I'll admit I'm a guilty fan of the "haunted house" genre, but this one was special. A programmed mansion?? Not by ghosts, but via technical enhancements built into it by man? Intriguing! I loved the way the author managed to goad you into assigning the house a real personality of its own, with evil intent coming not from the typical ghosts, but from lumber and stone. Didn't take me long to read this one, and definitely looking forward to Boone's next offering!

If you're concerned that smart homes are a little too smart for their own good, then Ezekiel Boone would like you to read his book. In "The Mansion," a very successful tech whiz is reunited with his down-on-his-luck former partner and rival to build a supercomputer that runs every function of an abandoned mansion. Needless to say when you put complete trust in a computer to run your home, bad things are going to happen. The first half of this book seems a little too familiar. It reads like a reductive rewrite of "The Shining," complete with a remote winter setting, an alcoholic, abusive husband, an imaginary bar and, wait for it... creepy twins!

That said, the story takes off in the second half as the two former friends try to stop Nellie, the Siri/Alexa brain of the mansion. It's a pretty good read for a story that seems like lesser hybrid of "The Shining" and "2001: A Space Odyssey." Still, I'd recommend it.

This Advanced Reader Copy was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Release date is December 4, 2018.

I was not disappointed with this book. I fell in love with the Hatching series and was hoping that this new book wouldn't let me down. He has proven to me that he is here for the long haul. I cant wait until his next book. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book prior to release.

"Mansion" is my first exposure to the work of Ezekiel Boone. The book is written so well, with so much backstory, and character development that I felt like I was reading a third or fourth title in a series. The idea that I had missed out on the first in the Mansion series hovered in my head at every turn from such a richly woven narrative. I can't seem to capture in words the feeling. This has to be the most developed backstory that I've read in a very long time. I wouldn't be surprised if the author has written quite a bit of that "history" down with a prequel due out in the future. It was that strong. Never ever have I had this overwhelming sense in a story before. I even searched Amazon, Goodreads, and Overdrive to see if the Hatching series might somehow factor into this title.

The author's style is fluid and created an immersive read for me, more so as the story developed. Boone threw in a couple of false leads for me as I tried to guess where he was going, keeping me guessing until the slightly shocking end. I could feel a degree of discomfort from the character's perspectives in quite a few scenes, the creepiness of their circumstances being easily transmitted to me as the reader. I really did enjoy the book and would love to read the prequel. And I bet it already exists in some form. Wow.

Loved this high tech haunted house tale

Years ago Billy Stafford and Shawn Eagle lived in a hovel on property owned by Shawn's family for generations. They were just starting out as programmers but were well on their way to creating the next generation of unseen before technology.

Billy ended up with Shawn's girlfriend and started on a downward spiral with his life. And Shawn created a multi-billion dollar tech empire.

Things would have been different if Shawn didn't come back to Billy years later asking for his programming help to finish what they first started.

This was one creepy book. I loved every bit of it. It was very similar to THE SHINING in more than one way but that didn't lessen my enjoyment because I love THE SHINING.

This book takes place in the not-so-far future when self-driving cars are readily available.

I received this book from Atria Books/Emily Bestler through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

Loved this book, it wasn't scary as give you nightmares it was more of the creepy factor that this could actully happen. We rely on technology so much that if "Nellie" was real no way would I ever want something like that. I found my self still thinking about this book a couple of days after I finished it I don't think there was one thing I didn't like. I can't wait for this to come on sale to reread again.

Thanks to netgalley and Atri books for this ARC.

Truth – I’m disappointed.

I loved the author’s Hatching series. And while I recognize that, by its very nature, The Mansion can’t be a bitey bitey chomp fest, I still expected something…epic.

Instead, I got flashbacks. Lots of ‘em. The kind where eventually you start skimming through them to get to the current story.

I got a love triangle. The love triangle of all love triangles. Not only does it fill the plot, it becomes the plot!

I got some weird twins. I liked them, but thought they belonged in a different book.

Luckily, though, there was Nellie. I wanted more Nellie. I got a little of her towards the beginning of the book, but then we don’t get any more of her until a full 49% of the book! That’s a lot of book to get through without getting to the reason we’re all here.

The 2nd half of the book was fabulous – it was exciting and suspenseful and, oh, it kept me reading. But even with that, it wasn’t epic and, in the end, even Nellie kind of disappoints.

I still look forward to the author’s next offering. I’m just going to pretend I didn’t read this one.

Review: THE MANSION by Ezekiel Boone

Readers who have read Ezekiel Boone's HATCHING Trilogy know this author cranks up tense suspense and delivers the scares. I venture to predict: "you ain't seen nothing yet." THE MANSION scared the living daylights out of me, a Haunted House story like no other. Oh, a time or too writers or filmmakers have taken a run at the "Smart House" concept, but THE MANSION goes far beyond. (And yes, I also predict this one will be optioned for film.)

THE MANSION draws in many different threads of Themes, and extends to concepts that stretch my imagination, and is comparable to Neal Stephenson's REAMDE in its exploration of computing. Yet the novel also reaches into the realms of Arthur C. Clarke and Peter F. Hamilton as it explores the ramifications of Artificial Intelligence. Indeed, as it discusses the evolution of computerized "personal assistants," the potentials become frightening, and of course, THE MANSION focuses on a beyond-next-generation computerized "assistant." Beware in whose control you place your safety.

This alone would be sufficient to create an exceptional novel. But Mr. Boone doesn't pause at that. He delivers characterization peeled down to the core; he allows character evolution (and devolution); and he delivers a family line so evil that I can only compare it to the family sequence in LINEAGE by Joe Hart. Many sleepless memories will plague me when I remember.

THE MANSION is the novel for which you set aside a block of time and turn off all distractions. Get a comfortable armchair and settle in, for you won't be surfacing until the end.