Summary from inside of the book:
On a deserted back road in Alabama, Jack and Stephanie find themselves driving fast and running late. Their world suddenly changes when a strange accident leaves them stranded with no car, no cell phone coverage and no help in sight. They have no choice except to continue on foot. As darkness approaches, they round a bend and see a small sign at the top of a long gravel driveway. The Wayside Inn. They've had a miserable day but at least they are safe... or so they think. So begins a story that will keep you guessing and short of breath until the very last page. As the house slowly reveals its secrets, you'll come face to face with the sin that haunts us all and a game that can be won by very few. Think you can win? Go ahead, walk through the door, play the game.
I loved the concept of this book when I first read the
description. My prediction - Saw meets inception meets some awesome symbolism
and characters.
When I first started reading, I had no thought process, my
brain had simply exploded. During the first few hundred pages, everything went
completely bonkers and the book refused to explain anything. For example - At
first, I had a little problem with Betty and Stewart. Why were they so crazy? I
quite possibly missed this. TRUE, I would be pretty peeved if a group of
strangers came into my hotel/house and brought imminent death along with them,
but I wouldn’t wish to “leave [them] to freeze to death, long and slow” in my
meat locker. Plus, I don’t have a meat locker, thus that option would be out. A
freezer might work, but not for four people... Anyways, as I was reading
Stewart go on his self-righteous rant I thought, people usually don’t go psycho
without a reason. Any reason. Come on, just give me ONE. I can’t accept that
these folks are nuts, just because they simply are. Generally, it doesn’t work
that way Ted Dekker/Frank Peretti. Of course, there is a reason why these people
are complete nut-jobs, I’m not telling you what it is, but there most
definitely is an explanation.
My point is, I’m still not sure if I liked the ‘crazy first,
explain, then more crazy’ way of unfolding the story. It felt a little bit like
the book was adding too much in at one time, so my head couldn’t really wrap
itself around anything. At certain points, I was too confused to be scared. (SPOILERS:
For example, I didn’t really like the whole ‘duplicate’ thing, and near the end
where there was an army of Jack/Stephanie’s chasing after them, it just felt
kind of random. It’s symbolic, sure, but it still threw me off since I felt
like it tore me away from the creepy atmosphere of the book.) Thankfully, there
was never really a point where I didn’t have ANY clue of what was happening, I
had some suspicions.
There was some crazy I did like in the book, namely White.
Why? Well, he’s the unknown terror and he’s actually terrifying. Jack and his
gang fear him, Betty and her gang fear him, and guess what, I kind of feared
him too. If anything in ‘House’ had me frequently checking over my shoulder,
just in case something was there, it would be White. He reminded me of Jason,
with his creepy mask and psychopathic nature, so that’s probably what freaked
me out. Weirdly enough, White doesn’t appear much in the book, but the constant
threat of his presence and powers are what make him horrifying. Details =
Spoilers, so I will not venture much further about the House itself or White.
The other characters, I was iffy about. I wasn’t overly fond
of Jack as the ‘twisted hero’ (more neutral than anything, I probably just didn’t
connect with him), and Stephanie annoyed
me to no end as the ‘weak yet strong’ wife. However, both were described well enough that
they were believable, something I appreciated. Actually, they were all
described well enough that they seemed real. Over everyone, my favorite character
was Leslie. She wasn’t completely spineless, but she wasn’t self sacrificing
either. She was manipulative, but at the same time, more ‘compassionate’ than
most of the other protagonists. She’s someone that lives in the logic, and you
get to watch as she fights to retain that logic as she slowly slips into the
illogical world of the House. If you didn’t guess it already, she loses her
marbles a little bit. Everyone does so, and each person does so quite
differently in fact. That’s a benefit of having four unique, realistic protagonists
in this same situation – you get to watch how all of them act facing total and
complete fear.
So, did I think this book was scary? Creepy for a late night
read, yes. (Especially that scene with Pete, Leslie and the dogfood –shivers- ) Was
I able to sleep though? Yes, yes I was, BUT I did not sleep soundly. Overall, I
geuninely liked the book. A lot. I may read it again to try and grasp some more of the symbolism
I missed.
Final Verdict: 8.0 - 8.5/ 10.0
Also, the movie trailer is below. Guess what I'm looking up on Netflix?
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