This was an imaginative and extraordinary story with many fantastical events! This book immediately pulls you in with a teen named Richard and a scary even that happens to his friend Tom. We learn that Richard has moved in with his aunt and uncle after a fire took his parents' lives. He is going to school in a new, small town. As the story progresses, we find Richard having to overcome many paranormal obstacles, including The Night House with its creepy inhabitant and a tree whose roots with a mind of their own.
I definitely recommend this book as a spooky read. The ending was bittersweet, and I highly enjoyed the twists and turns throughout the book.

DNF at 21%. I had trouble getting into the story enough to want to continue. The storyline felt very flat to me. I also didn't enjoy the fatphobia present.

I am going to start with saying that this book read more like YA than "adult" horror. The beginning of it was great and I kind of liked the main character - Richard. But as the story unfolds I was getting more and more confused. Some things were just bizarre, almost paranormal and it was hard to tie them to the story. Second half of the book left me even more confused and at that point I lost interest in it. I just rushed through it to finish it.

Overall I think the book was OK I just wasn't the right audience for it.

Thank you NetGalley, the published and the author for a copy of ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Blurb: In the wake of his parents' tragic deaths in a house fire, fourteen-year-old Richard Elauved has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the remote, insular town of Ballantyne. Richard quickly earns a reputation as an outcast, and when a classmate named Tom goes missing, everyone suspects the new, angry boy is responsible for his disappearance. No one believes him when he says the telephone booth out by the edge of the woods sucked Tom into the receiver like something out of a horror movie. No one, that is, except Karen, a beguiling fellow outsider who encourages Richard to pursue clues the police refuse to investigate. He traces the number that Tom prank called from the phone booth to an abandoned house in the Black Mirror Wood. There he catches a glimpse of a terrifying face in the window. And then the voices begin to whisper in his ear . . .

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for the ARC.

This was quite a departure from the author's well known Harry Hole series. This one reads more like a YA novel in parts but that was fine with me. The book is actually written in three distinctive parts, each with the same theme but coming from different perspectives and all from the same narrator. Richard is somewhat of an unreliable narrator and I thought at the end of the first part I knew what was happening, then I read the second part and went "ahhh, now I've got it" but low and behold along comes part three just to mess with my head a little more, but all in a good way. It's a relatively short book that reads very fast and kept me engaged. All in all I'll say it's not my favorite from this author but I was still very entertained and look forward to any book Mr Nesbø puts out.

Thank you to the author and the publisher for granting me an e-ARC through NetGalley to read, review and enjoy.

This book was on my ARC TBR for a few weeks before I was able to get to it, but I was very excited to read it. Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me. There were parts that I enjoyed, and some good characters, but all in all, the story was disjointed and rushed.
Three stars because I finished it.

Really interesting format. Written in three parts that are like different, but related stories. Back and forth between totally bizarre and somewhat normal. Kept me guessing on what was real

As the cover suggests, this book felt very much the dime store paperback almost campy kind of book you'd expect a teen boy to have secretly purchased and to carry around in his back pocket. (Wow that is a lot of projected assumption on my part!) So, if you are looking for Nesbo's more traditional offerings, I fear you will be disappointed. This was, however, a wonderful quirky horror story, maybe one that would be good for an extended Twilight Zone, where the main character keeps losing people around him to horrible fates. The first part of the book lays the foundation and is the strongest in terms of both writing and plot. The second and third parts of the book, combined still much shorter than the first part, provide big ol' twists to what the reader had previously assumed. I liked this concept, however execution didn't hold up. The first part was a 5 star for me but the rest of the book was 3 stars, thus a blended rating of 4. Still a worthy read.

Delightfully twisted. A compelling read that I couldn’t put down. Even after I finished, I couldn’t stop thing about it and am still not sure what to believe. Amazing!

Jo Nesbø is the brilliant author behind the Harry Hole book series. The Night House is nothing like his book series. This is a coming of age, horror, mystery thriller. It has a YA feel to it, which is not a bad thing at all, but as the book is classified as ‘adult’, be aware that it feels more on the YA side.

Richard Elauved was fourteen years old when he went to live with his aunt and uncle after his parents’ deaths. He is an outcast but makes friends with his classmate, Tom. When Tom goes missing no one believes Richard when he tells them that he saw Tom being sucked into the receiver of a phone in a phone booth. Then another classmate disappears....

Richard is not the most reliable narrator....


This is a short book and can easily be read in 1 to 2 days. Nesbø threw in a couple of twists along the way, giving readers bits of information at a time. I thought I knew where things were going, I was wrong, wrong, wrong. I like it when that happens. But even thought I did not figure out where this book was heading, it did not wow me as I was anticipating.

Overall, I enjoyed the book but didn't love it quite like I have his Harry Hole books. I was hoping for scary and creepy. There are some creepy moments; how could there not be with someone being sucked into a phone, but I was hoping this would be heavy on the fright. The first part of the book was my favorite section. I have to give Nesbø props for branching out in a new genre and keeping me guessing.

Plus, that cover!!!!!

📞📞📞 / 5

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

I really wanted to love this one, but I’m still not quite sure how I feel about it as a whole. I was hooked in the beginning because I loved all the horror and creepy elements. The POV is from the young boy’s perspective in the first part of the book, which I thoroughly enjoyed. However, I’m not sure I appreciated the other two parts of the book as much due to some of the twists. I’ll keep it at that because I don’t want to spoil anything. If you’re a horror fan, I’d still encourage you to check this one out because it’s a unique story—and I believe a first for Nesbø, as he typically writes crime fiction. I loved THE SNOWMAN by him, so I’m excited to check out more of his backlist books!

Thank you to the publisher for the advance copy. This cover was the absolute selling point for me. Then I read the plot and I was like okay heck yeah… let’s do this. I feel like this could’ve been really good. But, it just wasn’t for me. I’m still left with some questions concerning the disturbed man who lived in the dark house. The story was fine, but I’m not going to lie that I was a little bit bored.

WOW! This book was so different than Jo Nesbo's other books. Very relatable to Stephen King's work and I loved it.

There were a few times where I was completely lost in the time changes and wondering what the heck I was reading, but isn't that kind of the point of a horror book? And the best part of all... I didn't see the end coming. Not even close. Not at all! After reading so many books over years and years, that is hard to come by.

It takes a special author to write a book like this and do such an amazing job. Another Jo Nesbo book I will be recommending to friends and followers for years to come.

The Night House has so much of what I enjoy in a horror novel - a haunted house, local legends, creepy forests...I could do without the insects though.
Before I even knew what it was about, I wanted to read it because I loved the cover.

The Night House was creepy, creative and full of tension. It's a pretty quick read that is perfect for fall and has a sinister feel throughout.
It's broken into three parts with the first being pure horror - and maybe my favorite of the three. The second is set in the future and the third was such an unexpected twist which is all I'm going to say because you definitely don't want to be spoiled for this!

The twists were a nice surprise. I didn’t expect them and wasn’t quite certain at first but after thinking about it, I am very satisfied with the way they played out.

I definitely recommend adding this to your TBR for spooky season!

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I didn’t like this one. Too many “quirky” plot twists making it hard to stay invested in the story. The writing style was also just not for me. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this author so this was disappointing for me.

Richard has been shipped off to live with his aunt and uncle in a small town. He's instantly cast as the "city boy" and an outcast. Tom befriends him but then he goes missing in a horrific manner and Richard is suspect number one. The only person who believes him is Karen, and together they begin to investigate what the police won't do. Then another kid goes missing forcing Richard to prove his innocence to keep his sanity.

The twists and turns in this story were imaginative and shocking. The Night House is a quick read, divided into sections of Richard's life. Perfect fall read with keen horror elements including a creepy house!

Thank you Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the complimentary copy.

This is the first book by this author that I have read. I usually enjoy horror but this story did not resonate with me. I found it rather disjointed with a flat ending.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing and Jo Nesbo for the advanced copy of The Night House!

Richard Elauved is left orphaned after his parents died in a house-fire. He is an outcast in town and blamed for local kids' disappearances. His ally, Karen and him seek to find answers of what exactly has happened in that town and who is causing the disappearances.

This story was a fun ride. The plot was creative with an enjoyable pace. Split into sections, it allows the reader to dig deeper into the narrator from POVs from different ages. The first section really gave old-school horror vibes, then as the story continued, moved into a more innovative storyline. There were several components that could be appealing to many different horror readers.

Nothing is as it seems in The Night House by Jo Nesbo. Although this was a fairly short audiobook, I still found myself wondering when it was going to be over. I liked the twists and am still unsure of what actually happened, but the story just seemed to drag. Cool concept, just not wonderfully executed.

A surprise horror novel from Nesbo. This is relatively short (especially by Nesbo standards) and it's more in less told in three parts. The first might be the most compelling- Richard, a 14 year old orphan is sent to a youth facility because two of his pals have disappeared and no one believes his story about the phone booth. The second section takes place 15 years later, when there's a reunion and the gruesomeness amp up. And then there's the third section which makes you question what you've read. It's clever but it's also confusing. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'm not a big horror readers and picked this because it's by Nesbo so over to fans of the genre.