Oo y’all.. this one was a creepy one! I definitely was unsure at first if I would be able to really get into the storyline but then by a couple of chapters in, I did! Excellent writing and a thriller novel you will want to read.

This is a well crafted, atmospheric, slow burn journey through the hauntingly beautiful Outer Hebrides in Scotland by an author who knows how to turn up the creepy atmosphere in her writing.

The story itself is told in alternating points of view between Maggie (who as a 5 year old claims she is the reincarnation of Andrew, a man who was murdered in the Outer Hebrides) and Robert (who in the 1990s relocated his family to this tight community. ) Maggie is now grown and wants nothing more than to figure out who Andrew was and why he chose her to share his visions with. Was he murdered? Was there even really an Andrew? Taking up temporary residence in The Blackhouse on the island, everyone seems to have something to hide.

The whole town seems to be engaged in a cat and mouse game with Maggie and no one is completely trustworthy. You will meet so many characters. Some you’ll like, others you’ll want to strangle. All rolled together in myth, reincarnation, creepy other worldliness and of course told through the creative imaginings of an author that retains the ability to have you seeing and becoming part of the story itself.

Don’t go into this one expecting a quick paced thrill, instead just enjoy the ride until you reach its satisfying conclusion. This one is definitely worth your time!

Thank you to #NetGalley, the publishers and author for extending me an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

My full review will be posted to all my social media sites, blogs and retail sites on release day!

The stormy, windswept cliffs and beaches of a Scottish island were a perfect backdrop for this dual timeline story of a troubled woman who returns to a remote village in search of answers about her past and her lifelong belief she's the reincarnation of a local man who vanished during a storm but who she believes was murdered. Secrets and lies abound and the line between truth and deception is hard to find in this absorbing tale.

Blackhouse was a slow paced but complex and multi layered story where little was as it initially appeared. There was a large cast of characters, though only 2 points of view, so patience was required in the beginning to keep all the characters and their relationships straight.

One of the things I loved about both Blackhouse and the author's other book, Mirrorland, is that she didn't shy away from crafting a complex, at times confusing plot. I go into one of her works knowing I'm going to need to pay close attention or else end up lost, but the payoff is always so satisfying and complete that it's a trade for which I eagerly sign up. I enjoy the ride because I know the story is in the hands of an author who knows where things are headed and will both tie all the loose threads together in the end and leave me with a story that'll linger in my thoughts for a long time.

Superstition, reincarnation, an archeological dig, possibly unreliable narrators, a volatile, ancient setting, a slowly unfolding mystery spanning 25 years, and an unforgettable ending all added up to an absorbing, eerie reading experience. The atmosphere gave such a haunting, moody feel to the story that it was easy to believe strange things were possible and thin places actually existed.

This book is exactly the type of dark, slowly unfolding story I love losing myself in and I enjoyed every minute spent in the world of the Blackhouse.

A big thank you to Netgalley and Scribner for providing me a copy to read and review.

The Blackhouse by Carole Johnstone is set in a creepy and mystical area. Lots of characters in the town with their own version of events. Really couldn't put this book down. Of course the setting reminded me of Peter May's Trilogy series and that's part of the reason I liked this book too.

Murder mystery. Gothic ghost story. Island myth and legend. This book has it all and more. The writing was so vivid I could hear and see all in this story, and couldn’t put it down. While the characters are rich and bodied, the authors intention to make the land and sea the central character captured me as much as it did the people in the story. Truly the dark and stormy Hebrides come alive in this book and it’s easy to see how such a place holds peoples souls.
Well done to the author and many thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy.

I just couldn't connect with any of the characters, and there were a lot of them. Most of the men in the pub, I didn't pay attention to when introductions were being made, but they became important. I wasn't invested enough to go back and sort them out.

I thought that this was a great book. I got a little confused with some of the Norse terminology, but aside from that, it was a something different from the "normal" thriller, which I appreciate.

I really enjoyed this! It is a fascinating, original story, well-plotted and very well written. A couple of caveats: I think it is a little bloated. I understand that the atmosphere of this area of Scotland is essential to the story, but the author occasionally gets carried away with her descriptions and internal expositions to the detriment of pacing. Some readers will find the story advances a little too slowly. Also, personally, I thought the final twist low-hanging fruit and felt it undermined all that came before. But, a ripping good yarn.

The Blackhouse is a steadily paced story of the hazards of secrets and self-deception. The story is not simple. There were a few instances when I was impatient with the pace, only to be reminded within pages that this story is intricate - happily rewarded with a new insight so good my interest was again captured. I found Maggie's struggle with guilt and self-doubt was relatable and I was pleased with her mental and emotional growth. I enjoyed this book very much. It kept me guessing until the end.

Thank you to Carole Johnstone, Scribner, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of a digital advanced reviewer copy in exchange for an honest review!

DNF at 40 percent.

The cover caught my attention right away and instantly added this book to my TBR. I went in blind to reading this book and at the 40 percent mark, I was still trying to understand the storyline. I feel that I must clarify that the writing is pure finesse. The author does a wonderful job at placing you in the Scottish Isles and creating its picturesque landscaping in your mind. With that being said, I personally think that it took the author quite too long to develop the storyline. I wish the author used their great wiring to take me on quicker journey instead of focusing on supporting character development well into a quarter of the book. I started seeing the mystery aspect of the novel around the 30 percent mark and with how long this novel is, I need a cliffhanger or more pizazz to keep me turning pages to get through the book.

I chose this book on the strength of Johnson’s Mirrorland, though it didn’t quite live up to the standard.
The thing is it’s difficult to fault a book so well written, and Blackhouse is so very well written indeed. It has a stunning sense of place. The remote Scottish isles come alive in all their forbidding stormy beauty on these pages.
But outside of that, all you have is a small town (village, really) mystery that is drawn out and protracted much, much too much. It’s a good mystery, it has a nice twist, it deals with madness and guilt and secrets. It even has intriguing hints of supernatural. But it takes so long to get anywhere.
And it’s probably actually due to the fact that the author can write so well; it’s almost as if she gets lost in her descriptions and characters’ inner lives and pacing and dynamism of the narrative pay the toll. And no, I wasn’t expecting a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am sort of pacing of an action thriller, but still…This proved itself to be rather too slow, too maudlin, too overdone on the dramatics and introspective and all that.
At least, for this reader. You can draw your own conclusions.
The writing is strong, and the setting is done expertly. The rest…varies. Thanks Netgalley.

The Blackhouse had me right up until the end - it's atmospheric and creepy while also being an affecting story of generational trauma. The final twist is where the book lost me unfortunately. It didn't feel necessary and also feels a little icky in the context of what happened earlier in the book.

I was slowly pulled into this mesmerizing book. Once I started, I couldn't stop reading. The writing is wonderful. It's an interesting blend of paranormal, mystery and thriller that kept me guessing until the end.

An underlying theme is mental illness. The MC struggles with whether there is something paranormal or if she just suffers from a mental illness. Another character is seemingly unaware of the extent of his. I didn't find that the subject was treated lightly or callously. In fact. It highlighted how ill prepared we are to appropriately deal with the mentally ill.

The author earns a spot on my favorites list. Highly recommend this book.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this wonderful ARC.

The premise of this book is fascinating, and the story holds up. It's Gothic, suspenseful, and tinged with a supernatural presence. I loved Maggie's narrative, but quickly lost interest in — and eventually skipped — Robert's perspective. I know some readers might strongly disagree, but for me, it distracted from the pacing of Maggie finding out the truth of her past. The end also felt a little bit drawn out, which ultimately lost some of the impact.

The first thing that every reader needs to know about The Blackhouse is that it is about mental illness and child abuse. There is nothing light or happy about this book, and you need to go into it knowing that.

In a small village on a Hebrides island in Scottland, we first meet Maggie, she is trying to slip into a village that she once visited as a child. Back then she said she was Andrew, a man who was murdered in the village. The villagers deny that anyone of that name ever live there. We find out that Maggie is bi-polar and has just left the hospital after suffering a psychotic break during her mother's memorial. Maggie says she is writing a story about the old case, and is quickly recognized in the village, leaving her mostly ostracized.

We are then introduced to Robert, who lived outside the village with his wife and son. Robert is trying to build a life as a farmer despite his family legacy of working the water. Robert is haunted by something in his past, and seems to try and alienate everyone around him.

The story goes from there with Maggie questioning if she ever was Andrew or if all the 'abilities' her mother claimed she had, were real or not. She struggles with her bi-polar disorder, her need to take medication, and her fears for her future. We watch Maggie bounce back and forth between theories numerous times as she tries to 'solve' the murder and find happiness with a local man, who is, frankly, too good to be true. Robert slowly unravels, becoming more and more paranoid and withdrawn, clashing with almost everyone in the village thereby further isolating himself.

The biggest drawback to this book is that Maggie has numerous revelations about what happened in the past, how she is perceiving it now, and how she should live her life. Back and forth, back and forth. It becomes tedious, and by the time she has her last revelation at the very end of the book, all I did was roll my eyes.

Robert's story is much, much darker. More of it should have been shown in the book, instead of being told to Maggie by an old islander at the end. It felt like the author hadn't decided Robert's story until the last couple of chapters, and then she wrapped it up in a bow and presented it to us.

In the end, the most important thing to know is that there is a lot of mental illness, child abuse and neglect, and violence in this book. It is not a mystery.

As a child, Maggie told everyone she was Andrew MacNeil, a man who was murdered on a remote island in the Outer Hebrides. Or was he? After her mother's death, Maggie returns to the small villiage to uncover the truth of her past.

Carole Johnstone's The Blackhouse is a rich, slow-burn thriller, split between two narrators: Maggie and the man she believes she was. The ghosts of the possibly murdered man and the small child who disappeared the same night hang over the town; they all have secrets and no one seems very forthcoming. When dead birds start appearing at her cottage, Maggie starts racing to find the truth.

The first half of the novel is deliciously slow, building tension before the final reveal. Using traditional gothic elements, Johnstone creates an atmospheric story, propelled by the supernatural and reader's desire to learn more.

The conclusion felt like a different book. The various threads Johnstone established throughout are brought together, but it is rushed, leaving some of the threads hanging. Without revealing too much, some of the resolutions are a bit short of satisfying in their execution; they come together, but are not entirely related to the larger plot or remain at a distance.

I wanted to enjoy this one but felt the overall mystery, plot and characters hard to relate to. I can totally see the potential here though, I might just not be the target audience.

A haunting tale of suspense.

Maggie, a young woman struggling with bipolar disorder and who has recently lost her mother, arrives on Kilmery, a small island off the west coast of Scotland. She does not receive a warm welcome from the locals; they soon recognize her as the child who arrived on the island twenty years earlier with her mother and a film crew, claiming to be the reincarnation of a man named Andrew who had lived there…and who said that Andrew had been murdered.

Maggie is driven to find the truth about Andrew and her childhood insistence that she was linked to him. Does she have actual psychic gifts, as her mother had always claimed? Or was it a product of being bipolar? As she asks pursues the truth and stirs up bad memories for the townspeople, both her sanity and her life may be at risk.

Carole Johnstone weaves together the clannish nature of a small isolated community, Nordic mythology and superstitions, and the eerie backdrop of an island scoured by harsh weather and with many secrets to keep. As I read, I felt clearly the menace that surrounded Maggie both internally and externally. The descriptions of the locale added to the overall bleak atmosphere of the book. I was kept guessing right up until the end. A well-written dark mystery, and definitely worth the read….but perhaps not if you’re alone in a small house on a dark winter’s night.

Johnstone immerses readers in Scottish culture and scares with her excellent writing.
Thank you for the Advanced review copy I read this book as fast as I could.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc. This review is wholly my own.

An atmospheric novel at its best. You can fully immerse yourself in this one and get all the feels: creepy, thrilling, scary, claustrophobic, nightmarish, gothic - this is a fantastic creepy read that is also unique in its story.

The writing is great, but the book was paced a little slow, but don't give up on it. It picks up and you won't want to put it down.

I am not a fan of jumping between two different time periods, but it wasn't so bad in The Blackhouse.

I definitely recommend picking this one up in January 2023 when it hits the shelves.