For my first book of 2024 I decided to go with The House of Last Resort which releases January 30th 2024. Thanks to St. Martin's for offering me a review copy. The premise is fantastic: US couple moves to Italy to start a new life and buy an old mansion, that strangely appears to be haunted. It's a gothic horror fan's dream come true.

The atmosphere Christopher Golden created is not as spooky as I wanted but the writing is superb. He wrote these characters completely. By that I mean they're so fully formed that I feel like I know them. The pace is extremely slow. Half the novel is set up for the ending and what an ending that was. Ok it was a little unbelievable but I still liked the book. Demon/Monster books are my favorite horror subgere. If you have a problem with rats this book will give you chills. Overall a decent read especially if you enjoy gothic hauntings, mummies or possessions.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I really enjoyed this book! It took a bit to get going, but Golden did a great job of inserting enough mystery leading up to the action-packed second half of the novel. And that final act was absolutely bonkers!

Fact: I enjoyed Christopher Golden's work back when he was writing Buffy the Vampire Slayer tie-in novels (like 25...years ago...I don't wanna talk about it) but had never picked up any of his original work. That one's on me, because I really liked this! I feel like I run across a new article on cnn.com like once a year about some Italian town offering houses for a dollar if anyone would just for the love of god move there, and this book is about a couple who take up that offer.

What could have been a daydream wish fulfillment moment becomes a nightmare as it turns out their vast multistory house has some wild-ass secrets hidden behind closed doors. This is a nice slow burn creeping horror that kept on surprising me once it got going, all anchored by a very well-drawn married couple. The back quarter or so goes NUTS, leading to a very satisfying ending. Vivid, unexpected, and engaging, I really enjoyed this book and will be looking into more of Golden's work.

My thanks to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

When Tommy and Kate got the urge to move, they were not merely interested in a different zip code, they were looking for new lives in a place that was more relaxed and picturesque than what they’d become accustomed to in Boston. They moved away from Massachusetts altogether, leaving behind their circle of friends and immediate families, and ventured to Becchina, a small Italian hill town. Tommy’s extended family lives here. However, the price point of the move is what makes the whole thing worthwhile. Local governance leapt into the one euro program, a way to incentivize new blood into occupying older, empty houses. Originally looking at a smaller place, Tommy and Kate were surprised when they lucked into a brand-new listing for a far larger house. It has a lovely view. It might even have a ghost or two. And what they will soon learn is that the place has a chilling history ...

Unfortunately, their house is a place that hosted some bad things, and some of those old evils might still be flitting around within, imprinted upon the stones, held in check behind a swollen door, or otherwise buried in dark places where the dead and the rats are always waiting. Can they uncover the secret of their house’s haunting, or will they succumb to the sinister force lurking there?

At first brush, Christopher Golden’s The House of Last Resort reads kind of like a mashup of Under the Tuscan Sun and “The Rats in the Walls,” a blend of Americans moving to a new country, learning the local quirks and customs, restoring a large, lovely home and finding their place while also grappling with their new home’s ugly past, vermin that seem to be more than mere animals, and plenty of grim specters of old rituals gone awry and the madness that enacted them in the first place.

As the plot rolls along, there are other horror fiction elements that show up to fill out the edges and expand upon the creepiness through doses of real-world horrors. This does not manifest as simply as a gratuitous black gloved killer wrenched from a giallo film, of course. Instead, Golden weaves in excesses and oppressions from familiar institutions, and finds some niches to add in secret corners to history. This mythology building is clever and well done, a testament to Golden’s creativity and gift for the macabre.

The author balances the day-to-day work of a couple far from their comfort zones with mounting dark fantasy elements with the ease of a master. One of Golden’s greatest strengths as a writer is in composing characters we want to read more about. The House of Last Resort is peopled with well-drawn, sympathetic people we really do not want to see suffer even though we enjoy seeing them face threats to body and soul. Tommy and Kate might argue from time to time, but they are a functional family, kind people who recognize each other’s flaws and strengths. Even the other characters, including Tommy’s family, the fellow ex-pats, and a local priest, seem to be genuine, giving sorts. They might withhold information that is too painful or too charged with local superstition, but there is little malice to them (at least at first). The initial malefic elements are instead found in the strange powers at play both in the house and in the catacombs themselves. That is where the darkness dwells, and it is potent stuff indeed. In time, some of those we have come to trust will reveal hidden secrets, but there are no moustache twirling villains here.

The supernatural horror elements play with familiar tropes.

The vermin Tommy and Kate encounter while setting up their house seems to be rather malicious and intelligent. Willful little bastards who defy all attempts to remove their presences ... Sometimes a rat is just a rat, but here they may well be the manifestation of a darker presence. They are but one such manifestation.

The ghostly elements, shadows and sounds without apparent sources, banging doors, locked rooms with sinister, almost palpable atmospheres, bouts of unexplained sleepwalking, and more contribute to the novel’s weirdness factor. However, Golden is a savvy enough writer to let those horror parts connect with his people. After all, it’s characters readers will fear for; jump scares and horror movie tricks don’t work as well on the printed page.

Golden’s writing style is conversational, invisible. He is not as interested in showy wordplay (ala Ray Bradbury or Dean Koontz) as he is in the style of craft exemplified by Richard Matheson or Stephen King. This author tells his story through engaging dialogue, brief but memorable descriptions, and a good sense of both action and pace. The chapters never overstay their welcome, and the story’s plot builds nicely toward a page turner finale which finds our characters in danger from both natural and unnatural sources.

The House of Last Resort is a fine balance of cheery family getting used to a new location as well as a brooding but steadily mounting horror novel. It is a supernatural thriller yarn that eschews all too familiar villains in favor of mood, spooky history, and a steadily mounting set of stakes. It’s a page turner in the best sense, an engaging story well told, and a yarn that moves to a conclusion that feels perfect for all that has come before. Golden’s newest read is a good ‘un.
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Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Part of me thinks I should stop bothering with horror books, because my standards are so high. This falls into that category, unfortunately.

Thank you to the publisher and net galley for the ARC of this book. all opinions are my own.
Due to the current SMP boycott, I will not post my thoughts on this story until the concerns are addressed. At that time, I will be happy to post my full review.

Loved the setting. Loved the ending. Pacing felt a bit slow throughout the middle. I wanted more action. Still an entertaining read!

The House of Last Resort has the perfect setup. All across Europe, towns are selling abandoned homes for a single Euro with the guarantee that the buyer will reside in the home for a minimum of five years. For Tommy and Kate, a lovely American couple who work remotely, this is a perfect opportunity. The home is in the city of Tommy's closet living relatives. It's the romantic adventure of a lifetime.

But the moment they move in, a darkness follows them around the house. Even Tommy's Grandmother is angry, even a little scared about the house. Door that were locked are now open and vice versa. Strange noises at night,....all the usual haunted house things one would expect....

.......

Here's the rub: this would be a FANTASTIC short story or a podcast teleplay. It's a good story, but the long rambling inner dialogue goes on a bit too long. The last act of the book is the standout section and I can see how that would be fantastic as the last episode of a podcast, blowing it out on a finale episode.

Still, I quite enjoyed this story and the idea of a single Euro home, even with the bumps in the night.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is in part, a love story between Tommy and Kate, a mystery of what caused the rift between Tommy's father and grandfather, and the unraveling of dark family secrets.

Tommy and Kate seize an opportunity to own a beautiful house in Italy for practically no money. All they have to do is fix it up. It's a huge change for them from living in the United States, but Tommy has family there and they hope with a little time and effort they can convince some of their friends to follow in their footsteps to revive the economy in the half empty town.

When Tommy's grandmother sees which home they've chosen she is angry and fearful but won't say why.
Bumps in the night and slamming doors lead the couple to entertain the idea that their house may be haunted, but it took longer than I would have liked for the reveal of why their home is known as the House of Last Resort.
The pace was slow for the first part of the book. There were some odd occurrences but nothing really scary happened until close to the halfway mark when a shocking event led to the exposure of family secrets, Something happened at this point that just plain scared the bejeezers out of me.

The final third of the book is terrifying and the conclusion is a knock out.

My thanks to St. Martin's Press.

Honestly, I wish this book had just been about revitalizing Bechinna with some fun home reno as part of it. I didn’t love either of the main characters and I felt like this book just lacked subtlety. I don’t read a ton of horror, but I feel like as a genre it really thrives in the things that are unspoken. There’s a quiet, pervasive uneasiness. Nothing concrete has happened, but something is making the characters and the reader uncomfortable. That’s accomplished to some extent in the beginning of the book, but eventually that concept is completely thrown out the window and things start happening on the page. The last third of the book fell really flat for me. Overall, a pretty disappointing read to end the year.

Note: I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This story was just entirely creepy. We have a new married couple who decide to move to Italy and buy one of the homes in Italy that they’re selling for very low dollars so that people will buy up some of these old houses and renovate them instead of them staying empty all the time. This couple moves to a town where the husband‘s family is from and his grandparents live in the neighborhood. They decided to live near them. Unfortunately, the house that they bought has a history and it’s not a pleasant one and the story progresses through all the craziness and chaos that occurs once they move into this house and how the neighborhood the family, and the church which is duplicitous now and throughout history to what’s going on. The ending was not good. It is not what I expected and I did not like it. I liked the story in general. It was a good story. It was interesting and the couple were OK but I was thrown by the ending and I didn’t like it so I gave this fairly low rating because of that.

Chills are still running down my spine, the hair on the back of my neck is standing, and my heart is pounding as I write this review. I was whipped up into a frenzy of fear and terror as I destroyed this book in one sitting. It captured my attention and imagination in one foul swoop. The entire idea of moving to Sicily and buying a home for just a euro has grabbed my attention. The thought of repopulating towns and homes with new people and business prospects sounds appealing. An adventure that you need to grab onto with both hands, with your fingers crossed that it will all work out.

Tommy and Kate have made the decision to move from Boston to the small town of Becchina, Italy. A town that Tommy has visited his grandparents in years past. With the death of both of their parents, they jump at the chance to move and be by family once again. The house they bought is stunningly beautiful. At the edge of a cliff, flowers fighting their way up the walls, the view of the surrounding valley is something you only dream of. When Tommy's Grandmother comes knocking with a look of fear and anger. Do they start to wonder what they have gotten themselves into? The small door that is locked, not knowing what it leads to. Calling silently to Kate to open it. The catacombs that spread like a maze beneath the town is tantalizing as it is creepy. The feeling of someone watching and the entire house holding its breath finally takes a toll on the young couple. As they go looking for answers.

This book was such a fun read. I do not want to go into too many details and give anything away. I have always been fascinated by catacombs and this book does not lack descriptions and details. The further you get into the book the faster you read. Thank you to Christopher Golden and St. Martin Press for my gifted copy of this eerie book.

Have you ever seen those advertisements for European towns offering homes for 1 euro to bolster population? This book starts off with that concept, which I found neat. American couple Tommy and Kate decide to relocate to Becchina, Sicily for such an offer and to be closer to Tommy’s grandparents. But their plans for a new life start to go awry when they discover the history behind their new house, known to the locals as The House of Last Resort.

This book was a fun concept and I loved the small Italian town setting, which was why I stuck with it. But I found the writing and pacing not great and I considered the ending to be stupid. I probably would have enjoyed this more as a cheesy horror movie 😂

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC ebook!

This was a great horror/thriller book. I was immediately intrigued by the story of this book and although this book started out a bit slow, I couldn’t wait to see where the story would go. I loved the author’s descriptive writing style in this book and the eerie setting he created. This was a really enjoyable and unique read that I think lovers of haunted house stories will love reading.

Wow. What an incredible book. This is my second book by the author, and I can't wait to read more. 
Tommy and Kate have picked up their lives in America for a new life in a little town in Sicily. The town, in order to bring in tourism, decides to sell abandoned houses for 1 euro as long as the family lives there for 5 years and invests 50,000 euros in renovations. But Tommy and Kate start to see things in their house and are shocked to learn the home’s history. 
I loved this book. It has such an original storyline which makes it stand out from other horror books. I also felt like the characters were very realistic. No one did or said anything that didn't feel authentic.
My main criticism is that some things were a little overkill. There were times where I felt like Tommy and Kate were saying the same thing over and over again. Also there is a recurring theme that comes up way too often. 
This book wasn't incredibly scary, but like All Hallows it does get good and creepy in the later half. I would definitely recommend this book

The concept for this book was so interesting and different that I immediately requested it when it popped up. Unfortunately, the follow through was not that great. I'm all for a story that turns supernatural unexpectedly, but this one went a bit too far off the rails for my liking.

The House of Last Resort is a horror/thriller based in a small town in Italy where a young couple moves into a large old house with many secrets that they aren’t aware of. I did not really know what to expect from this book because it is not my typical genre, but I did enjoy it. It has aspects of paranormal activity, demons, and exorcisms, which I found interesting and also spooky. The characters were relatable and fun, and I honestly really enjoyed myself reading this book. It wasn’t as scary as I thought it was going to be, but that is definitely my objective view, some might find it pretty terrifying. Definitely recommend this book, and I think it has encouraged me to explore more horror books!

This is my first serious horror in a while so I had a hard time keeping up with the plot. It was also kind of a slow start but the story built up towards the middle. I feel like horror fans would enjoy this a lot! I just think it’s not the right book for me.

Tommy and Kate decide to leave their American lives and purchase a crumbling Italian Villa as part of the town’s attempt to invigorate the economy and bring new people to the area…cue the creepy house shenanigans, townsfolk hiding secrets, undiscovered catacombs, and the occult. This book sucked me in and was hard to put down. I wish the story was a little more fleshed out, it seemed to wrap up a bit too soon. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read review this book!

“Across Italy, there are many half-empty towns, nearly abandoned by those who migrate to the coasts or cities. The beautiful, crumbling hilltop town of Becchina is among them, but its mayor has taken drastic measures to rebuild - selling abandoned homes to anyone in the world for a single Euro, as long as the buyer promises to live there for at least five years.”

This sounds like an incredible deal, and something that I would have considered in a heartbeat. Especially if I were the main characters in The House of Last Resort and had family ties in Becchina! I really enjoyed this spooky, atmospheric gothic set in the hills and catacombs of old Italy.

When Kate and Tommy move into their 1 Euro house and find a locked door to an annex - they think nothing of it besides the fact that they got even more house in the deal. But when their family starts to whisper about the “House Of Last Resort” and they find that their house was owned by the Church for generations - they begin to realize they’ve bit off more than they can chew.

While this book was fairly predictable at certain points, it was a fast, tense read and had some great horror elements. Check this one out if you like horror, catacombs, Italy, and psychological thrillers!