2.5*
Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had high hopes for this book because the cover was so pretty. I was let down. The biggest issue was the writing style. Maybe it was a translation problem, I can't really say, but the writing was really basic and wooden; short choppy or awkward sentences and very unnatural dialogue. I would never have guessed that this was an author with over a dozen books under his belt. That was the first problem. The second was that I didn't like the main character Richard, he was mean and rude. Obviously that was the point and he did have a second or two of self awareness throughout the story, but it wasn't enough to capture my attention. None of the other characters were really fleshed out either.

Now the twists. They were trying to be unique and interesting, but sadly fell flat. The first one was okay, it got me a little bit, but the second one was so over used and predictable. He was just "crazy" the whole time living in a mental hospital. Because that's never been done before. I really don't like when mental health is used in horror or thrillers as a scapegoat. Most schizophrenics like his dad are not violent. There's something to be said about kids converting trauma into stories which could have been interesting if it wasn't filled with so much harmful language around mental health.

This was my first book written by Jo Nesbo. Our story follows Richard who is sent to live with his Aunt and Uncle after his parents perish in a fire. Right off the bat he is tagged as a trouble maker yet he seems to have some strange things happening to those around him. I overall liked this book and would recommend it to other readers though I tended to be a little confused with the way the storyline went..

The Night House makes for a spooky Halloween read. Told in three parts, the author will keep you guessing as to what exactly is going on. This twisty story is told in a different way as you enter a place of nightmares.

This one was just okay for me. It read a bit like a YA "horror," which is fine, I just like my books to be darker and more scary. Richard was not a very likable character, which made it a bit hard to connect with him. The story is told in three parts. I really enjoyed the first part. The second part was boring. The third part had a great twist that I wasn't expecting, but at the same time, it kind of made you wonder what you read parts 1 and 2 for.

Thank @netgalley, and @aaknopf for the #gifted earc of this book!

*2.5 stars
A multilayered psychological horror told in three parts.
In part one we follow 14-year-old Richard, who recently moved to a small town with his aunt and uncle after tragically losing his parents in a fire. Richard gains a reputation of being an outcast and when a boy goes missing, suspicion falls on him. Richard claims he saw the boy get sucked into a telephone, of course no one believes him.
The story that follows includes two missing kids, an unreliable narrator, and multiple twists and turns.

Sadly, I found this completely uninteresting. It was hard to empathize with Richard and also with the story, because he was quite the bully. I kept getting pulled out of the story because there were so many things that just didn’t make sense.
Overall I appreciated the concept and idea behind this, but the execution just wasn’t for me.

I'm going to be honest here, this book took me the better part of October to finish because I had to keep putting it down and coming back to it. There was just a lot happening and NONE of it was particularly good or interesting. In fact, the first two parts of the book felt like a bad acid trip.

To begin with, and I feel like I'm beating a dead horse here from the amount of other people who have said this, but the sheer amount of fat-shaming, homophobia and sexism happening in this book is appalling. The writing also seemed a bit .... immature. Like the author was aiming for a younger target audience, but considering the nature of this novel HAD to market it for adults instead.

Added to that, Richard was the kind of character that is just so irredeemable that as a reader, I just didn't care what happened to him which added to my overall dislike of the book. After all, it's hard to be invested in a story when you hate the main character.

But then the ending and that "twist?" After all of the time I spent slogging through this story in the hopes it would get better, it felt more like a slap in the face than anything else. There were also some other issues that I don't feel comfortable mentioning (and are spoilers) that made this entire thing unpalatable for me.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

I loved this book. It was so twisty, and kept my interest from start to finish. It was creepy, fun, really everything I was looking for it to be. I will definitely be reading more of Jo Nesbos work and hope that there are more books like this. I am at 4.5 stars,

I’ve actually been putting off reading this for a while. I’ve really enjoyed the Harry Hole books (plus Nesbo’s standalones) so the negative reviews had me nervous.

Luckily I was in for a pleasant surprise and really enjoyed it. The book is divided into three parts. Things get pretty crazy in part 1 and then really ramp up into part 2. Part 3 is more of enlightenment more than anything else but I absolutely enjoyed the way Nesbo put it all together.

This isn’t a scary book, but there are some creepy scenes thrown in. Nesbo is already an auto read author for me and I’m happy to say I’ll include any future horror from Nesbo in that category.

I expected this book to go a certain way, which it did...until it didn't. Mind blown! Is it the truth to say it is a story within a story within a story? I think so. Plenty of horrific, edge-of-the-seat things going on, and some gruesome aspects as well. Definitely a book for a horror lover. Another thing I didn't expect was the incorporation of childhood trauma and mental illness, and what can manifest from it. This was done in a subtle way so it's not a preachy, in-your-face message. This was a really good read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC of this book.

This book held my attention initially and then fell into the abyss. The book starts with a young boy named Richard who has recently moved in with relatives after the death of his parents. We know nothing of his backstory. Immediately we come to know that Richard is a very insecure bully. He's a highly unlikely character. However instead of causing the reader to feel curious; Nesbo makes us loath him and roll our eyes. Richard later explains two strange events that happen around him including a phone booth telephone gradually eating his friend to death.

I found myself wondering at the psychopathy of the main character and hoped for a book that would invoke strong feelings of unease. (Think The Push, American Psycho, or Behind Closed Doors) Instead the book went on forever without giving the reader hints as to what might be going on with Richard. We finally learn what's going on with Richard at 85% of the book.

The book would've been much more successful if Nesbo had switched POVs with another character from Richard's past who could've hinted at the personality or psychopathy of Richard. Instead the reveal takes too long and it's simply lackluster. I read the reveal chapter and thought "That's it?!"

"The Night House" by Jo Nesbo is Jo's first foray into the horror genre. It's a short book and a spin on the classic coming of age novel told in three parts. As other reviewers have stated, definitely has a YA feel to it. The main character Richard Elauved is not particularly likeable.

A good read for the Halloween season!

This was my first Jo Nesbo and I really, really wanted to like it .... but I just didn't.

This story is about a young teenager named Richard who lives with his aunt and uncle. He's a bully and so his classmates don't like him and he has few friends. The story starts off strong, with Richard's classmate being devoured by a public pay phone and Richard being interviewed by the police because they can't believe his strange tale. Unfortunately, it just goes downhill from there...

I felt like we got three books in one - but not in a good way. The first part was very young adult-y horror, the second part tries to explain the events of the first part, and part 3 ... well, I did like part 3 a lot.

I can't say whether fans of Nesbo's other books would like this but I also can't really recommend it, unfortunately.

Richard Elauved is only fourteen years old when he moves in with his aunt and uncle after a tragedy kills his parents. Some people would consider Richard a wise ass, trouble maker sort of kid. One day he dares another child of making a prank phone call. Imagine his surprise when the phone devours the boy. Shortly after that incident he watches another boy he enjoyed picking on turn into an insect. Of course the police aren't buying his stories and since he was the last person with either of these boys before they vanished they are demanding answers to their whereabouts.

That's all I'm willing to say plot wise. This was my first Nesbo book and I am thrilled to say it was a success. I'll admit that this story grew on me the longer time I spent with it. I was initially afraid that this would read too young adult but that wasn't the case at all. I really enjoyed Richard as a character. Flaws and all. He often came across as a bully but it was obvious that deep down he was really just an insecure kid that had experienced tragedy at too far a young age. He's even the first to admit that he can be a bit of an a-hole. Yet something about him endeared himself to me. The book is broken down into three sections and after the initial set up in section one Nesbo flips the script in the later sections with reveals the reader (me!) never saw coming. A very clever ending made this entire reading experience worthwhile. 4 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for my complimentary copy.

About halfway through this I was at 2 stars ... then when I realized what was happening, it shot up to 4. So by the end I'm going with a solid 3.5. This was more disturbing than creepy and I think I'll be thinking about the last 1/3 of the novel for a long time.

No polite way to say this: One of my most anticipated reads completely failed me.

The book is separated into three parts.

Part 1: Total middle-grade level story. Not even YA. I’m talking silly horror like something from one of the Goosebumps novels my son used to read. Even the writing felt childish. Richard, our POV character is 14 years old, with the emotional intelligence of a 10 year old, and the likability of a tick you find sucking blood from your body. This encompasses the first TWO-THIRDS of the book. I almost gave up at about 20% in. I should have.

Part 2: We advance 15 years to an adult but no more mature or likable Richard. Here the story tries to redeem the childishness of part one. Content had the feel of a fever dream, like I’d been dropped into the middle of a party with a bunch of people who made me feel homicidal toward humanity. The point, I think, was to throw us, the readers, off balance. I only found it irritating.

Part 3: This is the last 15 percent of the book, and the only section I found reasonably interesting. I don’t want to say why because it would be a spoiler. But it was too little, too late.

Had the story begun with the tone of part 3, expanding it and weaving in SMALL bits of parts one and two, I might have loved it. As is, while I appreciate what the author was attempting here, it didn’t work for me at all.

*Thanks to Knopf for the free copy.*

The Night House by Jo Nesbø is a grown up Goosebumps, Tales from the Crypt horror story with an 80s- 90s vibe. An unreliable narrator and unimaginable events cause fourteen-year-old Richard Elauved and his friends trouble especially when no one believes him.

Richard Elauved lives with his aunt and uncle in the remote town of Ballantyne, after his parents died in a tragic fire. He is a bit of an outcast and bully. He bullies mostly for fear of rejection. When he and Tom are out playing near the river something horrible happens. Tom gets sucked into a phone when the two make a prank call. No one believes him but a fellow student named Karen. The adults of the town and police suspect foul play and think Richard had something to do with it. Karen, Richard and another young man begin to research the person on the other end of the prank call. When another friend goes missing after leaving Richards house the town takes action.

The tale that unfolds started off with a bang, dragged a little in the middle but picked up steam at the end. The first part reminded me of the R.L. Stine books my kids read and was told from fourteen-year-old Richard’s perspective. In the second part, it changes to adult Richard’s perspective. Despite the odd happens in the middle of the book, it didn’t really pick up again until the end with plenty of unexpected turns and twists.

Overall, this was a fun, creepy and twisted horror story. Just enough gore combined with plenty of suspense. The last section of the story was twisted, and I kept fully engaged. I closed the book on a book high. Perfect for fans who want a scare but prefer light to middle-grade horror.

The Night House by Jo Nesbo is a modern take on the classic horror novel. In some ways, this reminded me a lot of Stephen King's classic, It. Our narrator and protagonist is fourteen-year old Richard Elauved,. Richard is an orphan, sent to live with his aunt and uncle after the death of his parents in a tragic fire.

This story has lots of layers, and I don't want to give away too much by sharing what those are. Let's just say that Richard may not be the most reliable narrator.

In The Night House, there are disappearing children, a haunted house, an evil mad man, and other creepy crawlies.

Recommended for fans of Stephen King, and those looking for a horror novel with a psychological twist combined with many unexpected plot twists.

★★★

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for an advance copy in exchange for sharing my opinions. All opinions in this review are my own.

As a fan of this authors other work, this was an exciting new release. This cover is fantastic and really caught my eye, however I was somewhat let down by my actual reading experience. The POV of the main character was so frustrating which I think really added to the vibes of this book. I felt a visceral hate for this character and had to stop and remember this is a fictional 14-year-old. The twist in this book really threw me and I appreciated the change of pace! Definitely did not see it coming.. While not my favorite from the author, it was a quick read..

If you’re looking for a spooky season book, look no further than The Night House. Reminiscent to Stephen Kings novels that are filled with a mix of fantasy, horror, and psychological thrillers, this book had me hooked. Not only was it a gripping horror, Nesbo also does a fantastic job tying in the mind blowing effects of PTSD. The story follows a young boy who experiences horrific things, such as witnessing someone being eaten whole by a phone booth. Of course no one believes him, and the craziness only heightens from there. There are several twists and turns that I didn’t see coming either. Thank you to netgalley for an ARC of the Night House in exchange for an honest review, this was fantastic!

This was so fun! I don’t know how else to explain it. You’re reading this book and all the crazy, unbelievable stuff happens, but perfectly in sync with the horror genre. And then the end twist comes and everything makes sense, and finally you understand it’s not just some crazy stuff that happens.. I loved it.

Heavy themes of bullying and mental health. A lot of gore and bloody scenes.. and in the end it’s like watching a horror movie with an explanation in the end..

Thank you PRH audio and Penguin Random House for my review copies.