I just couldn't get into this book. However, I'm extremely attentive and choosy when it comes to writing style, and because the writing style in this book didn't suit me, I could could not invest.

“Sometimes when the wind lifts, the dead still sing.” ~ The Dead House Dedication

In The Dead House, Billy O’Callaghan delivers a masterfully written story that will have you up late at night questioning if there’s something out there, lurking in the dark.

Summary:

Mike is a successful art dealer in London, who met Maggie through his job. Now, Maggie has become more like a little sister to him, which is why he does everything in his power to see that she’s happy and healing after coming out of an abusive relationship which has left her scarred—physically and emotionally. When Maggie decides to buy an isolated cottage in Allihies, Mike thinks it may be a mistake, but is easily taken in by her excitement and fervor.

To celebrate the new house, Maggie gathers a small group of friends for a housewarming: Mike; Liz, a poet; and Allison, a museum curator. For an added bit of fun, to go with their alcohol, they pull out a Ouija board. What they end up channeling is powerful and dark, a spirit known as “The Master.” He reveals his harrowing past to them, during the height of the potato famine, where he killed a girl and then himself. Everyone parts ways the next day, shaken up and scared but ready to move forward just the same.

Except for Maggie. As the others hear from her less and less, they become worried. When Mike finally goes down to check on her, both she and her artwork have become unrecognizable, and it seems one of her housewarming guests never went home: The Master.

The Good:

- The writing. O’Callaghan is a wordsmith of the rarest kind. His prose is beautiful. He doesn’t simply write scenes; he paints them. Even with that, though, the writing is accessible. It’s not haughty, but easy to follow. There were sentences I found myself reading two or three times, just because I loved them so much and they elicited such a strong response. It’s really hard to find a writer that perfectly balances evocative prose and story, without being too bogged down by either where the other suffers, but O’Callaghan accomplishes just that, which makes the book a pleasure to read.

- The prologue. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect going in, but the author lays it all out in the prologue. “This is the truth as I know it to be, this is what I remember,” the main character, Mike, says. Then, following that, he asks the reader a single important question: “Do you believe in ghosts?” The whole tone of the prologue sets the tone of the book really well and immediately had me hooked for the long haul.

- The use of colors and light. I thought this was quite clever and beautiful. Color and light, in many ways throughout the book, are used to set scenes. In fact, that’s what first drew Mike to Maggie and her artwork. “You painted the light,” he says. “You realised what mattered most in what you saw.” As the tone of the book shifts, and as Maggie and her art changes, the colors and the light in the scenes change, too. I thought this was a fantastic, but subtle, way to show how the story progresses.

- The ending! OMG THAT ENDING. I won’t say anything because spoilers (and just so you know, it’s killing me), but the ending was brilliant and creepy and leaves you with lasting tingles running up and down your spine. It’s also open-ended, which makes me wonder if maybe there’s a chance that the Dead House, or at least the characters in it, will be revisited again soon. But oh yes, this had pretty much the perfect ending. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

The Bad:

- This isn’t really Maggie’s story, as the synopsis might lead one to believe, but Mike’s. Sure, Maggie’s story is wrapped into it, but her story is really only maybe 30% - 50% of the book. The rest is Mike’s story, and Mike is a crappy character, in my opinion. I found him entirely unrelatable. In his narrative, Mike implies that he’s fairly average. In terms of finance, he uses descriptions like “comfortable without actually challenging the threshold of serious wealth,” and describes his business as having been “relatively lucrative,” but that, ultimately, he ended up with a “modest definition of financial security.” However, when Maggie calls wanting a loan of 30,000, he doesn’t bat an eye to give it to her. He also thinks nothing of it when that loan goes up to 50,000 and doesn’t even consider whether she can pay that amount back and seems extremely flippant about it. Which tells me two things. First, he’s got enough liquid capital where throwing away 50,000 is nothing (which I assume means, really, he has over 100,000 in liquid assets), and two, we have very different definitions of what it means to live comfortably and have a modest amount of financial security. Since this happened early on in the book, it immediately drove a wedge between me and the main character. That is not where the wedge stopped, though, but they were little things and, ultimately, my personal opinion. So while others may entirely find Mike a relatable character, I did not, which made reading his story difficult, because I really didn’t care about him. I didn’t dislike him, but I was very indifferent towards his character.

- The plot is actually mostly romance, or that’s what it feels like. The budding “thing” growing between Mike and Allison, both up there in years, ended up taking first string over the actual mystery of Dead House and The Master. To the point where if this had been branded as a romance, I wouldn’t have felt cheated, but I did feel a bit cheated to read so much romance in a mystery/thriller. It wasn’t innocuous. There were whole large sections where Maggie was never mentioned, and which revolved around either Mike’s quotidian lifestyle or his deciding whether or not he and Allison could actually become an item. I mean, it really stuck out in small moments, like Allison staying the night and cooking him breakfast, and it goes into detail about what she’s wearing and exactly what’s on his breakfast plate and how he feels about that . . . and why am I reading this? Where are my ghosts? What’s happening with Maggie? I care more about that than the eggs.

- The narrative style. I’m putting this under the bad because it drives me crazy, but I’m mentioning it also partly because some people may love this style. And for those of you who do, well, here you go! This book is about 90% tell and 10% show. Now, parts of this are narration by Mike, which I don’t count among the bad because the narration (such as the prologue) actually works fantastically. However, the rest is just recounting a series of events that happened to the characters. I’d even go so far as to say the first 15% or so of the book (not counting the prologue) could be cut and it would lose nothing. It’s a rehashing of Mike’s life (which I couldn’t care less about, as I have no reason, at this point, to care about Mike) and eventually, how he meets Maggie and Maggie’s life up until she buys the Dead House. For me, telling isn’t engaging. I want to live in a scene. The best scenes in this book are the ones that are happening in real time, so to speak, like the first encounter with the Ouija board (not so much about the Master as, again, that’s more telling than anything) or the end. These scenes ground me there with Mike and create a sense of immediacy and urgency and, to me at least, convey better the emotion and anxiety and fear. Being told someone’s afraid isn’t the same as seeing their terror.

- The Dead House itself had me confused, and I’m actually disappointed that this wasn’t built up more or made a big deal of. There were signs from the realtor who sold Maggie the property that she wouldn’t want it, but they all related to the condition it was in more than anything. Even Mike’s objections to it were based on the condition and the isolation more than anything. However, towards the end of the book, it seems the house itself had quite a reputation in the nearby town, but this was never mentioned anywhere else. It feels like there’s a whole side to this story that could have been expanded and deepened, and if it had done so, this could have easily been one of my favorite reads. I’m almost disappointed that it wasn’t and that so much time was spent on the romance and other aspects instead of building up the mystery that was already in the story.

Overall:

Even though it may seem like there was more bad than good in this review, I thoroughly enjoyed The Dead House. There were absolutely some parts that were slower, which I would have skimmed through for any other author, but O’Callaghan’s writing style is so beautiful and poignant that I didn’t dare skip, just in case I missed something. This was a short, quick read, but an enjoyable one, so I’d recommend checking it out anyway. Especially if there ends up being a sequel. (Please, let there be a sequel.)

Disclaimer: I received a free ARC copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Billy O'Callaghan's writing deftly creates a rich, substantive landscape. The opening scenes made me yearn for a trip to Ireland. And at the same time, Mr. O'Callaghan sprinkled ominous crumbs into the narrative that made me wonder when the other shoe would drop.

And drop it did. The reader is taken from the rugged and idyllic Irish coastline and plunged into the supernatural realm of the underworld with little warning. What happens next is a rollercoaster ride of thrilling action. The writer creates an amazing amount of suspense and tension by merely hinting at the threat, rather than wasting time on full-blown descriptions of the supernatural. He lets the reader's imagination do most of the work and its this light touch that endeared this work to me.

I enjoyed this page turner and look forward to upcoming works by Mr. O'Callaghan.

Eerie and atmospheric, artist Maggie buys an old cottage in the Irish countryside to fix up and start her troubled life fresh in an inspiring setting, only to find a dark history and restless spirits inhabit the land.

The opening of this book drew me in. There was a compelling line in the Prologue - "Do you believe in ghosts? Because that's really where it begins, with belief. We glimpse or experience something that defies explanation and we either accept the stretch in our reality or we choose to turn our heads away....I ask only that your give yourself time and space to consider the question, and that you listen with an open mind." I may have taken this too much to heart...

This book had me at the Prologue. I wanted to hear Mike's story and to understand why he believes in ghosts. I was interested in his descriptions of art, with the light foreshadowing, and with the characters that he introduced. I could visualize the people and places described, even though I haven't been to the UK. There was such a haunting presence in this story, and it was rendered with the style of an artist. There were heavy and light brushstrokes of friendship, love, history and lore.

This book felt like Rebecca - but perhaps more so. Maybe The Dead House is what Rebecca felt like when it was first released.

I do not suggest reading this one while all alone....

Review: THE DEAD HOUSE by Billy O'Callaghan

I sped through this exciting and enlightening literary supernatural thriller in a day; I couldn't separate myself from the story. I was so engrossed in empathy with the protagonists: Michael, Maggie, Allison; and with the fulcrum character, Liz--and much later, with the child Hannah, who may be the target, or who may be another fulcrum character. {By fulcrum character, I am meaning the individual whose lever applied just at the crossroads crux situation quite literally changes the path and direction of the story.}

In no way am I about to imply derivativeness: THE DEAD HOUSE is perfect in its originality, and I believe its drama to be quintessentially Irish. Yet in certain portions (specifically Michael's return visit to the painter Maggie's cottage, her new paintings and sketches, and the way in which Maggie encapsulates her new view of "the way things really are"), I perceived somewhat of both a Lovecraftian tone, and of the rural prime madness of the countryside of Thomas Hardy' s moors. Then in the Epilogue, several elements combine to resonate for me with the subtle unendable terrors of Henry James' "Turn of The Screw." Yet again, these literary allusions are my perception, not derivation.

This is O’Callaghan’s debut novel although he is the author of several short story collections. (Personally, I don’t do short stores – too disappointed when they end as I want to keep on reading).

Narrated in the first person, we are introduced to Michael Simmons an art dealer, a somewhat shy person who has been unable to form a long-term romantic relationship. As such he compensates for this by being a bit of a workaholic, travelling hither and thither to meet with artists, galleries etc. Along the way he has formed a mentor-like professional relationship with Maggie, young, petite and vulnerable. When he discovers that she has been hospitalised after a violent attack by her boyfriend he invites her to stay with him and recuperate. From there she moved to Ireland so that she could breathe and paint. With financial assistance from Michael she buys a derelict, remote cottage which she renovates.

Eventually Michael gets to visit the cottage for a house-warming and there he meets two other women, friends of Maggie and when they introduce the Ouija board things start to happen, but not in a good way.

This is in the tradition of a gothic ghost story, but that is far too simplistic. O’Callaghan has used the most beautiful, lyrical language to describe the landscape and the history. The tale resonates with the echoes of post famine Ireland and the horrors that the people endured. We are presented with a background of the beauty of Ireland in its wind-swept landscape and the horrors of that landscape shrouded in mist and howling rain and thunder, rendering the scene impenetrable and hostile.

Was I scared? No, more perturbed or concerned. Feeling Michael’s horror and growing concern for Maggie; his battle to understand what he has witnessed. What a truly beautiful soul Michael is; honest, generous and totally likeable.

One more word – Brilliant. I loved it.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

The Dead House by Billy O'Callaghan is rather spooky ghost story that has its roots in the Irish potato famine. When Maggie, an English artist, seeks sanctuary after a brutal attack, she discovers a place in Ireland that seems made to order. A ramshackle cottage that needs a complete overhaul in a setting that speaks to every fiber of her artistic center...and perhaps, to something else.

You can read the description elsewhere, but the main characters are Mike, an art dealer in London; Maggie, an artist; and Alison, who has a gallery in Ireland. The three are tied together through friendship, and in the case of Mike and Ali, something developing into love.

The frame of the novel is similar to that of Henry James' Turn of the Screw and the book seems to be heavily influenced by James' work--in both content and style.

The pervasive sense of the sinister which James achieved is lacking, however, because O'Callaghan breaks it up with Mike's relationship with Ali, lighter episodes that relieve some of the tension.

The writing is often lyrical, but something about the logic goes awry. Turn of the Screw is ambiguous--is it a ghost story or a psychological deterioration? The first time I read it in high school, I thought it the most chilling ghost story ever. On subsequent reads over the years, I recognized the other possibility, which is equally as chilling, perhaps even more so. The sense of unease remains, the ambiguity remains, and whichever way you read it, Turn of the Screw is a frightening tale.

The Dead House is a ghost story that draws on James' work, but lacks the layers, the Freudian aura, the question of whether or not the young children, Miles and Flora, have been corrupted by evil, and the story's refusal to take a side, to guide you to one conclusion or another. Henry James left the interpretation up to the reader, but regardless of how one reads it, the experience is harrowing. O'Callaghan leaves you with a ghost story that doesn't quite end, almost as if a sequel could be possible.

The Dead House has garnered many positive reviews, but it lacked some mysterious quality that allowed me to "suspend my disbelief."

For me, The Turn of the Screw remains the epitome of an excellent ghost story regardless of how you interpret it. My second favorite is The Broken Girls by Simone St. James which combines a genuine ghost story and a mystery.

NetGalley/Skyhorse Publishing

Paranormal/Ghost Story. first published 2017; May 2018. Print length: 224 pages.

Not since reading Peter Straub’s “Ghost Story” had I encountered another book that could actually undermine my usual cool rationality and leave me vaguely worried about things that go bump in the night, but now Billy O’Callaghan’s novel “The Dead House” has done just that. Making able use of his knowledge of regional history and lore, the author has given us an artfully-written tale that is highly atmospheric and nimbly plotted. Count me in as a new fan. I’m looking forward to reading his short stories next.

Whoa! I loved this book! I'll also be sleeping with the lights on tonight. But the writing is beautiful - lyrical, poetic and lush. Billy O'Callaghan is a master of words and storytelling.

The dead house by billy o' callaghan.
Michael simmons has a story to tell. Maggie is a artist and he sells her paintings. After a bitter end to a relationship she buys a run down house in ireland. He helps her with some money as it needs some major tlc. But what happens next is a mystery. Will he find her?
A very enjoyable read. I liked the story and the characters. Little slow but I read it. I liked the ending but felt like there was more to the story. I really hope there is more to come. 4*.

I would define this book as a paranormal thriller. A young artist named Maggie moves to an isolated cottage by the sea. She is getting over a lot of turmoil and physical pain. After friends visit and they all have a seance with a ouija board strange things begin to happen and Maggie changes completely . All though this was interesting it was too short and much more like a long story than a novel. The end came too quickly and abruptly.