I'm not completely sure how to describe my feelings toward this book. I did like it as a whole, but I was left confused a lot of the time about what was real or imagined. Part one was my favorite as we follow the weird things happening around Richard a young boy who ends up being a suspect in the disappearance of two other boys. There is a sinister figure lurking in the background of this story that seems to be behind all the horrible things happening, and Richard is trying to stop him before something else happens.
Part 2 made me rethink everything we read in the first part, at least until the end (of part 2) which made me rethink all of what I had just read all over again. The ending I felt while it did explain all of what had been happening kind of made the rest of the story less scary and weird, and I think we could have done without that whole part entirely. The Night House is full of twists and turns. Creepy and Bizarre and I never knew where the story was heading or what was going to happen next.
This is the first book, I have read by this author and I would be interested in reading his other books.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC.

This book is separated into 3 parts. Part 1 starts off strong the whole time I’m trying to figure out what is reality and how could that be actually happening or is it ?

Part 2 fast forward 15 years and reunion and hits you with a plot twist

Part 3 we get answers! I’m glad I actually finished this book because everything was tied in nicely. I’m not sure how I felt about Karen and my heart just breaks for Richard.

First book from this author and I have another one on my shelf that I’ll be giving a try.

I was a little confused by this book. It wasn’t what I was expecting and the writing was also not what I was expecting. It read like an R.L. Stine book- more Young Adult with some hokey aspects that felt very unrealistic. Which is usually not a big deal for me, but since I wasn’t expecting the writing style to be like that, it threw me off a bit.

The translation seemed to not be fully edited, which is to be expected in an ARC along with spelling and grammatical errors. but there were so many that it just really took me out of the book. A lot of sentences didn’t make sense due to the translation not being fully 100%.

Overall, not my favorite book. But I have a feeling once it is fully edited, I will feel differently.

"She’s going to burn. The girl you love is going to burn. There’s nothing you can do about it."

Delicious read that reminded mi a lot of young Stephen King and "his kids" adventures.
When you just think that you are reading a very enjoyable young adult read, the theme twist and turns and you find yourself wondering " What's next?"
A very different book from the author, it will give you chills!
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I don't know what I just read, but it was very bizarre. I've read Nesbo before, and this did not feel like a Nesbo book. It was real, but it wasn't real?! I was more confused than not while reading.

Alright so…. I enjoyed this book. It’s divided into three events over the course of the narrator's life, and admittedly the first section is the strongest. It starts with the MC as a kid. He's a bit of a bully, no less, which may make him a little unsympathetic at the beginning. But a couple of kids last seen with him go missing, and his account of what actually happened to them is too bizarre to sound true. Hence, he’s shipped off to an institution for troubled young teens. The bizarre nature of everything that happens because of a connection to a man we never really meet in a house in the middle of a forest (his name is Imu Jonasson) is what really pulls the reader into the story.

Part Two revisits the kid as an adult upon his return home for a school reunion. He proves that, as the kid, maybe he was an unreliable narrator, but he's come to terms with that, and he wants to make amends for his bullying ways. Except things go awry—because of that house again, and maybe he wasn’t as unreliable a narrator as we thought.

Part three flips the narrative again in an interesting turn, though maybe not in the same horrific way that the first two thirds of the book play out. I think some readers might find the ending to be a letdown because maybe it doesn’t hold the same horrific tone. For me though, it was satisfying enough. As far as a character arc goes, it works..

Thank you NetGalley, and the publisher, for the ARC.

I love Jo Nesbo, and was very excited to hear he was writing a horror book. I want to start by saying if you’re imagining Harry Hole style, this is not it. Luckily, I was hoping for a different style, and this coming of age horror shows his range as a writer. I love the coming of age teen horror, and that’s what you’ll get…in the beginning. Then it had several twists that kept me guessing. Just when I thought I had it figured out - I didn’t. For those afraid of gore, I thought this was more horror lite - focused on the characters more than the gore. I really enjoyed it and hope Nesbo continues to branch out!

I loved The Night House's throwback cover so very much. This was my first Jo Nesbo novel and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'll absolutely be circling back for his other novels.

A Mystery Set In An Enigma Hidden Within a Nightmare
The Night House was unusual, eerie, and horrifying. The twisty turny plot kept me reading, but at the end, I can't say I was satisfied. I couldn't help but root for Richard, despite his darkness.
But, I don't think I've ever experienced a more unreliable narrator. I questioned my attachment to him plenty as the story unwound. I don't want to write more because this plot should not be spoiled.
Thank you to author Jo Nesbø; Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor; and NetGalley for the free advance reader's copy. I'm under no obligation to them for their gift, however, and my review is my own opinion. The Night House is a good read.

2.5 stars. I feel like this was well written, but the ending was a complete cop out. I also hate books that use mental illness as the reason for horror. I’m so tired of mental illnesses being vilified and while it may not seem as though this book is doing that at first, it ultimately comes down to people with mental illness being othered. Jo should stick to the Harry Hole series, though it’s been so many years since I read that that maybe I’m missing what could have been wrong with those as well.

I’m honestly having a hard time even figuring out what I just read, let alone how I want to rate it. However, I think I really liked this book but I can definitely see why others do not.

We follow Richard as a kid and then later as an adult. A lot of crazy things happen to him and there’s a creepy night house at the center of it all. This synopsis is really lacking in what this story actually is but saying much else will be a spoiler. Just know that there’s some stories within stories and a lot is revealed along the way that changes the whole story. I would recommend going in blind for this one!

This book was a total roller coaster but I really liked it. It reminded me of a Catriona Ward book, it’s like idk what’s going on but in the end it all makes sense and I enjoyed the ride. The spooky vibes were in full effect throughout the story and I loved the atmosphere. I feel like others won’t like this book but you just have to roll with the punches and go along with it until the end. There were some crazy twists throughout this book and I did not see them coming at all. I’m talking about like major story changing twists. I think you have to be a specific type of reader for this book. If you like weird horror but also being a bit lost throughout the book, I think you would like this book. Also, I absolutely love this cover!

Overall, this book was not at all what I was expecting but I had a good time. I think you just have to roll with the punches with this one and go in blind! Thanks so much to netgalley and Knopf for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book was interesting. The 14year old's perspective is written well. It was definitely creepy and held my attention. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

Sometimes there is a fine line in the genre that separates horror from psychological thriller. The Night House is truly a horror story. Translated from the Norwegian, Jo Nesbo’s twisty, spine-tingling tale has 1980s horror film vibes. This novel focuses on 14-year-old outcast Richard Elauved. After his parents die in a fire, Richard is sent to live in a small country town named Ballantyne. Soon after, his classmates start curiously disappearing. In the nearby woods he discovers an evil presence housed in an old, abandoned phone booth. Now his mission is to stop the harmful force that appears to prey on everyone’s fears. Read at your own risk -- it gave me the willies.

Richard’s parents were killed in a house fire, leaving the fourteen-year-old to live with his aunt and uncle in a small town. Richard has a difficult time making friends and even makes some enemies, so when his classmate Tom goes missing, Richard becomes the primary suspect. Worst of all, he really was the one to see Tom last, but no one believes the outrageous tale he tells about what happened. No one but another student who is also a bit of an outsider. Together, they decide to find the truth of what happened, which leads them to a town secret. When another classmate goes missing, Richard knows he must prove his innocence before it’s too late to save himself.

Well, this was a weird one. The story is told in three sections, and each time a new section starts I had to completely rethink the previous part of the book. This was an interesting approach and I quite liked it, especially as it was so unexpected. The sections were not created equally, though. The first was strong and kept me completely immersed, but the second section felt weak in comparison. It had much less horror than the first section and lacked the tension that had been present. I enjoyed the third section even less, though it did tie things together neatly.

There were certainly some gory parts, especially in the first section. The book also becomes quite bizarre rather quickly. There were also many mentions of white word and black word magic, although there was no meaningful discussion of what this meant until well after the halfway mark. I know the concept is relatively clear from its name, but having magic thrown in with no real explanation or reason isn’t something I prefer.

This work was a translation of the original, and the translator did an excellent job. However, the author’s writing style is rather young adult and simplistic, which worked in the first section but felt at odds with the other two sections. I did notice that only one person’s race was mentioned, and it was a blind older Black man who was exceedingly wise and helpful (outdated trope).

If you’re looking for a weird read that’s somewhat gory horror, then you might enjoy this one. My thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Publishing for allowing me to read this work, which will be published October 3, 2023. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I've been a huge fan of Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole novels (the name may not translate well, but the books are fantastic) for many years, so I was very excited to get my hands on The Night House. I'll start by saying that obviously, this is an excursion from Nesbo's usual genre, so don't expect there to be any similarities to his other work. Even the writing style was unrecognizable to me... If the author's name wasn't on this book, I would have never guessed that he'd written it.

With that being said, this was a fun retro-horror-esque story that delivered on the creeps right from the get-go. Although it did contain a few cliche plot twists that might have been better left out, they in no way detracted from my enjoyment of the book.

Be aware that if you're into hardcore horror, that's not what you'll get here. If I were to choose the target audience, even taking the plot twists into consideration, I would feel comfortable labeling this as a book for teens.

Thank you, NetGalley, Knopf Publishing, and Jo Nesbo for the opportunity to read and review the advanced reader copy of this book.

This was nooooot what I expected. If The Night House landed on your TBR because you love Jo Nesbø's Harry Hole series, you're in for a shock. But if you picked it because of this killer throwback cover art, you'll find this is more your speed.

Our narrator is a teenage troublemaker, so when he sees a pay phone sucks up his friend -- bones and all -- people have a hard time believing him. And so did I, frankly. After that gory phone call, the pacing slams on the brakes and things get weird. Yes, even weirder than a telephone that turns kids into human slurpees. It picks back up after that, and just when you think you know what's going on, you find out that you don't. You really really don't. That's both a promise and a warning.

This story is whiplash-inducing and frankly, I'm not totally sold on that ending. If I had stopped after the first part, I probably would've enjoyed this more, even if I was left with some unanswered questions.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was my first book by this author and possibly first translated to English. I normally don’t like books that follow the tropes used in this book but I feel that they worked here. Richard moves in with his new foster parents and is causing trouble all over town. In school, home and he may not have “friends” but when he’s with a boy Tom and apparently gets eaten by a telephone, Richard becomes the police’s number 1 suspect. Then, another boy he hangs out with disappears…is it Richard? A demon? There are a lot of twists and turns to the truth. Thank you NetGalley and random house for an arc copy.

First off props to this awesome cover, the imagery on it is amazing. It’s giving classic horror story. We follow a 14 year old boy named Richard who is sent to live with other relatives in a new town after his parents died. And here is where his classmate Tom goes missing, and he was apparently eaten by a telephone. It is separated in 3 parts so we get to see Richard at various points of his life. As he tries to unravel this mystery that he is now evidently apart of. Perfect book for spooky season and again, this cover wins it for me. It looks like a movie poster.

Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for this ARC. I love the concept of the plot— a boy goes missing by being sucked into the receiver of a telephone, our protagonist Richard is blamed for his disappearance and must clear his name. My first book from Nesbo, The Night House is an unpredictable, quick read, however is probably on the younger side. It was difficult to get into and would probably better suit a YA reader.

Wow! Holy cow this book was FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC!!! I'll be completely honest--I almost DNF'd it after the first chapter. I didn't realize it would be narrated by a 14 year old boy, so it was reading middle grade at first. Let me just tell you--It doesn't last, and boy does it get so good!!!

We have man eating phones, boys who turn into squished bugs, human meat burgers....i wasn't sure what i was getting into, but it was so much more than i expected!