I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This anodyne horror novel largely fails to deliver on its intriguing premise but also shows glimmers of promise and very well be entertaining to readers other than myself.

8114 is the story of true crime podcaster Paul Early, a man of dubious morality and suspect sincerity who is drawn back to his small hometown and the cursed property he grew up on after a personal tragedy. While trying to find concrete answers for the bizarre and tragic instances that begin to pile up around him like dead leaves, he starts another podcast about the events and reconnects with the people and town he left in the rearview decades ago.

The set up was promising and I was excited to read something by the screenwriter for Glorious, a bizarre but very original film I enjoyed. However, I found reading this novel somewhat frustrating and not at all satisfying until the final pages. The podcast segments of the novel were the best parts, and should have been utilized more. The author makes overly liberal use of shockingly violent hallucinations to the point where they quickly lose their punch. The writing itself is clunky and hard to follow at times despite the simplicity of the prose and any character other than Paul may as well be a cardboard cut out. I found myself wishing time and again that this had been a short story, a novella, or an episode of a show, basically anything other than what it was trying to be, a novel.

The book is bogged down principally by being almost exclusively an internal monologue from our main character Paul, this wouldn't be such a bad thing except that Paul’s thoughts are exclusively of the most surface level, matter of fact variety. Thoughts the reader has as well or can easily infer, not much that gives us any new information or context. I.e. This is terrifying, I’m sad this person died, I feel like I’m losing my mind, etc. etc. The overall effect is of someone repeatedly breaking a cardinal rule of tale spinning which is to show, and not just tell.

Some of the horror was genuinely frightening but here too the novel gets in its own way. There are too many elements that never really lead anywhere so that in the end it feels like a bit of an incoherent mess rather than a thematically harmonious series of supernatural scares driving to a central point or threat. In this respect the book may have benefitted from closer editing. Limiting the horror elements to either Paul’s hallucinations, OR the Circle of Light, OR the demonic forces only obliquely shown, instead of juggling all of them, may have given time to better develop each aspect and made the story more cohesive and powerful.

Some genuinely grotesque horror elements and an absolutely stunning twist towards the end of the novel couldn’t quite save it from being largely uninteresting, if inoffensively so. However, I would encourage others to see for themselves. I don’t think the book is fundamentally without merit and my reaction to it may be largely due to personal preferences and taste.

(I received this book from the editor and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

The premise of this story is a very interesting one: a podcast about a haunted house where people have committed suicide and other dark things have been seen? Count me in. Unfortunately, the way this was written felt very confusing, sometimes rushed, sometimes repetitive. I understand we as the reader need to see the different facets of the main character, but I got the impression that it was such a complex character that some of his actions, or the way to describe them, got out of hand.
To sum up, I really liked the story and the podcast bits were interesting to read, but it just was not the book for me.

This novel is a nightmare inducing supernatural horror that gets more horrific as it goes along. Some of the images and scenes will stay with you for a long time after you've read it.

A man has a podcast about a missing friend from his childhood, attempting to get to the bottom of where he went. But everyone soon turns on him when it's revealed that his friend was never missing. He and his mother have been hiding from an abusive man. Now, because of the popularity of that podcast, he has put their lives in danger.

When our protagonist is summoned home, he's informed that his best friend has committed suicide and horrific details soon come to light. He decides to get to the bottom of it because he, and everyone else, believes his childhood home is cursed and in that long abandoned home is where his friend went to kill himself.

And, man, from that setup this book takes us on a terrifying and unrelenting ride that doesn't stop. Dreadful things begin to happen, horrifying deaths occur, and brutal supernatural events take place. It's a gruesomely disturbing narrative which I love.

There are many pop culture references which give some dark humor along the way. Our protagonist is the narrator and he's not an altogether good man at all. In some ways he's deeply flawed and has many regrets. But as he tries to get to the bottom of what's happening to him and his friends, it gets progressively more unsettling and bloody.

I thought this book was a banger and would highly recommend it for horror fans.

Wow. What a great first novel. This author knows how to write horror. Haunted house story like you have never read before. There is some familiar tropes but that is ok. Great twist at the end as well. If you like gory, demonic, podcast, type stories this is for you!

It's rare for me to find a book eerie or creepy, but this book had moments that were just that. It was a little stressful to read, but in a good, suspenseful kind of way.

The storyline I thought was interesting and I felt so bad for the MC. I thought that the horror factor in this book was very well handled and that it makes for a good... haunted property? story. Everything flew well and the pacing was spot on. Like I said, I don't get easily creeped out but there were a few scenes in this book that had me wanting to crawl under the blankets, so good job to the author.

As far as the writing went, I enjoyed it. It was engaging and easy to read. I enjoyed this book enough that I read it it one sitting and would recommend it to anyone looking for a good, creepy book.