Thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, Knopf and NetGalley for the chance to read Jo Nesbo's dive into horror with 'The Night House'!

I'd read a couple of Nesbo's Harry Hole series and enjoyed them well enough but not enough to immerse myself in the whole series but, nevertheless, I was intrigued to see how - having dealt with real human horrors - he'd approach the horror genre.

Well, probably unsurprisingly, he's done a fine job with this multi-layered, head-wrecking novel in which we're introduced to Richard (a couple of surnames attached to him).

I'm not sure how much I could write in describing the book without straying deeply into spoiler territory but what I can say is that he dives right into the story - no effort at setup of place or character - and the book is presented in three sections with each one adding more layers to Richard and his story and the inspiration for his experiences.

One of the things I loved about it is that you don't know, geographically, where this is taking place so apart from the horrors Richard and his friends experience it's all quite unsettling in that respect - I suspect that was the author's intention.

Not the finest horror novel I've read but good fun nonetheless.

So, I am really not into horror novels and, at best, this was a rather quirky one.
At 14, Richard Elauved is sent to live with his aunt and uncle at their home in Ballyntine when his house burns down - with his parents in it.
He finds himself an outcast at school and when he becomes the last person seen with a classmate who disappears, he becomes the main suspect.: even though he explains that the boy was eaten alive by the telephone, in a booth..
At this point the story really takes on a life of its own
The story morphs back and forth between reality and an alternate reality - difficult to follow for much of it.
Brilliant writing - being able to keep track of the storyline is a marvel in itself.
Characters are well described - several times and in several different places.
Nesbo is a favorite author but this was definitely not one of my 5 stars.

Thank you to those at Knopf Publishing and Netgalley for allowing me the opporunity to read this story in exchange for my honest opinions. I really enjoyed reading this one. I was hooked from the begining. It was fast paced and mysterious enough to draw your interest. Storygraph feels like it has the best content warnings and there are some you should look into before reading this one. This was my first time reading a book by Jo. I'm a fan for sure. I liked that I wasn't predicting where the story was going so I was glued to the metaphorical page (ebook). A boy who has been orphaned, has been taken in by his aunt and uncle in a small town. The boy becomes a bit of a bully as a way to keep people out and not let himself get hurt. A kid gets killed in front of him and because there is no body, he looks like suspect number one. Continues to do so when it happens again. It's told through first person so you are confined to the same knowledge of what is ongoing. I would definitely reread this one and plan to get a physical copy once it's out in October.

The Night House | Jo Nesbø | ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book took me a while to get into but I am glad I stuck around. There are three parts to this novel and each one had its own unique twists and turns. This is a hard one to review without spoiling anything!!

The narrator’s perspective and personality were hard to get through in the first part. While the narrator isn’t a reflection of the author, I will put a warning out for some fat phobia and homophobia warnings. It was almost too much for me multiple times.

The twists were interesting and I might reread this now that I know the ending. If you are a fan of psychological thrills, unreliable narrators, and some old-school vibes, I recommend this novel! It wasn’t always my style, but I can see this being a popular favorite for thriller fans!!

Thank you NetGalley and the author for the ARC opportunity! I love the cover as well!

The Night House by Jo Nesbo. This book was written in three parts, each with a new reality. Initially a boy named Richard, whose parents died, is taken in by his aunt and uncle. Richard has a difficult time fitting in and then something strange happens. A schoolmate disappears and then another. The townspeople blame Richard. The story takes a supernatural turn and so begins the stories of the main antagonist. It’s an interest, thrilling ride. Well written and immersive.

The narrator feels authentic. The concept is a bit Goosebumps-y, but works. The reason I’m only giving this book two stars because reading this books doesn’t feel like Nesbo is familiar with horror outside of a few film tropes, and certainly not like he enjoys or respects horror fiction. This results in the book feeling flat and mocking (and not in a deliberately satirical way). It ruins the mood of the book for me as a reader.

Very well written. Starts slow, but your curiosity keeps you reading. I absolutely adored the realization towards the end and how mental disorders were accurately portrayed based on the severity, the individual, their life experiences/trauma, environment.

Well, that was certainly … unpredictable.

Me reading Part One: This is great – I love the whole “kid fights the Big Bad Evil that adults don't believe in” trope! Wonder why it has such mediocre reviews on Goodreads?

Me reading Part Two: WTF?!

Me reading Part Three: Oh. *Falls asleep ten minutes in.*

So, yeah, overall it was definitely a mixed bag. I really enjoyed Part One even though I felt that the ending was a little weak. If it had stopped there, I probably would have given it a four star rating. Part Two threw me for a loop and I found the change in the plot to be disconcerting, but figured it was going to be an It type of thing, where adults come back home to finish fighting the Big Bad that terrorized them as children. Ha ha ha ha, I'm so naive. Part Three cleared things up but was by far the most boring of the three, and I really did doze off halfway through.

While I can't say that I exactly enjoyed this book as a whole, it definitely had some twists that I didn't see coming and I guess I actually kind of appreciate that it confused the heck out of me? I read a lot of horror and mystery novels, and it's been a long time since a book truly shocked me but Jo Nesbø has managed it with The Night House.

Final rating: Three stars, I suppose? How do you properly rate a novel that's as schizophrenic as this one??

Many thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review.

This is my first read by Jo Nesbø and I would like thank NetGalley and the author himself for the early copy.
The writing I believe was easy to follow and the use of descriptive imagery was divine. I was able to get in the mind of a young Richard and feel the way he did. I was able to get clear images of things that were happening. I loved this book and could not put it down. It is a short read with a great message in the end that comes full circle.
The Night House follows a 14 year old Richard who comes to live with his aunt and uncle from the city after his parents death. Richard makes few friends and is categorized with the other outcasts in town. While he only has few friends he isn’t the nicest friend to them, he pushes one to make a prank call from a phone booth. The prank call takes a sinister turn that starts a chain of events that Richard cannot escape. Nobody in town believes him except the girl he likes to talk to, he’s eventually sent to a youth center after adults deduce their conclusion and bias about Richard being the last person to see the two children who have gone missing.
While there are more sinister things at work in regards to the missing children and a small town history that nobody likes to talk about. Richard makes an escape back home to help the girl who didn’t give up on him and end the evil that has taken place.

Wow! At first I thought it was a smooth ride and then there was a twist; for the better! I would have never thought the book would end as it did but it was a perfect.

Definitely sharing this with friends!

Jo Nesbo, best known as a Nordic crime writer, puts his talents to use in a horrifying novel of terror. The imagery that he is known for is still there, but the themes and tone are straight up, balls to the wall horror. A must read this fall.

"'The telephone swallowed everything.' Obviously I could hear how crazy it sounded. But what was I supposed to say? The telephone hadn't eaten Tom?"

Richard and his friend Tom search a random name in the phone book to make a prank call. When the line connects, Tom is eaten by the telephone, sucked into the receiver like a bug being eaten by a praying mantis. Once Tom is reported missing and Richard tells authorities what happened, of course, no one believed him. Telephones don't eat people. Right?

This held a unique yet familiar atmosphere: Small town, prepubescent kids, A lurking horror only the youngsters can sense. I loved how Richard grew up and the story tilted. Some excellent twists, definite creep factor, and an unreliable narrator. Pretty decent read.

I could not get myself to finish this, due to the unlikeable nature of the narrator. I found it surprisingly immature and couldn’t get myself to move past 3/4 of the way through the book.

Rating:DNF

This book reminds me of my hero Ray Bradbury. It is full of weird adolescents issues and the creepiest scenarios imaginable. Maybe a little Stephen King's IT too. It is is just so weird and wonderful. It is that creepy kind of beautiful.
This might be the best creepy book I have read all year.
Keep writing Jo Nesbo. I will keep reading.

What the heck was that? Jo Nesbo introduced me to his famous detective Harry Hole in thirteen well-written and satisfying crime novels, so successful that they have been published in fifty languages and sold over fifty million copies around the world. Reading his novels in proper sequence demonstrated Mr. Nesbo's development as a complex and innovating author as he progressed through this series.

So I jumped at the chance to read his newest effort even though he was applying his writing skills to a new genre. Would it be a logically written novel that would capture the minds of his existing audience or would it prove to be a compendium that was more confusing than compelling? Some authors can make this quantum shift but others miss the mark in a stupendous fashion. Ultimately it is each reader who has to make that decision. Here are my observations.

PART ONE:
Our main character is a fourteen year old boy named Richard who loses his parents in a house fire and is moved to a small town to live with a new foster family. He has a hard time fitting in and quickly brands himself as an outcast. Two of his classmates disappear in mysterious manners, in ways that defy logic but point directly back to Richard. It was here that I almost tossed the book away. There was no logic that tied the events together and I wasn't interested in young teens doing strange things.

PART TWO:
Fifteen years later Richard returns to town for his high school class reunion. The main problem is that his recollection of events don't gel with the memories his classmates have. During the celebration that first evening Richcard's mind becomes disoriented and he finds himself pursued and persecuted by his previous "friends". In the fugue state that follows Richard sees his old aquaintances in a new light, one that includes him being captured and killed.

PART THREE:
And finally Richard awakens in an instutionalized setting and the author explains who he is, where he lives, and what he does on a daily basis. At this point I'll leave the rest up to you the reader. The author obviously took on a grand task outside of his comfort zone. Whether he hit or missed the mark ultimately rests with each reader. I personally was disappointed.

Whew -- I had no idea what to expect coming into this one, and boy was I surprised. This was better than I thought it would be, and had several twists and turns that I did not see coming. Horror? Yea, some. Psychological drama? Yes. This was kind of hard to put a label on, and I realize it is quite different from the author's normal genre.

I was pleasantly surprised by this creepy, creepy book.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

From the striking cover to a renowned crime writer turning their eye to horror, I wanted to like this book so much. Unfortunately, from out of the gate the characters are flimsy and the horror elements lacking originality. Some readers may be turned off by the fatphobia and homophobic elements displayed by the main character, and while I understand they do not represent the views of the author necessarily, they also add nothing to the story/character development. Rather they hang in the air awkwardly with the reader searching for some kind of understanding or payoff that is never fully realized.
The story does go to some interesting places and Nesbo isn't afraid to plot-twist the living bejesus out of readers. One of the downsides of this swing-for-the-fences approach is that a certain crime novel turned feature film (which I won't name for spoilers) trod a lot of the same ground and did it more interestingly and with shades of subtlety.
Readers who enjoy unreliable narratives, creepy small towns, and copious plot twists, as well as regular readers of Nesbo, may find themselves enjoying The Night House, but for casual horror fans, it misses the mark.

This was my first Jo Nesbro experience and it did not disappoint! I've had most of his books on my TBR for a very long time and I am actually very happy to have started with The Night House. We follow our main character, Richard, as he moves to a small town after losing both of his parents. Usually this is where I would find sympathy for a character but, Richard makes that very difficult. Richard is the meanest bully around and no one is safe around him, literally.

Unbelievable things are happening to those around Richard and we go on a quest with him as he begins to unravel what's really happening in the small sleepy town he now lives.

I thoroughly enjoyed all of the horror scenes in this book. They really reminded me of the old horror movies that I loved watching growing up, a little silly and out there but creepy nonetheless. Overall, I enjoyed this book and found that even though it was hard to root for our main character, I wanted to know what happened next and felt the ending did a nice job wrapping up this story. I would 100% recommend to a friend looking for something during spooky season as this was a fun, fast, and enjoyable read!

Seeing that this book is by such a lauded author, I had high hopes. However, these characters were annoying and I really did not enjoy most of this book.

Fourteen year old Richard has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle after his parents died in a house fire. Richard has a reputation of being angry and an outcast, so when a boy goes missing, everyone assumes he has something to do with it. He tries to tell them that the boy got sucked into the telephone receiver in the booth by the edge of the woods but no one believed him except Karen. He finds out where the phone number that the kid prank called leads, and it’s to an abandoned house in the Black Mirror wood. There he sees a terrifying face and he starts to hear whispers in his ear.

The Night House is a good book for spooky season! It’s a fast spooky read that reminds me of a scary story you’d tell when you’re camping. There are definitely some oddities in this book but it all comes together at the end. If you feel like you’re a bit confused, keep going, it’ll all make sense. Oh! And the cover is just too good.

Thank you NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC and giving me the chance to read and review it honestly.