A coming-of-age mystery thriller (labeled as adult but they might want to rethink this). It reads a lot like a YA mystery. It is told in three parts, and each part is more unreliable than the last. The main character, Richard, isn't the best of narrators and things become misconstrued as the book goes on.

If you think you know what's happening and you have everything figured out, you don't. I still don't know exactly happened at the end there and I'm pretty sure that was the point of the book.

3.75 stars

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review*

Kind of slow to me - it was hard for me to get into. I need a book to grab me from the very start - this one didn't.

Now that was a TRIP of a horror novel unlike any I had read before!!

When 14 year old Richard loses his parents in a horrible accident he is sent to live with his aunt and uncle. When he arrives in the town of Ballantyne he realizes that he is immediately considered an outcast and bully. When the first teen and then a 2nd one goes missing, the local police dept. realize that Richard was the last to see both of them, and they start to wonder if Richard is responsible some way for their missing. Richard tries to explain to his friend Karen (another outsider) what happened the night that he and Tom went to do a phone prank on the old man that lives in the 'Night House', and it backfires.....sucking Tom into an unknown vortex of the darkness knowing he would never see him again, she immediately wants to help Richard to make sure that this does not happen. The old man warns Richard that 'your friend wants to burn, doesn't she?' This starts what will become the most unbelievable, strange yet SO scary story written by a foreign author, and one I will not forget anytime soon.

Author Jo Nesbo is a wordwide best selling author of some of the most terrifying thrillers.

I listened to the audio book, and will do it again, I am sure. it terrified me. Some of the most visual scenes of horror put in front of me. And to be truthful, the book made me tear up towards the end. Loved it and would recommend to anyone who loves creepy and VERY strange horror. Don't let the weirdness of the phone sucking Tom in fool you.....it is NOT what you expect!

I thought this book was super clever and I really enjoyed it. It takes place in 3 parts, centered on a guy named Richard. The first and longest part takes place when Richard is 14 and goes to live with relatives in a remote town. When weird and scary things start happening, he gets blamed since the town was safe before he arrived and his version of what happened just made no sense. I can’t go into the other parts without giving things away but it all points to the question of just how reliable of a narrator Richard is.

Though Richard isn’t a likable character, he was interesting to read about and I enjoyed the glimpses into his inner monologue. There were some really great twists in this book and I love when a writer takes the unbelievable and makes it possible to believe. I thought the 3rd part of the book was extremely well done; the author didn’t miss a beat in tying together all the loose ends in a very impressive way.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one- the first part has a bit of “what did I just read” to it but it all comes together brilliantly. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had a really hard time getting through each part of this book. The first part I flew through but my interest in the second and third parts waned. There were some twists of the story that took me by surprise but overall I didn’t find this book as scary or thrilling as I had hoped.

part one of the book i was enjoying, and it went down hill from there. i don’t really consider this a horror book. someone else may though.

It took me a while to get around to reading this book, even though it was a quick and fun read. The cover is stuffing and this was a good book to get me out of my reading slump.

I typically do not like unreliable narrators, but Jo Nesbo turned my opinion around. There are twists along the way, giving readers bits of information at a time. I thought I knew where things were going, I was incredibly incorrect. Even though I did not figure out where this book was heading, it did leave me questioning what I thought was real.

I picked up and tried to read this book numerous times, i just truly could not get into it. i think i'd still like to try another nesbo book tho

The Night House is written in a creative format split into three parts shifting from YA Horror to BIG TWIST to unreliable narrator. There’s a lot of narrative commentary that will turn off some readers, but I think it’s part of building the MC and I was able to accept the differing views as necessary to move the story forward. Overall, I liked the book and would read more by this author although other reviews tell me this book is a departure from their usual writing. Also, that cover is GORGEOUS, calling back to 80s horror and that’s probably why I chose this one.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC! I am very grateful and happy to explore everything this author will write in the future as well!

I have to admit I was stoked to get this book although apart from a few wonderfully written scenes this book fell flat.

A strange, sometimes terrifying read. At the start of the novel, we follow Richard as he is sent to live with his aunt and uncle after the death of his parents. Richard is definitely a bit of a bully, and when he witnesses a classmate being eaten by a telephone, it's unsurprising that his story isn't believed. This leads him into a wild mystery involving the strange house in the woods. What is truly going on in Ballantyne? Even Richard may not know the truth.

This was a very quick read, but it packs a punch. It feels just like a YA horror novel in part one. Young Richard experiences some truly horrifying things, but comes out on top. Then part two completely shakes things up. Just when you think you finally understand what's really going on, you get thrown into the brief part three, where the truth of Richard's life is revealed. It was definitely unexpected, and I loved the twists throughout. The horror elements were well done. Though Richard wasn't the most likable narrator, I enjoyed following his story.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I love a good Nesbo book. I absolutely loved the cover of this book and it drew me in to read it. I gave it a solid 4 stars because Nesbo can do no wrong for me.

Just finished reading 'The Night House' and it blew me away! From the captivating plot to the richly developed characters, this book had me hooked from page one. The writing style is exquisite, effortlessly drawing me into its world with every turn of the page. Highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I DNF at 20% due to fatphobic bullying content in the book. I wish I could have gotten past that personally triggering content as I was enjoying the story to that point. The first horror scene in the book had great body horror imagery. It was developing as a coming of age story about teenage boys and a mysterious person. Premise was interesting enough and readers of books like Stephen King’s It may be interested in this title.

Richard, a 14 year old boy, moves in with his aunt and uncle after his parents die in a fire. Being in a new place and new school, he’s struggling to make friends. And when he does, weird things happen to them. First, there’s the boy that Richard claims got sucked into a phone receiver. And then there’s the boy that turned into a big and flew away. Of course when Richard tells the police this, no one believes him. And things just get worse and weirder from there.

This book had me scratching my head and wondering “what did I just read?” by the end of it. I feel like it had a good premise but by the end it was all over the place for me. There really wasn’t a character I resonated with or even really liked. Some readers my enjoy this book but it definitely wasn’t for me. Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

This was an unfortunate DNF for me. I found it really difficult to follow a main character who was so unkind to others.

A wild ride that isn't afraid to play into tropes, THE NIGHT HOUSE is split into three parts that yield slightly diminishing returns. The first part is amazing - the second one fun and enjoyable - and the third, while the weakest of the bunch (and the most cliche) still gives a relatively satisfying enough conclusion. The book starts at its strongest with that first chapter, though. Man, that was tough.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this review copy in exchange for an honest opinion. Review has been posted on Amazon.

I am struggling with where my rating should land.

The first part I dug. Things are happening to Richard’s friends, weird creepy disappearances and the cops believe he killed these kids.

The atmosphere is great and I really enjoyed the sense of dread Nesbø built up. However, it lost me a little when Richard went to the institution. I had high hopes at the beginning and it just kept getting worse and worse.

The second part became unhinged and was like a fever dream and felt like a completely different story and the third part - what was that?

I really wanted to like this but I just didn’t. It may be for someone, but it’s not for me.