The Death Chute

The Death Chute by Ambrose Stolliker was received direct from the publisher. I had never read anything written by this author before. The Death Chute takes place in a old, familiar, former tuberculosis hospital that is now an old folks home. Throw in a aging reality TV producer with Hollywood sensibilities and you get a story with long lags in action though is also a quick read about racial and social justice, which was not what I was looking for in a "horror" novella.

3.25 stars

I recently read The Death Chute by Ambrose Stolliker courtesy of Netgalley. It was a quick read, less than two hundred pages. The main character, Jake, develops and produces reality television shows in Hollywood. He is home in Vermont to settle his mother in a nursing home. Sophia has dementia. The nursing home he selects is a building that was a TB sanatarium. What develops is a collision between the old and the new with a mystery at the heart of it. The book touches on a racial theme (quality of care dependent on race) and letting self-interest stop to ensure other's survival.

The book could have been much better. I think if the author had removed the racial theme and just concentrated on the old sanatarium, there was more than enough horror to be had. As I said it was a quick read but not a satisfying one. None of the characters were fleshed out enough to feel real. The location too could have had better descriptions of its grounds and rooms. The book was a missed opportunity in many ways.

#TheDeathChute2019 #NetGalley

This was actually a very decent supernatural novella. I’ve never heard of the author prior to this, but have read another novella by this publisher, so I had pretty good quality expectations, at least. And this one didn’t disappoint. The only thing is…it came across slightly rushed, but then again it manages to tell an entire story start to finish in 73 pages without skimping on quality or character writing and that’s no small achievement. Nice cover. Readies you up for an atmospheric setting, which the book delivers all the way, when a seemingly fancy retirement community turns out to have a dark disturbing past. TV producer Jake doesn’t do his research before putting his elderly senile mother there, but timing being what it is, the ghosts no longer willing to stay silent or restrict themselves to a small book here and there, so now it’s dangerous, dramatic and downright demolition derby sort of situation. And to think Jake was just starting to get life in order, including a newly found romance with a lady taking care of his mother. So can the ghosts be put to rest? Read and find out. Why not, it’s such a quick read and it’s plenty entertaining, not to mention professionally edited and put together. Fun, good for genre fans. Thanks Netgalley.

Finished this novella tonight (again, insomnia). This takes place in a recently renovated rest home, which once was a TB sanatorium. Hauntings are bound to happen, as thousands died there while being treated. I won’t say too much, as the unique premise was part of the allure for me!! Overall, really good story, several chills, awesome setting and mostly likable characters.

My only complaint - it wasn’t long enough!

Satisfying ending. 4 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you, #Netgalley!!
#TheDeathChute
#Hauntings
#TBHospital
#Insomnia

To be completely honest I have to say that it's been a while since I've read a good book on NetGalley. This book was really fast paced and held my interest up until the very end, which is something I enjoy. I would recommend this book to anyone who loved haunted house type books because it's worth the read.

The Pros:

1) Strong endings and I loved it. Won't say anything else about it.

2) Pacing was smooth and fast.

3) Ghosts/backstory of the old folks home was equal parts interesting and depressing. I personally haven't read too many books with this sort of theme/set up with the ghosts.

4) All the characters felt like they were their ages. Kids acted like kids and adults acted like adults

5) I think this would make a really good horror movie

6) I am 100% interested to read more work by this author.

The Cons:

1) I'm not a car person so I might be wrong, but the car's name kept switching between two different things. It was a little jarring when it hoped from each one.

2) I didn't really feel connected to any of the characters at all since the pacing was so fast and there was little character development.

3) I didn't realized this was a novela at first until I got to the end. I think if this book were a full length novel and was drawn out a little more it could have made it that much better.

4) Don't want to give spoilers but a character gets in a car crash a some point and the way it's described it sounds like he should have been messed up big time but he only gets a cut above his eye. I think he should have been described as being a lot more messed up.

5) I found one grammar error near the start of the book. It just looks like a word was left out, but everything else read clean.

Overall, the book read more like an edited first draft. It was well paced, set up pretty nice, and played out like a movie in my head while reading it, which is something I love. I just wish there was more meat to the story. I wanted to feel for all the characters involved and I just didn't since there was little time spent on building up the characterization. Even the relationships between other characters fell flat for me. There was so much that could be done with this story to make it even better than it already was. I loved the back story with the ghosts and wish the reader got some closure with Albert and him trying to find his sister. It was as though those storylines weren't allowed to flourish. The reader didn't get the chance to really get to know any of the characters enough to really, truly care about their well being.

I really did enjoy this book but had to give it 3 stars simply because I couldn't connect with any of the characters. To me, that can make or break a book. Yet I still really enjoy it. It's been months since I've found a book I read so fast on NetGalley. I'm also really interested to see if this author has anymore ghost stories published.

This was a fun and interesting horror novella toying with race and social issues. The downside with this novella is that I wished the characters were fleshed out a bit more as they didn't feel real and that it had more descriptions of both the characters, sanatarium and rooms. In addition to that, I think the plot and concept could have worked great as a full length novel.

I really loved this book. There was romance which I usually do not care for but enough descriptions of real life to hold my interest and keep me turning pages. The reader will not be disappointed because there are plenty of interesting plot twists and descriptions of everyday life to hold my interest. Editing was excellent. Many published works in this day have spelling and grammatical errors which turns me off.