I am currently developing a section of the school library that will present a diverse and eclectic range of contemporary crime and thriller novels. This genre has been so popular in terms of what is being borrowed, but I feel like the young people are sticking to 'what they know' in terms of titles or writers that they've already heard of or have seen their parents reading. My mission is to include more novels like this one and improve the range and diversity of fiction that they can choose from in order to expand their reading horizons. I absolutely loved this book. It kept me gripped from the very first page and without giving away any spoilers, was a dark, intense and satisfying journey. I think that the young people will love its distinctive voice as well as be gripped by the story and intrigued to follow it to its tense conclusion. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for intelligent, credible writing with a strong hook that won't let you go. Treat yourself to The Dead House

I mostly entertaining story. It definitely has it's issues, but it's definitely a mostly enjoyable read.

3.5/5 stars - rounded up for rating
An incredibly atmospheric read that sends a chill down your spine.

Full review to follow

EXCERPT: Our foolishness opened a door back then, exposing something of insatiable appetite. Something monstrous.

After nine years, I'd almost forgotten, assuming, I suppose, that, having paid our price, we'd left it all behind us. But escape is never total, and we'd been wrong, Alison and I, to stop running. And now, again, it seems they've found us.

(She) said she heard my name being called, and I believe her, but I think she misunderstood. I think what she heard was actually a warning to me, not a call. And that frightens me more than anything else. Because something is here, and running now is not an option. I've already lost a lot, but there's always more to lose.

That's why I'm afraid.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: This best-selling debut by an award-winning writer is both an eerie contemporary ghost story and a dread-inducing psychological thriller. Maggie is a successful young artist who has had bad luck with men. Her last put her in the hospital and, after she’s healed physically, left her needing to get out of London to heal mentally and find a place of quiet that will restore her creative spirit. On the rugged west coast of Ireland, perched on a wild cliff side, she spies the shell of a cottage that dates back to Great Famine and decides to buy it. When work on the house is done, she invites her dealer to come for the weekend to celebrate along with a couple of women friends, one of whom will become his wife. On the boozy last night, the other friend pulls out an Ouija board. What sinister thing they summon, once invited, will never go.

Ireland is a country haunted by its past. In Billy O'Callaghan's hands, its terrible beauty becomes a force of inescapable horror that reaches far back in time, before the Famine, before Christianity, to a pagan place where nature and superstition are bound in an endless knot.

MY THOUGHTS: 'The past will not remain the past'. It is always a part of you, and wherever you go, it goes with you. It is always there in the shadowy corners of your mind, lurking, waiting for a moment of weakness, to take advantage and burst upon your present life, bringing with it all the things you would rather forget.

Billy O'Callaghan's writing is magical, lyrical, gentle with menace. He is an artist who paints pictures with his words, a voice whispering in my ear as I read. He held me spellbound with The Dead House. This passage from the book describes the effect his writing has on me, beautifully - 'It's just here, in my head. Pictures, words. I can see it. It's difficult to explain. I feel as if it's being whispered to me. I don't hear a voice, not exactly, but I feel it.'

The Dead House is incredibly atmospheric. It's not a scary book, not horror. But it has something, something almost indefinable, a gentle lurking menace. It is the sort of book that is unsettling, more than anything. The sort of book that will have you catching glimpses of movement from the corner of your eye, but then, when you turn, there is nothing there. Nothing that you can see. . .

I was sad to finish this, bereft even. This is O'Callaghan's only novel to date. He has, however, published three collections of short stories which are about to grace my shelves.

Thank you to Skyhorse Publishing, Arcade Publishing via Netgalley for providing a digital copy of The Dead House by Billy O'Callaghan for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system.

This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...

Thank you to NetGalley for a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review. This book wasn't my usual Genre but I was intrigued by the blurb so I wanted to give it a go. The settings were beautiful so well described and make me long to visit Ireland. However what I did struggle with was imagining the people so I easily got lost whilst reading. I did enjoy the short novel.

4 stars

Michael is an art dealer. He is moderately successful and had discovered a new talent in a young fragile girl, Maggie. He becomes not only her agent but a friend concerned about Maggie's fragility along with two other friends, Liz and Alison.

As the tale begins Michael is retired and lives with his wife Alison and their daughter on the coast of Cornwall. He weaves the story of Maggie, a friend from the past, who had moved to Ireland and becomes attracted to a cottage that was built around the time of the famine. It is both isolated and in disrepair and yet Maggie wants it desperately. She, with Michael's' help, buys the cottage and sets about it fixing it up. When the friends come to visit Maggie, they become involved in a random game with a Ouija board and seem to tap into some kind of energy, a spirit who asks in Gaelic "can I come in?" Of course initially, they all think that there is some hoax going on, that one of them is pushing the glass around answering questions they ask and the words that are spelt out. It is all fun right until the point that it isn't. They all feel a sense of unease, a sense of awareness, a sense of unreality. It is foolishness they feel and leave the cottage the next day wondering what had really happened. They leave Maggie and each of them tries to come to terms with what happened and maintain contact with Maggie in the distant land she has chosen to live. For a time Maggie keeps up with her friends but then all contact ceases and Michael, worried about Maggie decides to go to Ireland and check on her.

Events take a sinister turn and lives, especially that of Maggie's are affected. The story continues as Michael brings us up to the present day and leaves the reader with a sense of unease and a feeling that the spirit world is definitely a possibility.

I am not really a ghost story reader. However, this story was told so well. Mr O'Callaghan draws you into this tale as he weaves a narrative that might be considered a psychological look at how our minds can be manipulated into believing, and yet, what he has written just might be so. The tale is mesmerizing, eerie, and mysterious enough to make it a novel that is hard to push aside. It leaves the reader with just the right amount of that fear of the unknown, where it is best to leave well enough alone and not dwell upon the what if of the possibility that an evil presence is perhaps in our midst.

Thank you to Billy O'Calaghan in his debut novel who managed to capture me with his writing, Skyhorse Publising, and NetGalley for making this novel available to me.

I just love the way this author writes. Though this is my first by him it certainly won't be my last. Maggie is an artist, after a horrifying incident in her personal life, she leaves London to give herself time to mentally heal. She finds a ruin of s cottage on the rugged west coast of Ireland, falls in love with it and the isolation it provides and decides to buy this place in the hope it will get her painting again.

Michael is our narrator but also Maggies art dealer and a very good friend. When she gets settled she invited him and two other women friends to come to the cottage and have a celebratory weekend. Something they do that weekend, obstendibky for fun, opens the door to something sinister.

A literary ghost story, not so much terrifying as unsettling and eerie. The author uses descriptive prose to full effect, establishing an atmosphere that permeates the pages. Gorgeous language, so impressive. Well to me anyway.

"The darkening fog gave Allihies an outwordly feel. The day was not yet gone but the windows of shops and houses were already lit and the few street lamps burned, triggered by an obvious need, their fiery orange glow holding like torches above the sloping street. There was nothing to see of the mountains, fields and ocean, no hint of them even, except in how they held to within the fabric of the place."

A good cautionary tale about not messing with the outeordly, things one doesn't understand. May open the door to more than one expects.

ARC from Netgalley.

After reading this i am wondering if i have missed something big in this book.
To me the writing felt forced and stilted, as if bits of the book where missing or still needed to be connected with the rest to make it all fit together in a coherent way.

I tried to like this but to me it felt more like a child essay writing than an actual book, since everything feels very much as if someone still tries to learn how to connect different sections of a plot in a fluent way.

For me this book was not good, and sadly i can't say i would recommend it to anyone.

Thank you to Arcade Publishing and NetGalley for an advance e-copy of The Dead House by Billy O'Callaghan in exchange for an honest review. This is the kind of story that captivates you, however, at some points, you are almost afraid to turn the pages. Artist Maggie Turner has fled London to the West coast of Ireland in search of a peaceful life after an abusive relationship. She falls in love with a cottage dating back to the Great Famine. After extensive renovations. Maggie invites three friends from the city for a house-warming weekend. During the visit, a Ouija board is brought out and the four friends attempt to reach spirits in the house. To say that this does not end well would be an understatement. The prose in this short novel is lyrical and beautiful. Billy O'Callaghan has successfully managed to describe the West coast of Ireland so well that you can see it and feel it. This is an Irish ghost story that you will not forget.

Not really sure what to say about this book. The writing style at times is wonderful, very lyrical, and at other time very mundane and boring. I loved the the descriptions of Ireland and the cottage that Maggie moved to, and wish that the author wrote more about this aspect of the story. Too much was written about Mike and Allison's budding romance. I definitely would read more from this author.

I wish to thank Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the chance to read and review this book.

startling tale that first had me wondering why i was reading it - but the writer is utterly wonderful esp at atmosphere and observation of character - and the voice drew me in the longer i read it ... it's the story of love gone awry and the haunting aftermath of that - and i'd sure be worried about my daughter in this circumstance too - inherited haunting! wonderful

For me there is nothing better than a good Irish ghost story. The setting is in modern times but the Irish cottage has a dark and tragic past. This is a story about a young artist who seeks refuge from an abusive relationship with the help of her friends. What happens at the cottage soon after her moving in made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The writing is also beautiful and poetic. One thing for sure, I will never play with a Ouija board!

This book was billed as being, “both an eerie contemporary ghost story and a dread-inducing psychological thriller.” I agree about it being a contemporary ghost story, but it wasn’t really a dread-inducing psychological thriller for me. It wasn’t really much of a thriller at all. That’s not to say that it’s a disappointment, it just wasn’t what I was expecting when I set out on this reading journey.

An artist’s agent, Michael Simmons narrates the story. He recounts a visit the remote Irish seaside that happened nine years ago. He travelled from London to join a housewarming party for Maggie, an artist that he represents and has befriended. Maggie is slowly recovering from a violent domestic abuse attack in New York City, and has become enchanted with a long abandoned cottage in Ireland. She buys it on a whim, and then sinks a ton of money, borrowed from Michael, to restore it. Maggie and Michael are joined by Liz and Allison for the housewarming party weekend. Michael reveals early in the story that he and Allison are currently married, but the housewarming is their first introduction. Liz is a poet, and knows quite a bit about the local Irish history. She brought along an Ouija board for a diversion.

As you might expect, the Ouija board conjures up a presence. The presence calls himself ‘The Master’, and he used to live in the cottage years and years ago. As you also might expect, things go downhill from there. Does Michael see a girl on the beach, or is it a ghost, or a seagull? Who is it that seems to be reappearing to him? The party breaks up at the end of the weekend, but Maggie still has an odd faraway look in her eye. Months go by, and Michael returns to check on Maggie since there has been no word from her in a very long time. What he finds is appalling. In order to avoid spoilers, I’ll leave out the depiction of what ensues.

Do you believe in ghosts? Do you believe in evil spirits? This book will help convince you that they exist.
The writing was precise and evocative. I felt like I was lost in the fog along the seashore when that was described. I think that I was hoping for more of the psychological thriller than the ghost story. I’m not a huge horror fan, so perhaps that is tempering my review. I’m giving this 3 stars. The book is well written, and if it were about another subject, I might have enjoyed it more. I’d highly recommend it for the ghost story aficionados out there.

Thank-you to NetGalley, Skyhorse Publishing, Arcade Publishing and the author, Billy O’Callaghan for providing a free ARC copy of ‘The Dead House’ in exchange for an honest review.

There are horror stories that I hear that scare the bejesus out of me:I'm looking at you Black-Eyed Children. Well, actually, I'd rather not look at you. When I listen to these types of stories, I end up pulling an all-nighter and going to bed only after the sun comes out because I just know that those black-eyed urchins are going to be knocking on my door.

I digress... then there are stories that I hear that don't scare me at all when listening to them, but would wreck me if I lived or knew someone close that was living through it. The Dead House falls into this category.

While I find what Maggie experienced to be disturbing, I did not find any horror in the telling of the story. It didn't work for me. Which is a shame since I think, understatement coming, that Billy O'Callaghan has a way with words. The scenes that he paints with his words... it felt at times that I was present. Ireland came alive with the atmosphere the author created. I hope I'm making sense here:I've only had two cups of java this morning :)

The blurb was a bit confusing since it talks about Maggie, an artist, but the story features Mike, friend and art dealer. The ending had me scratching my head, and if that is what the author wanted, kudos.

I will read more of this author's works and I recommend this title.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Dead House is a chilling ghost story about a young woman’s descent into madness as she’s swallowed up by wild Irish countryside. The prose in this novel is absolutely beautiful and paints a stunning picture of a land that is unsettlingly ancient, still deeply connected to Celtic tradition. The land is haunted by the tragedy of the Great Famine, in which over a million people died of disease and starvation.

When I had read that there was a ouija board in the synopsis I’ll admit that I rolled my eyes, I quickly found that I was mistaken in my pre-judgement of the novel. This book had some genuinely tense moments that made me feel uncomfortable. The writing style is suffocatingly atmospheric, like the land itself is evil, not just the house.

My only major gripe about the novel was that Mike’s character felt inconsistent. The first half of the book makes such a big deal about how important Maggie is to him and how much he cares. Yet when it’s clear that she’s not well he’d sooner deny and run. Maybe this was intentional, but it just felt like it went against everything his character was built up to be.

Overall though this is a pretty decent read for horror lovers, especially those interested in a little bit of Irish mythology. I picked this book up on a whim and I’m glad that I did, I was enthralled by the story and flew through the pages wanting more.

An atmospheric tale of the supernatural set on the rugged west coast of Ireland. But this is more than a tale of the supernatural. It is a tale of evil, of desperation, of things older than time.

The protagonist of this story is art dealer/agent Michael Simmons. He begins relating his tale from the comfort and contentment of his present home in Cornwall, which he shares with his beloved wife, Allison, and his young daughter, Hannah.

He tells of his life nine years previously when he was still single and working every hour that God sent his way. One of the artists he mentored, a young woman named Maggie, had recently been viciously assaulted by her partner. Still recovering, and wanting to put much space between her and the site of her attack, she drives to Ireland. While touring in Allihies, she spies a derelict coastal cottage and falls in love with its isolation, its presence. Surely this will be the perfect place to take up her art once again. She asks Mike for a loan and proceeds to 'do up' the old cottage. When it is habitable once again she asks Mike and two of her female friends to spend the weekend there as a sort of housewarming party. The weekend is a resounding success - filled with warmth, laughter and companionship, until the final evening there when one of the women guests suggests a séance. Things happen that night that none of the people in attendance want to acknowledge.

Later, back in London, Mike begins to worry that he has not heard much from Maggie. He decides to take a much needed break from work and drive up to County Cork to check on her. What he finds is disturbing to say the least - and what follows is enough to chill the warmest heart.

"History here is a stew of fact and fable."

The setting of this novel is one that positively breeds superstition. With history predating any records, with a ring of standing stones, a menacing spirit, and an "aura of ancient magic", it has all the qualities of the very best ghost stories.

"An bhfuil cead agam teacht isteach."

Some ghost stories are hokey, some are grim. This one, despite it being a debut novel, was the sort that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand to attention. If it was a movie I would surely have held a pillow up before my face whilst watching it - only to have nightmares afterward. WOW!

I would not hesitate to read another novel by this author and cannot wait to see what he has in store for his readers next time...

Michael Simmons is a reasonably successful London art dealer. When one of his premier artists, Maggie Turner, gets involved with a violent, abusive man, Michael shows himself as a true friend, helping her get back on her feet and settled into her dream house, a remote, ancient stone cottage on the Irish coast, where she can rediscover her art again. At Maggie’s housewarming party, one of her friends decides to take advantage of the age of the house and breaks out a Ouija board. The party-goers unwittingly unleash something with their meddling, a being who calls himself The Master, and who slowly begins to take over Maggie’s mind and body.

This is a fantastic premise for a story. We have the broken, struggling to recover Maggie, and faithful friend and mentor Michael. We have the rugged and isolated Irish coast. We have a malevolent force, focused on the ragged psyche of Maggie, and the slow descent of a passionate woman into madness. The concept of the story is interesting on the face of it, add in the supernatural elements and this is a story with true haunting potential (see what I did there?).

Unfortunately, the story is told entirely from Michael Simmons’ point of view, and we see very little of Maggie’s struggles. In fact, we really only get to see Maggie in bits and pieces after her abusive relationship culminates in a hospital stay, at her housewarming party, and a few months later, when she has gone mad. All the horror and suspense of what must have occurred is pretty much nullified by the distance afforded by the narrator. As such, it is very hard to get into this book or to invest in Maggie or in Michael as characters.

In sum, there is the kernel of a truly terrifying book in here, but the author would have to let the reader into Maggie’s home and her headspace before it would be effective. Horror requires a narrator who cannot get away, who has no escape. Michael’s distance from the heart of the story gives us room to sidestep the horror.

An advance copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A group of friends spends a night in a refurbished old house and with the help of an old ‘game’ the master comes from the other side but never goes back.

Billy O’Callaghan has resurrected old school horror. Writing a review for Dead House is really tough cause it is as tiring as it is gripping.
Usually horror stories slowly build up their characters, situations, surroundings and then lets the icky stuffs loose. But no, not Mr. O’Callaghan; ever since he first few pages, something was always there; waiting at the next page; hiding between the lines; lurking through the words. Oddly, nothing was there and that is what made me so uneasy ever since the beginning. I kept looking for hints, searching for clues. I was not able to point at anything; yet continuously felt it getting closer, becoming stronger. And when it he came, he kicked my atheist butt. I felt my room getting smaller, its air getting denser, the darkness getting heavier as I ran for the last page. Rarely have I felt this much rush and chase at the same time in a ghost story. The characters were real, the relations were heartfelt and most importantly the pressure was unreal. Only tiny little complain, the first chapter felt like a bitter spoiler cause it kind of foreshadowed the ending secretly.

Highly recommend this to ghost/thriller/ horror lovers.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Longing, understanding, solitude and contentment in a beautifully written book.

This book is much more than a ghost story, it’s a story of love, friendship and loneliness. Yes, it has ghosts, but is nevertheless a story about the living and they way we choose to live our lives, about friendship and loyalty. It has its share of old rites, descriptions of the famine that devastated Ireland and superstitions.

Narrated in first-person voice in a way that creates a share sentiment, a connection with the reader. A few pages into the book were enough to fall in love with the narrative style.

The writing is superb, the author has a way with words, in the way he uses them. There are many good writers and many good stories, but not many know how to use the right words, in a simple yet profound way, and deliver a good story. The only other contemporary writer, that I know, and has the same skill with words, is the Spanish Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

Do you believe?

“It’s a question that torments even philosophers: Do you believe? Our minds build our worlds for us, setting a line between what is acceptable as truth and what is not. We are conditioned to doubt the reality of the supernatural, and encouraged to assume that our world holds nothing more than the detail of its surface”. —The Dead House

I highly recommend this book!

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This is what folks mean when they use the word "atmospheric" applied to a novel. Reading about the desolate beaches of the coast of Ireland where the titular house is located is like staring at a painting. A beautiful but disquieting one. The language is almost poetic. And some passages are so creepy that it's hard to keep reading. The real horror is hunger, poverty and deprivation. There are ghosts, but just glimpsed through the corner of the eye. The last part will give me nightmares. And yet... we see the story through Mike's perspective. He is a witness and unwilling architect of what happens to Maggie in the Dead House. But he is an outsider. He sees something, but even he doesn't believe in it. I can't help but wonder what the story would have been like seen by Maggie's eyes. I also wanted to see more of the house, maybe instead of devoting so many pages to Mike's life in London. In any case, this is a truly scary, gothic tale.