I really enjoyed this book! The characters were well developed and the story was engaging. I recommend that others try this book as well. Well done!

Just a fun time and very reminiscent of The haunting of Hill House circa 1999! Highly recommend if you're a fan of Cube and Alice in Borderland!

Talk about starting out as one thing and changing to another!

It's hard to talk about this without spoiling it, but I was expecting something like The Inheritance Games or maybe Savage Island - scaled up for adults, of course, but something close to those. This is very very different.

I did enjoy the story, and I didn't guess where it was going in the end. The escape rooms were very inventive, really well thought out and clever. I would have been in big trouble in most of them!

As far as I can tell this is a one off, which makes the ending irritating to me - I'd have liked to know what happened next (I always want to know what happens next, so take that as you like). It's definitely put Duncan on my radar, though, and I'll be watching out for more by him. I think he's only going to get better from here.

I loved one of this author’s previous works, Woom, but I really didn’t like this.

I won’t recount the synopsis, but I found it intriguing. What didn’t work for me is the execution. The story is fast paced, but shallow. There is NO character development, which can be less of an issue for a plot-driven reader like me. Even for me, though, this lacked substance. Nobody’s motivations made any sense, the Saw+Knives Out+Cabin in the Woods premise didn’t come through, and the hodgepodge cast of characters’ “knowledge” of a myriad of topics required to solve the puzzles came across as laughable. The story ratcheted up to a wildly scaled-up finale on very little foundation, and I was honestly just glad it was over. Plenty of people seem to really love this one, but it wasn’t for me.

i was excited to start this one, the premise is one of my favorite concepts. it’s hill house meets saw. but unfortunately i couldn’t get passed chapter three. the character introductions and story setting moved a little slow for my taste. i’ve read other reviews and most seemed to enjoy this book, so i would still recommend to someone who wants something that isn’t necessarily horror heavy, but who is also up for the slow burn. i just wasnt.

thank you netgalley for this ARK!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this eARC.

Horror is one of my favorite genres and I went into this expecting mild, escape room challenges with a twist. This delivered so much more!

I was so intrigued that I finished it in one sitting. This has gruesome elements and the ending provided a twist I wasn’t quite expecting!

If you like escape rooms and the movie Saw, then this book is for you. I thought this book was really good.

Six strangers who seemingly have nothing in common come together to attend a formal reading of the Last Will and Testament of deceased Alexei Vasiliev AKA “world’s foremost puzzle master”. Puzzle House starts off easy by introducing a few of the main characters, revealing bits and pieces of their backstory. The real fun begins when the cast comes together and quickly realize nothing is as it seems. Once the action starts, it never stops to let you catch your breath.

This book is fast paced and there are quite a few heart racing moments. I never felt like I was waiting for something interesting to happen because there was always new information provided and new puzzles being introduced into the scenario. Obviously being a book about puzzles and an escape room I assumed there would be some twists, but I truly did not see the final twist coming. This book went in an unexpected direction and the rather abrupt ending left me wanting more of an explanation. Puzzle House leaves off on a bit of a cliffhanger so I would love to read a sequel in the future.

If you love escape rooms and are looking for a quick one sitting type of read, I recommend giving Puzzle House a try! Thank you to Wicked House Publishing for providing an eARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Popcorn fiction at its finest, Puzzle House delivers chills and horror of the highest degree. Not suitable for the easily impressionable, it tells the story of 6 strangers called to read the will of a millionaire. Only one knows him and his ex-wife doesn’t have much good to say about him. They all have dirty secrets and take part in one last puzzle for different reasons, either money, curiosity or nothing to lose. The mansion is a series of escape rooms that offer horrific experiences and the losers won’t be laughing about missing the clues. Despite not being too well defined, the characters are likable. Even a really mean one was funny. The ending was not what I expected. I thought it was brilliant but it significantly changed things. The plot is addictive and makes for a fast read. It feels like watching a movie… a very, very creepy one. If Doctor Who hadn’t made me fear mannequins enough, Puzzle House will have me running out screaming next time I’m at the store. Enjoyable!
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Wicked House Publishing!

This book right was an escape room on steroids! I have read others by this author and have to say he is constantly bringing such unique stories to the horror genre. In this particular one he brought some mythology along with his way of horror. Yet again the gore is on point and paired well with the psychological aspects. Think of Saw and Indianna Jones, a perfect pair!

Saw meets Escape Room meets Cabin in the Woods meets The House on Haunted Hill in this fast paced horror adventure through deceased puzzle maker Alexi’s Puzzle House.

Six strangers compete to beat a series of escape rooms with the hopes of splitting the eccentric man’s fortune. Who are they to him? Are they connected to each other? What’s the real end game here? The setup begs a lot of questions. Unfortunately, the answers are ambiguous at best.

The novel starts off promisingly. I expected it to be derivative from the flap copy but horror tropes are successfully recycled all the time. I wanted that to be the case here. The rooms are clever. I felt the pressure of diminishing time and the thrill of whether the participants could beat the clock. The mythological aspect was a nice touch.

My first hint that something wasn’t going to feel satisfyingly plotted was Oscar’s room. Surrounded by a host of corpses, his hasty decision to self-mutilate begs the question: If a human bladder was key, why not take one of theirs or at least try to, first? When Joy later checks for a safety being off on the side of a Glock 22, I sighed. You don’t have to be a firearms expert, but Glocks do not have a thumb switch-type safety to check. There’s an article about their safety features here:

https://crimefictionbook.com/2016/02/04/do-glocks-have-safeties/#:~:text=This%20is%20a%20boo%2Dboo,.%E2%80%9D%20That's%20actually%20not%20true.

Many people won’t know the difference, but that doesn’t mean the author should get a pass.

I was still hooked through about eighty percent of the novel. I was even okay with the unlikable characters. Again, that horror trope. Unpleasant people feel more expendable, hence the Saw series of transgressors meeting awful fates. Hill having turned out to be a pawn villainized one of the few I found sympathetic. No one in the rooms seem to have been innocent.

The apocalyptic ending sealed the deal on this book earning a three-star review from me when it started out as a solid five. I felt let down. Like things weren’t really pulled together. Even in speculative fiction, there needs to be sufficient world-building to pull off such a bizarre final act. I really wish there was more development done on this one because the escape room portions of the book are so good. Thank you to Duncan Ralston, Wicked House Publishing, and NetGalley for the ARC of Puzzle House: A Novel.

This was...disappointing. I expected a little more extreme horror from this and got a recycled Saw plot, essentially, but somehow toned down. Our characters just happen to know some sort of mythology to solve the puzzles rather than actual clever solutions. I didn't like the direction it went at the end as well, it just felt too mystical.

I randomly ran into this book while browsing NetGalley and the cover immediately drew my attention, and so did the synopsis. A book about a group of strangers being brought together by a puzzlemaster, to compete for his inheritance by completing intricate puzzles and escape rooms. That just sounds fantastic. I absolutely love escape rooms and locked room/closed circle murder mysteries. So anything in that vein will immediately grab my attention.

The start of this book was incredibly strong. Giving 1 chapter to each of the characters to introduce them and get them to the puzzle house was a smart decision. The prose was decent, nothing spectacular, but that's not why I was reading this in the first place. When the escape rooms started my hopes were still very high, but my enjoyment rapidly declined with each subsequent room. It's not that the book was bad in any way, it just took a direction that I was not expecting and was not a fan of. In the end this was an easy 1 day read and I don't mind that I've read it. But I cannot go higher than a 3 star

This had everything going for it. Characters that you wanted to know more about and a plot that was going to keep you reading all night.

The ending ruined everything and I truly felt like it had been a waste of my time.

3.5/5. This book had strong characters and good momentum with the plot only to end up with a rather disappointing ending.

This was a pretty good read. Interesting, good characters, well-written. A good build up. I wasn't gripped but kept reading. ANF then the last 15% completely let me down. Confusing and disappointing.

The start of the book was brilliant written, characters was well developed, the plot had promises. As I was reading the book towards the end, I was very much disappointed on the direction it took. The end was very sloppy finished and felt rushed.

Such a disappointment.

This book started off brilliantly, it was exciting, innovative and I was invested in a few of the characters but half way through I started to worry about its direction.
There is little context, a lot of mismanaged character traits and absolutely no substance.
When I got to the last 10% I was completely lost and annoyed and that ending was shockingly bad.
I was left thinking, what was the point?

So much promise, so little delivery. I’m gutted I couldn’t recommend this.

I’ve already DM’d poor Duncan asking for a sequel after finishing this ARC! Puzzle House was a fantastic, twisty read that kept me guessing along the way. Six strangers are invited to the estate of deceased multi-millionaire Alexi, including his ex-wife, a doctor and a convicted criminal. The winner of the 150 million is the sole survivor of the estate turned escape room.

We are along for this bloody ride, rooting for a winner and getting lost along the way. I really enjoyed this short read, and I liked the ending a lot! I didn’t predict it, and I love a twisty and bleak style ending.

Thankful to NetGalley and Wicked House Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

"puzzle house" is a saw/cabin in the woods type horror novel. when alexei, a puzzle master, dies, he creates an elaborate and dangerous final last escape room and invites his ex wife and some other literally random people to compete for his multimillion dollar estate. when they all arrive in the house, they clearly realize that they all will die, save for one winner.

this book is not scary or gory. it really has no stakes because you don't care about any of the characters at all. there is no context behind anything, especially why the random people were invited. the ending is so bizarre and a major let down. the most interesting part of this novel was the research into ancient religions and demonology, though most of it seems completely incorrect and exoticism at its finest. all of these characters are white. the slavic names are spelled incorrectly. it's not very entertaining and many deaths are not on the page. the ending is not at all what you expect, and there is no closure.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.