I don’t know how I let this book sit on my to be read shelf for so long. I really like a good mess with your mind horror and I think this got there for me. I will admit it was a little odd to be reading an adult book focused on a 14 year old, but as the story went on it made more and more sense. This is the kind of book where once you feel like you understand what’s happening something switches suddenly and everything you thought was true is wrong. 14 year old Richard moves in with his aunt and uncle after his parents die in a fire. But the small town they live in, Ballantyne, is strange. When another child is eaten by a phone in a phone booth Richard tries to tell the truth, but no one believes him and everyone thinks he is behind that child’s disappearance. I will say the main character Richard is hard to like, but I don’t think that makes him a bad protagonist of this story. As the story went on I felt like I understood him a bit better and understood why he was a bit of a jerk. I don’t think I have Jo Nesbo before but this one definitely intrigued me and I will be exploring more.

2.5 stars. Here we go round the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush... good lord the circles my head is spinning in. I wish I could say I enjoyed this one but I just didn't. Left me feeling exhausted and like I had to reach for parts of the story that should have been there but weren't.

I didn’t connect to this one as much as I hoped. The premise sounded really fascinating but the writing style felt disjointed and choppy in a way that continually brought me out of the story.

Hmmmmm the ending on this one was just to much for me. I really loved the first half the book and wish we would have just followed that story. On this one I don’t want to say too much about the plot as I think it would be best to go into this knowing as little as possible. The first third of the book follows a young boy after his parents die and mysterious things begin to happen including the disappearance of some classmates as the new kid Richard of course is seen as an outsider. This book has a lot of twists and I didn’t see the ending on this one at all. For me personally it wasn’t a hit but I could see others really enjoying this. I have read some of Jo nesbo thrillers and have really enjoyed them but this one just didn’t feel the same but can’t wait to pick more from this author. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

THE NIGHT HOUSE by @jonesboauthor - my first Nesbo - I generally liked the plot, but there was a LOT of fat-shaming and bullying (I know it supposedly had a purpose) that were just depressing and exhausting for me. Otherwise an ok book.

Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC.

THE NIGHT HOUSE – by Jo Nesbø – Translated from Norwegian by Neil Smith

‘there, bathed in moonlight, lay the house. The devil’s horns on the ridge, the oak tree through the roof, the black, blind windows reflecting the moonlight. The Night House.’

In a word, WOW! I was not expecting the story to play out the way it did, with Creepy-Goodness surrounding a Heartbreaking Center—Highly Recommend!!

Side Note: Love The Cover!—It immediately pulled me into the story. If you know you know, if you don’t . . . you will. ;)

Thank you, NetGalley and Knopf, Borzoi Books, (Penguin Random House LLC.), for providing me with an ebook of THE NIGHT HOUSE at the request of an honest review.

I was really into this book in the beginning! I thing it was so strange and bizarre in all the right ways, but it got very consistently fatphobic. And by the time I got to part 3, it felt like I had w whiplash from all the plot twists. I understand it was supposed to be confusing and blend the kind between fiction and reality, but it just didn’t land for me the way I wanted overall.

Unfortunately, The Night House proved to be a disappointment in my eyes. While I appreciate the creativity in its format and certain elements, the reliance on specific plot points that, I, personally do not like took away from the overall experience.
The initial part of the book captivated me with its traditional campy young adult-ish horror, despite some issues. However, as I progressed to part 2, the narrative took an unexpected and, frankly, peculiar turn. By the time I reached part 3, the story seemed to go downhill.
Although it didn't resonate with me, I think that other readers may find value in it. While I may not have loved it, others might.

Thank you, Netgalley, the author, and Knopf for the gifted e-book/audiobook! ❤️ #gifted. My review is comprised of my honest thoughts.

This was very interesting. It's creepy, weird, and suspenseful. Part 1 was so strong. It fell off after that for me. I tried to like it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Such a great horror book. Gave me the vibes of the kind of horror novels I loved when I was in high school.
Fast paced and quick read.

I'll admit, I've never actually read a book by Jo Nesbo, but the cover of this one was impossible to pass up. It has those perfect 80's horror vibes that I absolutely adore. I will say, the story wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but I did end up enjoying it quite a bit. It almost reminded me a bit of Goosebumps, but written for an older audience. I do think that nostalgic feeling carried a lot of the book for me, but based on how much I enjoyed this one, I'll probably go look at Nesbo's back catalog to see what else they're published.

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for granting me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up. This was a creepy, trippy story. I do feel like the pacing was good and kept me engaged and sitting on the edge of my seat at certain parts. The ending is what really shocked me. Although that part 3 was something i did guess i wouldn’t say this was predictable. I notice a lot of horror books have the same twist but this one was done pretty good.

The body horror made me actually visualized it and it made the horror quite dreadful.

This was a creepy book but one I thoroughly enjoyed! It was a great book and written very well! I have read a few Jo Nesbo books and this was probably one of my favorites!

DNF @ 37%. This reads like YA or even kids lit a la 90s Goosebumps and Fear Street. If I were expecting that then I would have enjoyed it, but I wasn’t and didn’t. A couple of interesting scenes surrounded by boring ones that didn’t pique my interest.

I’ll admit I’m a sucker for a cool cover and this one is so cool. Sadly the book behind the cover wasn’t. The name Jo Nesbo is highly recognizable if you’re a Nordic noir fan like me though this is his first foray into horror (and maybe should be his last).

I got about halfway thru chapter 5 and had to stop as I have a rule as a fat person to stop reading any book that blatantly has fat phobia or fat shaming in it that doesn’t serve the plot in some way. When the main character says he was using an invitation to come to his house for dinner to his “friend” he called Fatso to get him to do his bidding and because “fat people like that kind of thing” I immediately stopped reading.

I then went to the last 2 chapters so I could see how the book ends. Glad I didn’t read it, the ending is a bit of a cliche.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGaleey for the e-arc I received in exchange for my honest review, sorry I didn’t like the book!

I LOVED the opening scene, I just wished the rest of the book could have gone like that, it got real boring at the 25 mark.

I was really disappointed with this book. I felt like the author had three separate Ideas on how they wanted to write the story and instead of committing to one, they just tried to stuff them all into one book. I came really close to DNFing this one early on when the main character repeatedly called another "fatso" to the point where it felt like every other word in that scene was fatso. I usually enjoy stories with unreliable narrators, but this one was done so clumsily I was just bored waiting for the "real" stuff to start happening. The big reveal went more or less than I expected. All in all I was underwhelmed and annoyed.

Thank you to the author Jo Nesbo, publishers Knopf, and also to NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of THE NIGHT HOUSE. All views are mine.

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. The opening scene of this book is one of the scariest freaking things I've ever read.

2. I love the nod to Kafka's Metamorphosis in this, it was awesome💜

3. This is as much about abuse and maintaining a sense of self through abuse as it is about an It-like creature haunting a small town.

4. I loved the last few paragraphs, especially the last few sentences. Such beautifully executed metafiction, wowza!

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. Just a massive steaming pile of sanism and stigma once you hit chapter 29. Locs. 2714, 2712, 2731, more.

2. The climactic turn kinda ruins things for me, but the the bitter end brings things back around a bit.

Rating: 🏥🏥🏥 sanist sanitariums
Recommend? Yes, but beware of triggers
Finished: Oct 7 '23
Format: Digital arc, Kindle, NetGalley
Trigger warning: sanism, ableism, gaslighting
Read this book if you like:
👻 ghost stories
🏚 haunted towns
🧏‍♂️ coming of age
🩸 great gruesome horror scenes
😵 curses

I'm not quite sure about "The Night House." I didn't particularly enjoy it, and just not quite sure what was going on, either. Nesbø should stick with crime novels.

This book is a story with in a story. At certain points it made me think of the movie, Mother. Definitely a creepy and quick read