4.5 stars.

Horror written with the flavor of Daisy Jones and the Six, this book was a roller coaster of terror and fun. Told via a mix of multimedia, the tale follows the crew of a reality ghosthunter show, something that is not typically my fare but definitely worked. I was gripped and entertained throughout the read and did not want to put this down. I appreciated the addition of the skeptic to the main crux of the plot and how well the characters were balanced in an array of "believe" levels. The plot moved rather quickly and included a couple of good jump scares and some fantastic atmosphere.

So why isn't this a 5-star read, you ask? The ending. It's hard to get a good and solid ending in a horror novel of this type, so it's pretty understandable that this will be hit or miss with readers. For me, it just felt a little too abandoned. The ending had some fantastic qualities to it and I absolutely enjoyed where the plot headed, but it felt like it ended too suddenly and really needed another chapter or two to fully wrap itself up well.

Regardless, this baby was entertaining, intriguing, and perfectly spooky. I very much enjoyed it. HIGHLY recommend the audio for the full atmospheric effect. It is amazingly done with a full cast and some fantastic effects.

Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC of this book. I chose to review it and this in no way impacts my opinion of it.

This story unfolds in a series of tapes, journals, and correspondence from the paranormal investigators as they explore the mystery that is Foundation House. An infamous haunted house with wild lore, this is the place all paranormal investigators wish they could get into. Fade to Black will be the very first allowed entry and allowed to film.. But when the house begins to reveal all its secrets, everything starts to go horribly, horribly wrong.

I requested this book because I was feeling in the mood for something spooky and this felt like a novel that would have me looking over my shoulder as I read. While it was a fun read, it took a bit longer for things to get spooky than I'd have liked and it wasn't nearly as creepy as I was hoping for.

I enjoyed the way this novel was written and found it to be a very interesting read. While I found it a fun read, I did find the aspects of the haunting to be a bit weird at times. Some parts almost felt silly to me but I tried to ignore those feelings and just enjoy the story.

I think if you are easily spooked or love spooky stories, you'll enjoy this novel. If, like me, you live for horror, you might find this novel a little tame but still fun!

Big kudos to the author for crafting this found footage style story,  from the moment I heard the premise of this book I was excited but nervous how the story would be executed in written form.
I thought it was done really well.  Telling the story through emails, journal entry, and footage transcripts created an immersive and entertaining reading experience.   
In this story we follow a group of paranormal investigators on a ghost hunting reality show.  Some of the group believe in the supernatural while others are there simply to prove that there is a scientific explanation for it all.  Readers are dropped straight into the action as the group embarks on their latest "haunt" that is sure to shoot them to stardom.  Thats all readers really need to know going into this as the mystery unfolds pretty quickly and every little detail really adds to the experience.
The reality television concept was  intriguing, mashing a crew of believers and non believers of the paranormal was a brilliant idea.  I enjoyed reading the science behind paranormal investigations, you can tell the author did a lot of research and the story felt very authentic.
There are some creepy moments, and really fun twists.  I especially enjoyed how the mystery behind this haunted building explores elements of the occult, there is mention of occult magic and specifically Alister Crowley which is a huge interest of mine.
 My only point of contention was that there was not enough of the actual paranormal phenomena, I really wish there had been more spooky elements to elevate the creep factor.  I was also very confused by the ending and felt like there was just something missing.  Overall a great, experimental story that I think readers should pick up especially if they are fans of ghost hunting reality television.

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook books as well as the author for this ARC. I’m deeply grateful.
#NetGalley #CraigDiLouie #RedhookBooks #EpisodeThirteen

I have never read a book like this before. It was like reading a found footage movie. That trope may have gotten a little tired in film, but it’s alive and well in book form. This book follows the cast and crew of reality show, Fade to Black, as they investigate the holy grail of haunted houses, Foundation House, Virginia. Only one research team has been granted access before and they have disappeared without a trace. Now, the property is to be sold and torn down and the current owners really don’t care about it, so they grant permission to the show. Matt and Claire are the married team who lead the show. Matt is the passion and the true believer while Claire is the scientist and debunker. They have yet to find a true haunting that can withstand her scientific method. Matt and the rest of the crew are hopeful that this is the house that
will change all that. Be careful what you wish for, Matt.
This book is presented as a series of set notes, camera POV, scripts, articles, and cast and crew member journals. Therefore, multiple points of view are offered. The camera work is presented in such a way that I could feel the shaky cam. The characters are strong and most are likable, with the exception of Kevin, whom I loathed. I loved the character of Claire as I can relate to her quest for a good, solid scientific explanation for anything. I also loved her husband, Matt, who’s passion for all things ghost mirrors my own. The two together have a very Scully and Mulder thing going on. Super fun. The writing does a great job of keeping the reader twisting and turning enough to keep us interested before giving a great ending with a lot of dread and scares along the way.
If one criticism must be given, it is that the book is a touch too long. The formatting was, on a few pages, difficult to read on the kindle because the font was too small and I couldn't enlarge it for whatever reason.
Overall, I loved it and, if you love ghost stories and haunted house stories, or if you’re obsessed with Ghost Adventures, then this book is right up your alley.

If you’re looking for a truly eerie horror read, enjoy reading mixed media style writing, are a fan of haunted houses, and think found footage movies and/or reality ghost hunting shows are entertaining, then pick this one up immediately!

When the Fade to Black reality show team gets exclusive access to Foundation House, they couldn’t be more thrilled! A location, where a group of scientists known as the Paranormal Research Foundation disappeared in the 70s after conducting human experiments in search of paranormal activity. Now it’s up to Fade to Black to create an incredible season finale in pursuit of the truth of what happened at Foundation House all those years ago.

The imagery is seriously creepy and while a bit of a slow burn with lots of character analyzation, it all paid off! Everything paranormal was also backed by a ton of science which at times went over my head but I really enjoyed the contrast! The last half of the book really upped the scary meter and had me on the edge of my seat with the ending resulting in a very satisfying conclusion.

I am in between 4-4.5 stars and overall highly recommend! Thank you so much to Netgalley for this gifted ARC!

~ 4.75✰ rounded to 5✰ ~

When the ghost hunting team behind the popular TV show Fade to Black get permission to investigate the infamous Paranormal Research Foundation mansion, they're sure they've struck paranormal gold + bought themselves a second season. Sure enough, the mansion delivers on its promise of supernatural activity, leading the team to dig further into its mysteries + make contact with whatever entity is residing there.

This was a fun + horrifying ride from start to finish! Absolutely loved where it ended up going! I'm always a little wary of books written in an epistolary format because it's so hard to do right, but this book completely delivered for me. It wastes no time in plunging the reader into the story. I found the pacing and evolution of the story to be super compelling. Fantastic read overall + would definitely recommend!

Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie, kept me interested. Creepy, twisty, did not know what to expect. "Found Footage" sort of read. I think would make a great movie, or limited series. Thank You to NetGalley and Craig DiLouie for the complimentary e-galley.

I had a great time with this book! The premise of a ghost hunting show finding more than they expected was intriguing to me to begin with, but I especially enjoyed watching it unfold through journal entries and found footage. This book starts off a little slow, but I was intrigued right away so I didn't mind too much. By the point, about half way, when things start to get really interesting and more obvious horror elements come out I was hooked and along for the ride. Things escalate quickly at that point! I enjoyed most of the characters (Kevin, the cop, was a bit annoying to me) and felt I understood them/their motives well. The book is self aware and gives fun nods to other books and ghost hunting shows in general. I also enjoyed the play between science and ghosts. A haunted house where experiments were done in the 1970s in the name of paranormal research was pretty perfect in my opinion! Overall great read and I recommend if you like ghosts, haunted houses, and mixed media!

3.75/5 -- In this book, a group of ghost hunters gets more than they bargained for while filming the thirteenth episode of their reality TV show "Fade to Black." When they get the chance to investigate paranormal activities of the very famous (and very haunted) Foundation House, they soon realize they are way in over their heads. Through a combination of mixed media - found-footage, emails, text messages, video descriptions, journal entries, interviews, etc. - Episode Thirteen unfolds in a way where nothing went according to plan.

This was a unique and intellectual type of thriller. I felt very immersed in the action & atmospheric setting but in the end it was too much of a slow burn for me. I think the main plot points could have occurred more consecutively rather than breaking the flow for character development. The story was creepy and suspenseful, but at times I felt like I had to overlook some choices the characters made because their motivations seemed unclear. Overall, I would read another book by this author and recommend this to fans of found footage movies or paranormal lovers.

"Not all ghosts haunt houses, some try to live in your head."

Holy Cow!!! This was such a great read. This was my first book by Craig DiLouie and I will be reading more. I flew through this book. He had me from page one until the end. He left me wanting more. If you enjoy haunted house horror, found footage, strange scientific/paranormal experiments, and unexplained paranormal discoveries, you will enjoy this book. I highly recommend it.

Thanks NetGalley and Redhook Books for allowing me to read this ARC.

This book was really good actually. I wanted to read it so bad and I was so happy when I got an arc. I really enjoyed it. The ending of the book was so good. I wanted to reread the book again.

I rate this book a 3.75. I love found footage movies, so the premise of this book sounded amazing. I did like the writing style and I cared about what would happen to the characters. This was an entertaining book with a interesting concept.

I really liked the idea of this story, but I wasn't expecting the entire story to be told through mixed media (i.e. emails, journal entries, text messages) and I found that exhausting. I wish there would've been some 3rd person narration interspersed between the mixed media, or just generally more long periods of story-telling to help bring the story to life.

I am a very character-driven reader, and I had trouble connecting to these characters because of how long it was taking to get to know them between all the mixed media. Plus, I was hoping it would be more spooky earlier on in the story. Ultimately, the book wasn't for me.

Thank you to the publisher for granting me an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A group of paranormal investigators decide to film their tv show at an old haunted building where other researchers had gone missing in the past.

The book is written like a script, which was an effective way to tell this type of story. It was almost like I was reading the text of their tv show as if I was watching it with subtitles on.

There were a lot of sci-fi elements that were not adequately explained. This was primarily why I was disappointed with the book. Towards the end, when they are all roaming around this mysterious maze in the basement, a lot of details were unclear. So you’re forced to assume or make guesses as to what exactly is happening to everyone and why. The very end was strange and didn’t make sense.

I am torn about recommending the book to others. I do think it would make a good movie.

I don't care how old I get, I will probably be the person who can easily freak myself out and be afraid of the dark after I watch a paranormal flick or read a creepy paranormal book. Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie is like taking the movie The Quiet Ones and merging it with The Lazarus Effect and Paranormal Activity Ghost Hunters. Using manuscripts, emails, journals and the like, we follow the ghost hunting crew of Fade to Black to their holy grail in their thirteenth show... The Paranormal Research Foundation.

As we all know, where there is a creepy mansion that once hosted hunan experiments there is probably restless spirits waiting in the shadows. The team gets more than they bargained for and as a reader, I feel like I did in a way too.

There comes a point where it goes from sinister atmospheric haunting to scientific ramblings that were way outside of my mental spectrum. I was highly invested until that point. It wasn't a change my reading brain took to quickly. Its unique and intriguing in its own right but a bit much considering how solid it was at first.

I wouldn't call this scary but it had moments that made the novel's atmosphere tingle sinisterly. The characters have a good bit of depth but I didn't connect with them. Thats typical for me with horror novels though. The ending brought a little bit of movie ending pizzazz to the plot. I won't say much more than that though.

This is a horror fiction novel but there is a part of me that feels there's a bit of science fiction in here too. I'd recommend this novel to those who enjoy the more existential type of horror. Thank you Redhook for the gifted digital copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. True rating 3.5/5.

Matt and Claire, husband and wife members of a ghost hunting TV show, film their 13th episode with their team at Foundation House, where strange experiments had been performed in the 70s leading to rumors of haunting after the entire research team disappeared. This was a weird one, not a typical haunted house by any means. Like Claire, I felt drawn in, wanting to know what was really going on, but I can't say I came away all that satisfied. I'm not a huge horror/ghost fan, but I will read this type occasionally, and I can confidently say I have never read anything like this one. 3 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Redhook books for an ARC of this novel!

I think, perhaps, that this book was not for me.

I'm going to start with the good and then give a couple critiques. First, this was very readable. I really like this style of book where it's told through journal entries, videos, documents, and so on. I did wish there was more context provided. I think there could have been a lot of interest in having asides and retrospective analysis by whoever is putting this book together. Give me footnotes, give me allusions to whatever intriguing info is common knowledge about this case in the fiction of the book. I also thought the scary action sequences were quite fun, though I had trouble at points keeping it straight exactly what was going on.

Now, the not so good stuff. The character work, I think, left something to be desired. This is a personal issue. I prefer books with a character focus vs a plot focus, and I don't think that was present here. All of them had distinct personalities, but I don't think any of those personalities were particularly well drawn. Claire, for instance. She felt like a character fulfilling a role in a book with actions that were distinct from other characters, but she didn't feel like a human. I also felt the pacing really dragged in places. I found myself often checking to see how many pages I had left in a given chapter, flipping forward in my ebook, skimming in parts. I was bored. It was great when something new would happen and I'd get pulled back in, but that came in bursts between chapters of drag.

For all the mystery Episode 13 tries to build, I have to admit, I just didn't care. It didn't matter to me what happened to these characters, and the mystery itself didn't work. If this seems like it'll be your sort of story, give it a try! This was a really personal hangup - I didn't hate it, it just wasn't for me, but maybe it'll be for you!

This was a super interesting take on found footage in book form. Extremely easy to read and digest, each chapter made me eager for the next. Other books employ the same kind of diary/logging/mixed media narrative but this one does an exceptional job of making it feel like you're really watching a found footage film! I can see where it might lose people at the end but I enjoyed As Above, So Below a lot so this reminded me of that as well

"I'll tell you what does scare me, though. People. If you think about all the terrible things a single human being is capable of rationalizing and doing, it's amazing we have enough trust to function as a society."

There is so much to unravel in Episode Thirteen. It starts off a bit slow, gets crazy in the middle, and then ends with a huge question mark. I don't know how to feel about this book. I was intrigued and confused, but also invested the entire time. It definitely made me think and the twists and turns (heh... literally!) threw me for a loop - especially the ending!

Episode Thirteen follows the cast of a ghost hunting show called Fade to Black. The paranormal investigators consist of Matt, the true believer and passionate one; Claire, the scientist and nonbeliever who also happens to be Matt's wife; Kevin and Jake, Camera crew members; and Jessica, an aspiring actress who brings the "hot girl vibe" to the show.

The entire book centers around Fade to Black's notorious thirteenth episode so from the beginning we already get vibes of bad luck. The crew goes to Foundation House, an old home built near former plantations and the site of mysterious psychological experiments in the 60s. The researchers taking part in the experiments mysteriously vanished and all but one of the research subjects committed suicide. The crew of Fade to Black is hopeful that this site is where they will get their concrete proof that ghosts exist.

The haunting starts off slow, with a small event that could possibly be proof of the afterlife. When this is proven to be a hoax, everyone begins to argue and then real pandemonium ensues. The crew is scared enough to leave Foundation House, but they return the next day in hopes of communicating further with the spirits. As they continue to search the house for clues as to what may have caused the haunting, they discover a door which leads to a seemingly endless secret passageway. Despite their detriorating mental states, everyone decides to enter the passageway and find out what, or who, is at the end.

While I am not sure what to make of the ending, I will say I did enjoy Episode Thirteen. The events just kept getting weirder and weirder and made me want to continue reading. I enjoyed all the characters and DiLouie did a great job depicting Claire and Kevin's slow loss of sanity, Jessica and Matt's realization of what is truly important in their lives, and Jake's knowledge that it is ok to branch out. Each character's personality was used to create their own true horror and that was what makes this a good horror book. Furthermore, DiLouie's depiction of Foundation House, especially the secret passge, made me feel like I was right there with the characters experiencing the haunting. The house was truly a character in this book and it had a mind of its own.

Though I enjoyed the body of the book, I do think the ending was a bit sudden and would have enjoyed more details on what happened after Episode Thirteen aired. Also - obviously since this is a ghost hunting book there was bound to be an element of the supernatural, but the last tenth of the book could have been reigned in a bit while still making it a good story.

3.5 stars rounded up.

I received an advanced reader copy of Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie from Redhook via Orbit books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Redhook and Orbit!

Episode Thirteen is about a ghost hunting crew filming a reality show called Fade to Black. The team is led by husband and wife paranormal investigators Matt and Claire Kirklin. Together they take a slightly different approach to ghost hunting - what critics deem pseudo-science. Claire is a scientist, specifically a physicist, and she combs through the data collected by her husband and the rest of the team to find a scientific explanation for any perceived paranormal phenomena.

Things have been going well for Fade to Black, and Matt finally gets the go-ahead to film at his Holy Grail location – the Foundation House. This dilapidated Victorian house used to be home to the Paranormal Research Foundation back in the 1960's until, one day, all the researchers disappeared without a trace. No one knows what happened to them, and there have been reports from locals of strange lights and sounds in the abandoned house ever since.

Matt is eager to use his team to figure out whether or not Foundation House is haunted. He thinks having to manage the members of his team as well as convincing the network the show is worth a second season are the biggest problems he has to deal with. Foundation House is about to come to life and show Matt and his team how little they know about the paranormal.

What initially caught my eye about this book is that it's an epistolary novel. The entire story is told through the team member's journal entries, hot sheet emails, descriptive raw footage transcripts, and similar artifacts. I am a sucker for a good epistolary novel. Plus, this book appealed to my love of ghost hunting shows and ghost stories as well. I knew I needed to read it.

The members of the Fade to Black team are Matt Kirklin, the lead investigator and heart of the team, Claire Kirklin, the resident scientist and skeptic, Jessica Valenza, the actress hired by the producers to round out the team personalities for TV, Jake Wolffson, the cameraman, and Kevin Linscott, a former police officer who takes care of setting up the tech equipment and runs base camp during investigations. I really enjoyed reading each team member's journal entries throughout the story.

The journal entries were the author's chance to deeply develop each of these characters, and it resulted in all of them being complex and believable. Matt is almost fanatic in his need to discover what happens after we die, and he is only equally fanatic about one thing – his love for his wife. Claire, on the other hand, loves her husband enough to help him with the show and his investigations, but she's beginning to feel stifled by the lack of scientific challenge involved in her job. Jessica is hoping that the show does well enough for her to make her big break in acting. She hopes moving forward in her career will help give her four-year-old son a better life. Jake sees himself as removed from the group, and his job is to always keep an eye on the action and to be "the fly on the wall." Finally, Kevin thinks the show's scientific approach is all wrong, and he believes he is the best investigator the team has due to his experience as a police officer.

All of these conflicting inner struggles are revealed in the journal entries and in how each team member interacts with the others. As the stresses of the investigation and subsequent paranormal activity amp up, so do the conflicts within the group. It was a really fascinating way to approach a horror story, and it was my favorite part of the book.

Taking the time to really develop each of the characters made me care about what happened to them. It also helped me as the reader understand what motivated them to act a certain way or to say certain things. Even if during parts of the story I was screaming in my head, "What the heck did they do that for?!" I really knew the answers thanks to those journal entries.

Another little tidbit I liked about the story was its self-awareness. Several times characters mention "horror movie rules" like they know what they're doing might not be smart. It doesn't always influence their behavior in the long-run, but I thought it was a nice bit of comic relief. It's like the story and characters know how unreal what they're experiencing is and what they should be doing is thinking about their survival. Unfortunately, peer pressure and fear and many other motivations can affect our judgement in the heat of the moment, which is what happens to some of the characters.

All in all, I really loved this book. I started it randomly Saturday night because I just needed something different from the fantasy I had been reading. I quickly read 100 pages Saturday and finished the rest on Sunday. I just could not put it down!

I gave Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie five out of five stars. The slow, creeping horror of the story and the complex, well-developed characters were highlights of this book. I also really enjoyed the unique structure of the story due to it being an epistolary novel. I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys psychological horror and ghost stories, and anyone who reads the horror genre should give this book a shot!