Publishers Weekly
08/21/2023
Bestselling crime writer Nesbø takes a break from his Harry Hole detective series with this wild and ambitious but not entirely successful three-part horror opus. The first and longest section is narrated by Richard Elauved, a rambunctious 14-year-old orphan who delights in playing pranks and manipulating gullible school chums in the small town of Ballantyne. After two friends disappear in his presence under horrifying and otherworldly circumstances, Richard fails to convince incredulous authorities that the supernatural was involved. Instead, he’s whisked away to the Rorrim Correctional Facility for Young People. After the distinct and intentional YA vibe of this opening, Nesbø pulls the rug out from under the reader in the novel’s second section, skewing the tale in a different direction that sheds light on possible sources for some of the earlier horrors even as it serves up new ones. Then, Nesbø does it again in a third section whose rationalizations for all of the preceding weirdness are disappointingly anticlimactic. Nesbø shows a sure hand at crafting moments of terror, but only his most devoted readers won’t cock an eyebrow at the bait-and-switch plotting. Despite some memorable individual scares, horror aficionados are likely to grow frustrated with this. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
Nesbø doesn’t spend any time fiddling about, building up, or misdirecting. In The Night House, the horror begins immediately. And it only keeps calling from there. There are lessons to be learned here: who to believe and what to believe in. And how a person can change, when the impossible turns possible and the unimaginable is laid bare. This horror fan loved it.”
—Josh Malerman, New York Times best-selling author of Bird Box and Spin a Black Yarn
“The Night House begins like something from the mind of H.P. Lovecraft… And then at a little over the halfway mark of this slim horror novel, Nesbø begins 'Part Two' and readers are forced to rethink everything they just read. It’s a remarkable about-face…. After readers turn the final page of the book, it’s fun going back and picking up all the foreshadowing.”
—Associated Press
“Nesbø deftly guides readers on a journey much larger than many will expect from the slim volume . . . Expectations of genre, setting, and mood are subverted as a simple horror novel unfolds into a story that encompasses grief, mid-life crises, and more.”
—Library Journal
"Scary fun that won’t cause nightmares—or will it?"
—Kirkus Reviews
“Wild and ambitious . . . Nesbø shows a sure hand at crafting moments of terror.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A fast-paced escape of a book . . . Nesbø skillfully keeps the reader wondering where the story is going to go next and when, if ever, the main character will reach his happy ending—or if, in fact, he deserves to reach one at all.”
—Booklist
Library Journal
08/01/2023
In mystery writer Nesbø's (Killing Moon) first foray into horror, 14-year-old Richard Elauved, sent to live with his aunt and uncle after his parents' deaths, feels trapped in sleepy, rural Ballantyne. He quickly earns a reputation as the angry city kid who lashes out at the slightest provocation. When a classmate goes missing, all eyes are on Richard, who was the last person to see him alive. What Richard can't get anyone to believe is that Tom was sucked into the receiver while making a prank call in a telephone booth on the edge of the woods. After another classmate disappears, Richard discovers a house in the forest that holds a dark past. With help from his friend Karen and the local librarian, Richard must prove his innocence—though he may not be as reliable a narrator as he seems. VERDICT Nesbø deftly guides readers on a journey much larger than many will expect from the slim volume. Reminiscent of Joe Meno's The Boy Detective Fails, initial expectations of genre, setting, and mood are subverted as a simple horror novel unfolds into a story that encompasses grief, mid-life crises, and more. Give this one to fans of Grady Hendrix or adults nostalgic for the "Goosebumps" series.—Portia Kapraun
MARCH 2024 - AudioFile
Like a gifted storyteller conjuring scary tales, Michael Crouch gives a riveting performance of this gripping psychological suspense by Norwegian mystery writer Jo Nesbo (in a departure from his Harry Hole detective novels). Crouch channels 14-year-old Richard, recently arrived in a foster home after the deaths of his parents in a fire. Before long, Richard starts to experience some truly terrifying supernatural phenomena--a classmate swallowed by a telephone, for example. Crouch modulates his voice to sound like the jaded yet incredulous adolescent and like the disembodied sinister voice that occasionally drops in during his phone calls. A great listen for fans of the paranormal is made even better by a great narrator. D.G.L. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2023-07-26
Dark horror by the renowned Norwegian crime novelist.
In the town of Ballantyne, Richard Elauved is a troubled 14-year-old outcast who bullies his classmates. He coerces Tom into a telephone booth (remember those?) and gets him to call Imu Jonasson, an apparently random person whose name he finds in the phone book. But the phone digs into the poor boy’s flesh and eats him up until all traces disappear. Richard goes to the police but cannot persuade them of the horrible truth—for one thing, they can’t find Jonasson’s name in the book—and they demand to know if Richard drowned Tom in the river. In the first third of the tale, all the main characters are teens. Fifteen years pass, and Richard attends a class reunion. Now he is the author of The Night House, the story they’re in and “the teenage horror novel that had changed my life.” He says he came to the reunion to apologize for having bullied everyone, yet all his fellow alums insist he’d been an okay kid, not the nasty bully he’d portrayed in his famous book. So who’s right? Creepy stuff continues, including death by hanging, blood drooling down a car window, transmogrification into a cockroach—you know, standard horror fare. What adds a level of interest is Richard Hansen, who had invented the surname “Elauved” for a curious reason. Perhaps he has a mental illness, given that events belie perception. What is true, and what is the detritus of his fevered brain? Is this a dream within a dream? Some of the evil comes from a surprising source, who advises young Richard, “If you really want to kill them, you have to do it twice. If you don’t, they come back.”But an ill-fated fiend named Jack has the best line: “We’d actually prefer it if you tried to escape. It’s a well-known fact that adrenaline gives meat a bit of extra flavor.”
Scary fun that won’t cause nightmares—or will it?
