Book Review: "The Exorcist's House" by Nick Roberts

This is a book I have seen recommended to me absolutely everywhere and we're not even just talking about on Amazon. I'm also talking about on Facebook, I've seen people write about it on Twitter and it also seems to be part of a series. Will I continue reading this series? Probably not. At least not yet, I have other things to read first. I was told how absolutely terrifying this book would be and though it did not live up to the scare factor, it was a fairly interesting read nonetheless. It has quite a classic premise, there's not too many characters and of course, it has atmosphere. I have some questions about the logistics of it, but those can be left for another time.

Daniel and Nora plus their teenaged daughter, Alice are moving into a new home which is basically this huge farmland with a good sized house in the middle. During the renovations to the property that were taking place, the guy running the operation (Carmine) commits suicide by sticking glass shards into his eyes. Suicide is definitely the thing everyone says but what it actually is, is something much worse. We get access to a preface which takes place a year before the events of the book and this stars exorcist Merle and his dog, Buck. I like how the author creates this multi-narrative because it allows the reader to become interested in why Merle died in a fire but seemingly, Buck did not. The atmosphere is not always constantly dark, but it is strange and feels angry. As we move through the book we find Daniel snapping at his pregnant wife more and more often whilst Alice is continuously aloof, spending time with a boy named Luke who perhaps isn't giving her all of the details.

We are also given access to a room underneath the house. It's like a basement but there's another room behind it which though isn't locked, the door is very much jammed in place. Once opened, Daniel can see that there is a black cross inside and whatever he has let out of the endless well that exists in there has come back to seek its revenge. It is described as something with glowing orange eyes and though this demon is perhaps not too frightening, I did enjoy the hearkening back to classic horror tropes of around the 1970s. The atmosphere in the farmhouse is obviously becoming very strange, laden with anger and frustration over how to get rid of this thing before it hurts anyone else and yet, it is constantly changing the characters around us - especially Daniel and Nora. Nora begins to have vivid hallucinations and visions whereas, Daniel is becoming angry and snappy, he can't remember things and he gets obsessive.

The author's ability to still make this an enjoyable read has to be admired. I've read a lot of demonic possession fiction and not all of it is good. At least this one was fun to read and though it probably wasn't as immersive as I would've liked, you could tell that there's some work that has gone into making this entertaining. I have to give points for that. One of the characters I found the most interesting I have to say was the farmhand, Luke. He's constantly hiding information that he knows about what happened in the house around a girl called Amelia. Once the reader gets to know a bit more about this, Luke begins to experience things he cannot explain and yet, if he doesn't tell anyone he will be the only one who knows what is happening to him.

All in all I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this. I practically read the whole thing in one sitting and it felt like a lot of fun. I have to say that I cannot at the moment read the rest of the books in the series because I have other things to read, but I will definitely return to it. I will say as well, the ending is not something you would expect at all, the ending is something where you make a stark realisation and then the true horror kicks in.