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!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC.

DNF @ 60%

I didn't end up loving this book, I was struggling to get into this book from the beginning, but I was hoping that it would pick up at some point, however, for me, it didn't.

Normally, I like unreliable narrators, but I couldn't get behind Richard's narration of the story, and I wasn't invested in what was happening. I feel like Nesbo did a good job of making Richard an unlikable character at the beginning.

The pacing of the book was slow, and I just wasn't vibing with this book.

💥 Pub Date: 10/3/2023

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5/5

• this cover 😍🩸
• retro horror
• creepy, disturbing atmosphere

My first Jo Nesbo! This book is on the short side but boy does it pack a PUNCH! I couldn't put it down. Nonstop action. Bizarre, bloody, really dark, deep stuff... You're going to want to add this one to your Spooky Szn TBR!

🗣️ Thank you to @netgalley and @aaknopf for the opportunity to read and review this book via gifted eARC! All opinions are honest and my own.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC! When it comes to creepy horror books, I don't love when books are told in different parts. Not sure why, but it's one of my things. It was so hard to tell fiction from reality, and reality from fiction and I had to reread a lot and go back and forth in the book. It was a compelling read and was a great kickoff to spooky szn for me.

I love a good horror story and I was extremely curious how this was going to go. I haven’t read any books by this author so know nothing about him. The story starts off right away with the good stuff. But then it got slow and I couldn’t tell where it’s going. And nothing is happening. Then it heads in a completely different direction. Caught me off guard and, while I liked this new direction, it went very weird. Then the story heads off in another direction and I fear I got frustrated. I finished the book but actually didn’t care for it by the end. I know there are plenty of horror buffs who will enjoy this.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for providing me with an eARC of The Night House in exchange for my honest review!

I want to love this book, I truly do. But the ending it chooses just ruins everything that had come before it for me. It's a shame, because when this book was starting out, I was vibing with it instantly. The body horror that the first chapter whips out—oof, it's such a grisly and unforgettable experience. The gore and the eerie atmosphere only increases as the plot moves along, and I also got invested in Richard as a teenage protagonist who's wrestling with some deep emotional and psychological baggage. Then Part 2 of the book happens, and it took an interesting direction that briefly threw me off, but then I jumped right back into the story and the new layers it's presenting. Then it entered Part 3, and that's where it lost me with a cliched conclusion that felt like Jo Nesbø trying his best to add on more facets, but instead stripped away much of the narrative's complexity. If this third act had done something different, something that didn't make me feel like the rest of the story had been a waste of time, I would have been much more satisfied.

Overall, I'm officially rating The Night House 2.5 out of 5 stars, which I'm rounding down to 2 stars on Goodreads. It's quite riveting for those first two parts, so it might be worth reading it for them, but you could do yourself a favor and skip the ending.

This was told in 3 parts. I loved Part 1. It was a great creepy horror story. The second part was a time lapse 15 years into the future. Part 3 was a little bit of a letdown but connected all the dots from the other 2 parts. I am obsessed with the cover of this book and think it’s a good choice for spooky season.

Thank you NetGalley, Knopf and Jo Nesbo for an advanced copy. The Night House comes out October 3, 2023.

unfortunately i don’t think this author’s writing style is for me. i found it very hard to connect to the main character which always pulls me out of the story.

This was an interesting read. It was my first from the author and it was almost like the movie Drag Me To Hell, that is to say; it was humorous horror. It was an alright read, but I’m not sure it was for me.

I was literally sucked in by the first chapter. This was a wild ride through the human mind. Dreams merging with reality, fact merging with fiction. Should we always trust our memories? Is it better or worse to erase traumatic events of our past? This book will certainly be in my head for awhile.

Perfect horror story for Halloween. Really enjoyed it and this will be a seasonal re-read. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

This book was so good! It gave me all the 80s monster vibes right out the gate and the story drew me in immediately.

We follow Richard, a somewhat of an outsider junior high student, as he moves in with his aunt and Uncle after the death of his parents. One afternoon while hanging out with a friend from school, they stumble upon a pay phone and decide to call a random number in the phone book. When the phone seemingly “eats” Richards friend he is stunned and confused, and most importantly- being blamed for the disappearance.

As the story intensifies, once we hit Part 2, I said WHAT? out loud more than once! So many twists and turns and surprises! Part 3 ties everything together and I was very pleased with the ending that I definitely didn’t see coming!

Highly recommend The Night House for a creepy fall read! Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the part one. It kind of had the R.L. Stine/Christopher Pike vibe that I inhaled in my early teenage years. I liked the nod to nostalgia, however this really went by the wayside in the next two parts. I feel like it just became confusing and convoluted the more I read. The very end of the book seemed to unravel the mystery as I was hoping it would. This book was just ok for me. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

This was a very intriguing and interesting read. The horror behind it is definitely more psychological. I love Nesbø’s writing and this book is another that I really enjoyed. An exploration of the mind and the horrors it can cause us.

I’m disappointed to say this really didn’t work for me.

I enjoyed Part 1 a lot. If it had been a standalone novella, I would have given it 4 stars. It was wacky and fun. It felt like if Roald Dahl had been hired to write the script for Stranger Things. It wasn’t particularly deep and the conflict wasn’t perfectly resolved, but it was definitely fun.

Then Part 2 took a bad twist, and Part 3 another bad turn. If Part 1 was Stranger Things, by the end of the book we’re somehow on Shutter Island, and I don’t have a clue as to why. It all felt unnecessary, and it was certainly the most ineffective use of these common plot twists I’ve seen in a while. I lost the thread of who the narrator was and was confused about the purpose of this book.