Overall, would recommend as it's a superb piece of work from Darnielle.
As always, thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for sharing this advance copy with me in exchange for my honest review.
4/5

“What happens when somebody tells a story that has real people in it? What happens to the story; what happens to the teller; what happens to the people?”

First off, let’s get one thing out of the way and talk about what #DevilHouse is not. It’s not a horror novel although some horrific things happen. It’s not a thriller, although there were moments I was certainly tense. What #DevilHouse is is a thought provoking look at who gets to tell whose stories, the line between fiction and fact, and the power of the written word.
Gage Chandler had a best selling true crime book that hit the zeitgeist, was made into a movie and solidly established his career. The writer equivalent of a method actor Gage would immerse himself in his environment, soaking up the local atmosphere as well as its inhabitants to get the most accurate story. So when his agent tips him off to little known case of a double murder that had taken place in California in the 80s, Gage buys the house where the killings took place and moves in.

Writer John Darnielle unlocks a nesting doll of a story as each subsequent chapter takes us deeper into Gage and his work both past and present, as well as the cause and effect of what becomes of it. What happens when that story is unleashed on the world and how is it perceived.?How can a person be both victim or victimizer depending on what is known and presented?

Seriously this had my head spinning by the end in the best way, and I know as I sit with this over the next few days it’s going to resonate even more. At times this reminded me of last years book, #ChasingTheBoogeyman by Richard Chizmar, both centering on murders at the height of the Satanic Panic, and if you liked that I think you’d tap in here as well. A really solid read to add to 2022.

This book defies any attempt of classification. While I understand why it is marketed as horror, I believe there is way more to it. Readers going into this expecting to find a haunted house/murderer story might be disappointed. However, I also think that this is one of the most original and interesting pieces of fiction I've read. Gage Chandler is a true-crime writer who moves into Devil House to write about the gruesome murders that took place in it in the 80s. His previous work, The White Witch of Morro Bay, was very successful, and he prides himself in having conducted in-depth research of the case. During his time researching Devil House, he receives a letter that strikes a chord within him. This forces him to consider how much power a writer has when telling the stories of crimes that hurt the victim's families, loved ones, and a particular community. With this unusual approach, I believe that John Darnielle makes us consider why we consume this type of story and urges us to approach them more critically.

This book appeared to have all the elements I love--true crime, weird fiction, an unusual writing structure, and a dash of horror. Sadly, this is not a horror novel by any stretch and the confusing, jumbled structure just didn’t work for me. I feel like this book was an unmarked box full of jigsaw puzzle pieces. I had no idea what the picture was and when I started to put it together I realized the pieces weren’t just from one puzzle but rather from several different puzzles mixed together. I had no idea how the different puzzles were related or if they even were. If this sounds frustrating it is because it was very much so. Even over halfway though I still felt a bit lost. I understood each piece/picture and the writer/narrator who connects them but I couldn’t see the larger meaning of it all. I struggled to finish and almost gave up several times.

I appreciate the questions raised about the validity of true crime and the fictionalization necessary to make real cases into good stories. I felt this was the equivalent to the “It was all just a dream” endings that people generally loathe so much. When you invest time and energy in a story and then it is made meaningless in the end it is annoying and unsatisfying. I slogged my way through many tedious parts of the story telling myself it would be worth it in the end but it wasn’t. I’m not sure if there was a point to it all that possibly went over my head but I’m left disappointed and feel like I just wasted my time.

Thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux/ MCD for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

I've spent the last three days making my laboriously through this book. What a completely convoluted mess. There's no real storyline here, no arc. We start with one thing and then suddenly it's something else completely and then back again. Half the time it's hard to tell whose POV we're even reading and for some completely inexplicable reason some small sections are written in Ye Olde English and one entire fifteen or twenty page part diverts completely from... well, everything... and gives us some bizarre little tale of what I guess is a medieval-era king. There is so much to this book that makes no sense, pieces with zero connection. I kept pushing on, hoping that in the end it would all make sense, but it doesn't. We get lots of incredibly boring stream-of-consciousness stuff and some parts where the narrator is talking directly to the reader and some parts where he's talking to the reader as if the reader were someone else in the story and parts that read more like essays than fiction. Just when we'd get back to the main plotline - Devil House and what happened there - just when it would get interesting again and you'd think something, anything important might happen, suddenly the story breaks off and we're lost again down some rabbit hole that never quite circles back around to the place it started.

Maybe the author was aiming for some sort of intellectual, philosophical theme here, some incredibly deep hidden meaning but if so it's buried so deep in the chaos that I doubt many readers will ever dig it out. Is there some closure in the end? I guess so, but not anything worth the mess you have to wade through to get to it. I had such high hopes for this book and it just disappointed me completely.

I like to thank NetGalley and MCD for allowing me a chance to read this book.

I get really excited when I see a book about true crime, murder or horror - or all three - grouped under one book. I was excited when I was allowed a chance to read this.

After reading the first 20% of this book I realized that I am most assuredly not the reader for this book, and I think I came at this book with a indication of what I was going to get. While there is murder, while there is horror, it's not exactly a ghost story and or something that I found 'creepy'.

From what I got from the first 20% is that a famous author of crime decides to purchase a famous house in California to live in and write about for his next book. We come to find out the book we're reading is technically that book but it did not end up being written quite how he had pitched to his publishers.

I felt that the narrative or writing style came off more like a history book than a fictional book. I also felt that the character (the narrator) did not have a lot of personality or depth to him. The house wasn't creepy, and the acts on what went on in the house were hardly brought up and or mentioned enough for it to instill some sort of creepy vibe for me to continue.

I had stopped at the point where we start seeing a bridge from his previous story of the school teacher who was a witch. How that has to relate with the story I don't know. I just felt that I had read enough to form a solid of opinion of why I wasn't going to continue on.

2.5
This was a struggle to get through, a case of liking the intention but not the execution. Devil House is a fiction book that reads like true crime at times and like the memoir of a true crime author at others. It encourages the reader to contemplate how we consume true crime stories at the expense of the people involved: the victims, perpetrators, and their families, and at certain parts of the book I found myself very engaged but overall could not get into a good reading momentum. The author liked to switch up his narrative styles and perspectives which broke up the pacing of the novel, switching again right as I started to connect to the characters and their story lines. There were parts of his book that I genuinely enjoyed and other parts that I mostly skimmed. The ending came as a surprise and not in a bad way, there was just a lot about this reading experience that I didn’t enjoy so I think any ending came as a little bit of a relief. I think this could be a really great book for the right audience, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't finish it because I didn't have time, but I really liked what I read. The advertising for this makes it seem like a horror novel, but it''s closer to literary fiction than anything.

Yaaaaaasssss! I loved the author’s previous novels and Devil House has solidified him as an autobuy for me. This extremely meta novel is satisfying all the way thru, but the ending 🤯 and took this from a campy take on the 198o’s satanic panic to a strong social commentary.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Crime Fiction

First of all, this is one of those books that truly proves not to judge a book from its cover. The retro horror cover is just awesome but this book is not a horror story. I don’t understand why on Goodreads this is put under the horror genre. Fortunately, where I got my ARC copy from NetGalley it is classified under general fiction, so I knew what I was getting into.

The story is about Gage Chandler, a true-crime writer who gets the chance to move into the “Devil House”. A house where two murders took place back in the 1980s. He will need to investigate these murders and work on his new book around them. This is basically what the synopsis says and it is like the only first 15% of the book. So there are no spoilers there.

This novel is basically stories inside a story or book inside a book thing. The premise itself is very interesting but I feel the structuring of the book and the constant change in narration make the novel a huge disservice. The book is structured in a way that keeps shifting in both the time frame and the narrative style. The chapter headlines are there to guide you but you need first to understand who is talking or who is addressed to have a grasp on the story/stories. It is first about the author and the opportunity he gets told in first-person narration. Then it shifts to another story called “The White Witch” which is told in second-person narration and this is supposed to be the author’s (Gage Chandler) previous novel that was successful. Keep in mind that in this story you are addressed as the reader but the “you” here is actually the witch.

After that comes the “Devil House” story which is about Derrick and Seth and is narrated in third person style. These stories and perspectives keep alternating a few times and in between, we go back to Gage and also to a story about his ancestors. I liked the author’s writing style but to me, this book feels experimental or a work in progress. I can see readers being confused due to the way this is structured. I feel I would have enjoyed it a lot more if the stories were seamlessly narrated. Despite this, there are many aspects of the book that I appreciate. It was truly intriguing to see how the Devil House has changed from a house to a diner and then to an adult store. The stories felt intense at times. My favorite was The White Witch part.

Many thanks to the publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux, MCD, and NetGalley for providing me with an advance reader copy of this book.

“What happens when somebody tells a story that has real people in it? What happens to the story; what happens to the teller; what happens to the people?”

Devil House by John Darnielle is part crime novel, part novel about a writer, writing. The main character, Gage Chandler, narrates most of the chapters. We hear the stories of his most successful book, The White Witch, and his current book, Devil House, and some of my favorite bits are the chapters that discuss his writing style and methods.

“I try to honor the dead in my books. It’s one of the things, I hope, that sets me apart a little from my partners in true crime. When I read what others write about places where the unthinkable became real, the focus always seems off to me. Victims spend their entire time in the spotlight just waiting for the fatal blow, on a conveyer belt that leads to the guillotine: I pity their fates, but it’s hard to grieve for them, because the treadmill on which they ran feels specifically designed to kill them.”

The undercurrent running through this book is about the act of creating a story and honoring the subjects. How can we do that and create a story people want to read? How can story possibly convey a version of truth reverent of all the people involved?

Perspective and place color any story, making the deeper truths, beyond objective statements of fact, mirage-like. Every person can be seen in a million different ways through a million different eyes. So what is the truth we tell? Is anyone truly interested, or are their curiosities really expectations?

The character Seth explains this conundrum well, “‘They didn’t see me, and you don’t see me, and nobody’s ever going to see me except the people who actually know me outside of that whole story,’ he concludes - there’s no rancor in his voice, no anger. He’s just laying out the facts on the ground for me, making his case. ‘Unless you were actually inside, any story you end up telling will be some distortion.’”

All of Darnielle’s characters have depth and complexity, and I love when authors include gifted characters. Seth is noted as having a fantastic memory, vivid imagination, issues with focusing when something isn’t interesting to him but he has laser focus with his passion projects. He’s entrepreneurial and prefers small intimate conversations with one other person to crowds which can feel overwhelming. Gage Chandler says, “I get the feeling that there is no point in trying to hide things from Seth, who reads moments accurately while they’re still developing.”

I found the writing to be spectacular, but there were a number of repetitive details. Derrick getting ready for college, for example, seemed a detail I heard so much about, many pages devoted to his background that could have made their point much more quickly. “Enough with his college applications,” was one of my notes mid-way through the book. My larger curiosity kept me interested despite the many detours and sometimes draining detail.

While I sense the writer had a deeper purpose in all of his choices, one that maybe even mirrored the internal experience of Gage Chandler, I found myself frustrated a number of times, wanting to get back to the really good stuff. There was an entire chapter that seemed completely unrelated to the story other than to link the truths of the children in Devil House to classic archetypes and mythologies (another version of their personal truths that would not be told in any crime novel, except Darnielle's). As I write this, I might be changing my stance on this chapter.

I expected this to be a horror story going into it, and while there were components of the crimes that were grotesque, it was not a horror novel.

“Even when we don’t find ourselves doing something wild, we sort out several selves along the line as we’re becoming the people we will be. It’s a constant, half-conscious process.”

This quote is talking about the character Angela, I feel this applies to Chandler. He is half-consciously communicating with several layers of his Self while writing this book, integrating his experience. This is my favorite aspect of Devil House. It’s not just telling you the surface stories, it’s leading you through a half-conscious journey of growth and connections, which is in part possible due to the method in which the story is told. Really fascinating.

I would recommend this book. It was dense and not something to be devoured in one or two evenings, but it was so well-written and had layers of depth that kept me reflecting on human nature, story, and my own expectations while reading.

I think other writers, or wannabe writers, would enjoy this read, people who enjoy true crime or historical fiction, and philosophers who love a read about human nature.

This book was really promising. It seemed like it was going to be great, I was really excited to read this one. I loved the first half of the book but after about 50% it seemed like there was just too much filler and I had a hard time staying interested. This one was not for me.

Thank you NetGalley for providing a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

FSG was kind enough to pass along a copy of this as an ARC via Net Galley, which I was honestly surprised about so close to the release date. However, I got to then spend the last week absolutely devouring this book, and y’all are in for a treat. On the surface, this is about a crime writer who got famous on his book about a local urban legend surrounding an infamous crime potentially finding his next lead and book and moving to the neighborhood. However, what it’s really about is the stories that people tell each other, the ones we tell ourselves, and what role the writer has in all of this. In other words, meta as shit, and extremely up my alley. Very similar to Wolf in White Van in that way. There’s one section of this that’s structured almost like track titles, and the feel of it is gorgeous. (I am not entirely sure what was going on with that fourth section, but give me another read down the line and I might have a better idea.) This doesn’t resolve cleanly or simply, and I like that Darnelle denies us that. Really meta, 90s small town gothic as hell, and definitely an auto rec for me. Pick it up!! (/Mountain Goats ska album when)

Gage Chandler is a true crime writer whose first big success came fairly early on in life, covering the details of the case that came to be known as the White Witch of Morro Bay. Gage had been three years old when high school teacher Diana Crane killed two students who had broken into her house and assaulted her. Her inexplicable decision to get rid of the bodies instead of calling the cops led to the state refusing to countenance her claim of self-defense. The prosecution instead wove a legend from the presence of various occult items in her home, painting her as a supernatural temptress whose murderous ways were finally ended when she was found with the dismembered remains of Gene Cupp and Jesse Jenkins. She was convicted and sent to the gas chamber by a jury composed of people in the grip of the Satanic Panic that was sweeping over 1980s America.

As a college undergraduate, Gage was understandably infuriated on Diana’s behalf, writing:

QUOTE
How, in this age, are grown-ups still afraid of a witch? Spells, curses, bloody sacrifices: none of them really believe in any of that, do they? It’s just for fun, that stuff. You had assumed everybody knew that. It seemed obvious, self-evident. There aren’t any witches. There are just the stories people tell each other, who knows why. But when you finally go to trial, almost a whole year from now, you’ll learn better, and feel trapped. Four days from now you’ll do what you have to do, and, when your story is assembled by the powers that have agreed to do the telling, meaningless details will be woven into a story that would seem absurd to anybody if they weren’t all proceeding backward from its bloody end.
END QUOTE

Gage’s book was a solid seller, spawning a movie that increased his fortunes and allowed him to devote his time to writing more books in the genre. Since then Gage has gone where the stories have taken him, and has now landed in Milpitas, California, following a lead from his editor. On Halloween night 1986, a slumlord named Evelyn Gates and her prospective real estate buyer Marc Buckler were shockingly slaughtered in one of her properties, an abandoned porn store that had been eerily redecorated by squatters. The investigation into their murders ended quietly and with no convictions, possibly due to the town’s reluctance to return to the national spotlight after another recent brush with infamy. A local teenage murder had been turned into the critically acclaimed movie River’s Edge, raising the ire of residents who felt they’d been incorrectly and unjustly portrayed by the film.

Several decades later, Gage is in town to investigate the lesser known crime, to see whether he can sift out the truth and bring the real story to light. His process is both immersive and bizarre. Egged on by his editor, Gage buys the property Evelyn once owned, now turned into a residence, and sets about recreating the Devil House, as it was nicknamed at the time of the murders, from crime scene photos and descriptions:

QUOTE
You can do this to yourself, if you try hard enough: obsess over blueprints of houses whose original incarnations you never saw, memorize meaningless details of rooms you know only from pictures, sneak through hidden doors into imaginary spaces. Eventually it burrows into your skin, the place you’re attempting, remotely, to haunt. You fabricate empty memories of walking from room to room, testing out light switches, knocking on walls. If you stay up too late doing it, it starts to feel a little risky, but that’s the point of the exercise. It’s like staring at an optical illusion for longer than the seconds needed to make it work. When you close your eyes, it’s still there.
END QUOTE

As Gage immerses himself in the story of Devil House, teasing out a tale of four teenagers with a yearning for both security and freedom, his grasp on reality begins to falter, even as he begins to question what it means to write true crime, and what it means to see justice done. How far will he go to uncover the secrets of a place almost indelibly marred by gruesome, supernatural imagery? And what will he do once he finally comes face to face with the truth?

For all that the cover of this novel promises a schlocky 80s horror feel, this is a surprisingly sensitive, almost delicately haunting look at the responsibility that non-fiction writers in particular but also bystanders in general have in dealing with the survivors of violence. It’s a book about how guilt and ethics can drive people mad – not necessarily homicidally, but certainly enough to dissociate from reality in disturbing ways. It’s also a book about the complicated lives of American teenagers in the 1980s, the lives of kids who wanted to fit in or who wanted to escape, but most of all who wanted to survive. Complex and thought-provoking, and written with the use of various inventive literary forms, this is not your ordinary horror novel, though it will long haunt readers’ imaginations.

I have had previous experience with Darnielle's other books, so I knew what expect roughly going in, but this was still a doozy.

Darnielle does a masterful job layering the different stories of the people involved with the Devil House and its many iterations with plentiful and vivid detail. This is one of the strongest parts of the book, and also something I struggled the most with when I was reading. While I do think the book itself was good, the experience of reading it dragged quite a bit.

The parts of the book I personally enjoyed the most was the section of the White Witch, and the letter toward the end. The author touched on criticisms of the true crime genre that I very much agree with!

I understand what he was going for narratively when he went off into olde English and knights and such, I truly do! But the entire act of Gorbonian was trying even for me.