My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor- Random House for an advance copy of this horror book dealing with a young boy, the past, a phone booth, and being an outsider in a small town where people keep disappearing

Back in the day I pretty much read anything I could get my hands on. Some of what I read was great, some was life changing, some were fun. I did most of my book acquiring at our local library book sales. Every other month they would have a three day sale, and on the third day a bag of books cost a whole dollar. And I could pack a bag full of books. I didn't bother with hardcovers, something I regret to this day because I loved paperbacks, many of which I still have. And this is how I discovered horror stories. In the 80's there were so many publishers printing anything horror, new works, anthologies, classics, chthonic. Publishers like Zebra, Twilight, even the big ones Avon and Ballantine had a lot of horror. Covers filled with blood, or weird creatures, with huge titles and small text for writers, unless they were getting big. I remember those days with a fondness, as one never really knew what one would get reading these. The Night House by Norwegian bestselling author, screenwriter, musician and more Jo Nesbrø is a salute to that past, of grocery store horror stories that demand to be read under the covers with flashlights in mouths to cover the whimpers of fear.

Readers are introduced to the lead of this novel, Richard Elauved, age fourteen, as he is making fun of a boy's stutter, and drowing Luke Skywalker, all in attempt to make himself feel better, and seem important. Sent to live with his aunt and uncle after a house fire kills his parents, Richard is not having an easy time in the small town he has found himself in. Not wanting to go home yet, Richard dares his friend Tom to make a phone call at the creepy phone booth at the edge of town. And Tom disappears. Richard is sure he saw the phone suck Tom in, but no on believes him at all. Soon a second person disappears and Richard must do what the cops are incapable of, find out what is going on, with only the help of a fellow outsider who seems to like him. Though liking Richard might not be a good thing, as Richard might know more than what he is telling us.

A spooky, dark, kind of gory tale, that would have fit perfectly in a spinner rack at my pharmacy in town. The cover, the title, even the way of righting and atmosphere is all a throwback to the glory days of paperback horror, though now with the Knopf name as the publisher. The story is weird, odd, and icky, with a lot of jumps and changes in where the story is going. The characters can be a little problematic, as none of them are really people one starts to care about. However they do get a little clearer, and more evil in some ways. There is s strong feeling of Satanic Panic around the book too, which gives it a aura of evil and wrongness that really makes the story darker and deeper. A sort of Stranger Things with a lot of In the Mouth of Madness.

Good story, good classic 80's horror feel. This should spook a lot of people. For readers of Robert McCammon, especially Boy's Life and Charles L. Grant and his Oxrun Station series.

This Book: A young teen encounters unexplainable, terrifying events & has to solve the mystery before it’s all blamed on him. This Reviewer: A not-so-young woman finished the book this morning & can’t stop thinking about it.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect with this book & I quickly lost track of how many times I thought, “What the f- is happening?” As the first book by Nesbo that I’ve read, I have no idea how this book compares, but I do know that I very much appreciate it - it was absolutely not what I was expecting (& it’s very difficult to express my full opinion without accidentally spoiling something!). Nesbo has such a way with words, weaving in details that seem to both stick out but seem irrelevant or confusing, until they’re not. And it’s details like these that I love most about horror as a genre.

This was such an interesting & unique story that seemed messy at first but ultimately became something more solid & emotional as the mess of puzzle pieces fall together. It gave me a lot of vibes similar to, “Something Wicked This Way Comes.” I cannot wait to have friends read this book so that we can all spend a couple of hours discussing it!

Thank you to NetGalley & Knopf for sharing this ebook ARC for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy of this book. To be honest in the beginning I didn't know what to expect; I mean, a kid gets eaten by a telephone. There were several instances throughout the book where I had to stop and take in what I had just read. When you get to part two you think "Oh, ok, I see now, makes sense..." but as you continue to read it turns into "WTH is going on!?". Part three wraps it all up in a nice little bow, and I loved it! I will definitely be checking out more books by Jo Nesbo!

This story leads one way and you think you've got it, only to make u turn. This is a unique take on horror and at the end you're turned around again. Is it really the musings of a man in an insane asylum?

I picked up this book because of the cover. It's got that cool old-school horror paperback look.

The first part of the book was fantastic. A payphone literally eats a child in the first few pages. The magicadas (sp?) and Night House are eery and wonderful. However, our narrator, Richard, is unreliable. Keep that in mind from the beginning because things get... twisty. I really like the whole kids on bikes fighting evil thing, and you get that kinda in the beginning, but then things change. It is however pretty short for a horror book, so if you want a quicker read, pick it up and try it out. Jo Nesbo is a great writer, it just left me wanting a little more. Well, maybe a little less so it would be more.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this early!

So I really didn’t know what to expect going in to this and I’m still not sure how to feel after finishing it. This had some body horror with a lot of chaos that made for a twisty psychological thriller. I honestly don’t know how it all fits together or what the ending means. I probably should know, but I either missed some stuff or it’s just not clicking.

The Night House by Jo Nesbo was received directly from the publisher and I chose to review it. I was one of the few who had never heard of this writer before, to the best of my memory goes. Anyway while reading this book, which had its moments and rarely bored me into skimming, I was not sure if I was reading Young Adult materials or if just the writing was like that. As always, I will not go into plot, as most every other reviewer does that. There is a twist ending, so if, you or a person you buy gifts for likes this author. wants to experience his foray into horror, or just want to read a new horror novel, give this one a read.

3 Stars

I LOVE haunted house stories and this cover is AMAZING! This started off really strong. I had to suspend belief, but that's easy for me with this type of book. It got a little strange at about 75%. I wasn't sure what the author was trying to do. It came together in the end, but it was a little rough and hard to follow. I would have liked a smoother ending. Plus some things that happened in the end just didn't make sense based on what I knew about the characters. 3.5 stars.

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

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book early!

This was my first ever Jo Nesbo book. So I went into this blindly knowing nothing about the author's writing style or even what this book was about. I just wanted to try something from an author that I typically heard good things about.

But this wasn't what I expected. There was so much going on here. It just feels that for such a short book that there are so many random things just thrown in here to get a reaction, and I personally just wanted it to stop. I wouldn't say that I found anything to be particularly spooky and at times I even thought it was ridiculous and silly. Which I unfortunately don't think was what the author was going for. I also think this read like it was written for a more of a middle grade audience, and usually, middle grade thrillers or horrors don't really work for me.

I think maybe I wasn't the best reader for this, but I would definitely be interested in picking up other books from this author in the future.

This book had a ton of potential and the first two parts definitely lived up to the hype, I got IT vibes with the kids vs the evil in the world. I don’t think I particularly liked the ending but it was short, quick, and fun. If you’d like to try out horror I think this would be enjoyable and easy to understand!

I cannot begin to express how completely batsh** the Night House is. Like Jo Nesbo has been doing some soul searching and his soul had found some potent acid.

I love this for him.

The book starts innocuous enough. Two boys playing and talking smack. One dares another to a prank call. Then, the unthinkable happens.

You're thinking, oh, someone finds the kids.

No. The ************ phone eats the kid. This is the first chapter. Full on Freddy Krueger. Om nom, chomp chomp. Feed me Seymour.

It keeps just getting weirder from there.

When I say I cannot recommend this book enough to horror fans. I cannot. It's the best kind of weird. I loved every second of it.

The Night House comes out October 3rd and I highly recommend it for Spooky Season yall. I don't do ratings usually, but 1000 out of 10. I loved it. Solely for Magicadas.

This is the first book I've read by Jo Nesbo, but I have a feeling it won't be the last. If you're a fan of Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane, you'll probably like this book. Its a quick horror/thriller novella.

Richard is depicted as the ultimate little shit. At first he was so unlikeable I had a hard time reading the book. He routinely picks on his classmates and body shames others. On top of this he keeps witnessing truly horrifying things and no one believes him. He convinces his classmate to prank call a random phone number, only to witness his classmate being brutally sucked through the receiver. Of course this new missing person is blamed on outsider Richard. Plus another kid goes missing in a similarly magic way. Karen, another more enigmatic outsider is the only one who believes him.

I don't want to spoil anything, but let's just say that Richard is an unreliable narrator and the book is split into three distinct parts. Almost like a story within a story within a story. I really enjoyed reading through how Richard was processing and overcoming his personal trauma. I thought this was a good book and I was very engaged the whole way through.

This is a translation so there were some parts that grammatically didn't make sense that I'm chalking up to the translation. The only reason this wasn't a 5 star read for me is that the main character was such a little prick that I wanted to put the book down. I thought the author could have introduced or hinted at his trauma earlier to make Richard a more likable character.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf publishing for the eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book gave me sort of It and My Best Friend's Exorcism vibes throughout a lot of it. Very coming of age, town legend/curse, possession kind of stuff going on. I really enjoyed that all for what it was, just a really creepy and engaging storyline... BUT! The twists changed up the game and made this book stand out. They weren't the most unpredictable, but they were really well executed.

I wanted to love this book but ended up barely liking it. It wasn't scary (but I'm a seasoned horror reader), I wasn't fully engaged with the characters. I think its best audience is someone new to horror, who might better appreciate it. No slam to the excellent author, this just wasn't for me. Also, it would be better to read it in the fall spooky season rather than a bright summer day. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to the publisher for the arc!


This was my second book by Nesbo and I think I enjoy his thrillers way more but this was still good too! Perfect for spooky season.

I was so confused and horrified at the same time. Right when I thought I knew what was going on, Nesbo threw in something different that changed everything I thought I knew. The book grabs you immediately when Tom is eaten by a phone in a phone booth in front of our main character Richard. If that doesn't intrigue you, just keep reading as the strangeness of Ballantyne unfolds before your eyes.

Thank you NetGalley and Jo Nesbo for the arc of The night house.

My first book by this author and I will say I was not disappointed. It kept me thinking right up till the end of what was real and what was imaginary. The main character takes you on a wild ride and once I realized what was going on it started to click and make sense. I wouldn’t say this is hard core horror but definitely YA horror. I would read more by this author for sure.

I really enjoyed this book! As far as horror goes it’s nothing revelatory or insane but I really enjoyed it. The author struggled a bit with plot development but ultimately I enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend this to my audience. Great for the spooky season!

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an advanced copy of this ebook. I wanted to like this way more than I did. I was hoping for scary but this wasn't that. It was ok. A quick, spooky teen horror, but not my favorite.

First off, Great cover. Immediately grabs your attention.
The book itself, I'd say, is a solid horror story. It's not the best nor the worst.
When I was initially reading it, I thought it might be a YA horror book. But it's not. There's some interesting twists and turns towards the end of the book.

I'd like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for this arc.