It’s so annoying that Goodreads and Amazon don’t allow half stars, because actually, this would be a 4.5 if they did. As I said, it’s practically perfect.
I’m going to front load this review with the many things I loved about this book. First of all, it was a hell of a story. I’ve definitely read books about demonic type stuff before, but never anything quite like this. I love it when it feels like there actually IS something at least sorta new under the sun. I didn’t know where it was going, and definitely didn’t see where it ended up coming. The main characters were really well developed and I cared about what happened to them. Maren was genuinely frightening. And disgusting. I had to put it down and wait for someone to come home before I could finish it. I thought the ending was a super poignant callback to the story’s origin and it made me a little verklempt knowing what was about to happen to those sweet, earnest humans heading into what was supposed to be their second-chance happy ending.
The only thing that held it back from the full 5-stars was they deployment of a handful of words and phrases that are like nails down a chalkboard to me. Indie authors don’t have access to the whole publishing juggernaut that includes demon (pun intended) proofreaders and editors, so I definitely take that into consideration and don’t judge quite as harshly.
I also give bonus points for being able to organically work a five foot tall pile of poop into a narrative with a suburban setting.
So what are the words and phrases that take me right out of a narrative? It’s the usual show-don’t-tell filler word suspects: beginning to, ended up, that was, noticed, realized, decided, became, figured out.
For example, “Petunia decided to make the next move” is much sleeker and stronger as “Petunia made the next move.” And “she realized she was beginning to feel lightheaded” is likewise improved as “she was beginning to feel lightheaded.”
Slash and burn those fillers, baby!! You don’t need them! The tighter the story, the more that terrifying brain which conceived of this nightmare lands those scary ass punches!
And the last bit of constructive criticism is using ‘that’ in place of ‘who’ as in “the writer THAT scared the crap out of me with his terrifying book is responsible for me not getting any sleep tonight.” The writer is a who, not a that. 😁
I already bought The Exorcist’s House and I can’t wait to read it!
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Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2023
Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2023
This book had scenes that were bloody and gory and were vividly described. I am a visual reader and I can picture everything I read and this book gave me the chills just picturing everything I read which was awesome. I was hooked from the very first page right until the last page. This book grabbed me by the throat and didn’t let me go and had me wanting to read more. Maren is a diabolical perverse individual that is the definition of true and pure evil. This was my first Nick Roberts book and it made me a fan for life.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2023
Top reviews from other countries
SHARINE STANLEY
A gripping edge of the seat Page-turner!!
Reviewed in India on July 16, 2023Emma
Creepy, gory but dog torture and death was unnecessary
Reviewed in Canada on June 21, 2023
LeighK
~Absolute evil has no motive~
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 9, 2023
