The atmosphere was totally there in this book!

Tommy and Kate leave their American consumerism life behind to move to Italy, a place that Tommy spent much of his childhood with his grandparents.

They have bought this huge fixer upper house and have just arrived to put their key in the door, but something is wrong with this house. It’s not just the air of the house or the feeling of being watched, it’s something more… something sinister.

Tommy’s Nonna is furious with house they have purchased, meaning that there is something going on with the house that the locals know about, but he and Kate don’t. They soon find out, though.

The orchestration of this book was fabulous. The evil elements were some that I absolutely LOVE in horror books, so this worked really well for me! I’m all about anything to do with the evil side of church and religion.

I enjoyed this one and was properly creeped out. That ending was just iconic horror.

With that said, there was a bit of stagnation for me leading up to the last third of the book. I almost gave up but really glad I kept going.

Excellent premise and much to love about this one.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Everything I wanted in a book like this. I loved this trope. Thank you so much netgalley. Thank you Christopher golden

(Full review on website)

It’s worth noting I’m not easily pleased with haunted house stories. Most of them have left fairly standard impressions on me or none at all. The House of Last Resort falls somewhere in the upper middle range. I think Golden is an excellent writer with a great knack for taking familiar tropes and executing them in a way that breathes new life into them, this story included. However, I did feel it took too long for things to happen. I was somewhere around 40% on my Kindle before things started to creep with unease. Luckily, the final 15% or so is tense and nerve-wracking. I wish we could have gotten more from these demons and their abilities throughout the story, even if they were just sprinkled. But we were mostly provided opening and shut doors, coupled with shadows and sounds. These sorts of things fall flat for me. But the finale is a good one that is not rushed at all. And those final pages—this story gets the ending it deserved. I was worried I would get something candy coated but Golden did not disappoint. Again, I just wish there had been more from the first half of the novel.

I low-key swore off Christopher Golden's books after having read Soulless and Road of Bones (they both had fantastic premises but ultimately fell a bit flat for me), but The House of Last Resort sounded right up my alley (a haunted house and Italy and Catholic Church shenanigans – yes, please!) and so I had to give his writing one more shot. And, well, I'm happy to report that this book was pretty dang good. I mean, I'm still slightly traumatized by the ending, but that seems pretty par for the course as far as Golden's books are concerned.

So, yeah, the setting. Amazeballs. I loved the descriptions of Sicily and I may or may not have spent last night Googling “one euro houses in Italy” and “is it hard for Americans to get permanent residency in Italy?” I mean, I'm definitely rethinking that idea now that I've read the book in its entirety (and also because it sounds complicated AF to move to Italy long-term as a non-European – any Italians out there interested in a sham marriage?*), but the setting is really fabulous.

I do have to say, however, that I was tremendously annoyed by the main characters, Tommy and Kate, and their “American savior” complexes. Who moves to a new location and immediately thinks “I know better how to fix this place than the people whose families have been here for generations!” At least get your boxes unpacked before you start making plans for restoring the ancient catacombs, sheesh.

This book is a rather slow burn up until the last 30% or so, but there were still parts that were properly creepy. That scene with Kate and Nonno when they're alone together? Heck, yes, that's exactly what I came here looking for!

And the ending? Well, thanks Mr. Golden, I'll be sending you my therapy bill. At least I mostly saw it coming and had time to prepare myself.

Final rating: 3.85 stars, rounded up. If you like haunted house stories set in exotic locations, The House of Last Resort is worth a read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review.

*I'm just joking, really. Please don't send me creepy PMs.

I love a good is-it-or-isn't-it haunted house story, and this one delivered all the things I love about that type of story as well as a couple completely unexpected twists and turns.


Tommy and Kate buy a fixer upper in Sicely with dreams of starting a new, slower paced life. They're full of hope and excitement about their  fresh start, but relatives and local residents seem wary of their new home. Everyone seems to know a secret about their dream house that they're reluctant to share. When Tommy and Kate come up with a plan to revitalize the small, dying village and set up a tourism board to help draw visitors they discover more than they bargained for as the dark history of their house comes to light. 


Hidden rooms, glimpses of shadowy figures in the dark, and hints of a malevolent presence all set against the idyllic backdrop of the sunny Italian countryside gave this story an insidious, ominous feel that I loved. The happiness and promise Tom and Kate felt with their new home slowly shifted toward dread and the fear that their new life wasn't all they'd hoped it would be. The setting added an element of believability to the story that's often missing with haunting stories. It's easy to imagine how hard it would be to believe evil exists in such a seemingly peaceful location.


The House of Last Resort was a satisfying horror tale that initially sounded like well traveled ground but offered a few surprises as well as a nicely paced plot, a unique setting and backstory, and a strong sense of uneasiness that slowly transitioned into dread and horror. The first half of the book was a slow burn focused on developing the story and character's relationships, but the action really took off around the halfway point and maintained an unputdownable momentum up until the shocking ending. This is my favorite Christopher Golden book from the last few years and should be a crowd pleaser for longtime fans as well as new readers who enjoy a well developed plot and an epic, action filled ending.

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for providing me a copy to read and review.

This book was really difficult to get into. Most of the time I could not keep up with what was going on with the characters or the storyline, perhaps it was me. A beautiful abandoned home available to anyone who wants it. One euro. You read that right. Only stipulation you must stay for five years. Everything should go great right. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The quaint town of Becchina is beautiful but in desperate need of new blood to restore it. The mayor, in hopes of rebuilding, offers 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. Tommy and Kate Puglisi decide it's an offer they can’t refuse as they both work remotely and Becchina is home to Tommy's grandparents. The home the purchase appears perfect, but as soon as they move in they begin to notice strange things, find locked doors, and a hidden portion of the house they didn't know existed. They soon learn their house has a dark history and is known as The House of Last Resort for a reason.

The House of Last Resort is a entertaining new horror novel by author Christopher Golden. The novel follows a young couple who leave their busy lives and friends behind in hopes of restarting in a quaint little town in Italy. They take an offer, purchasing a fixer-upper home for a euro, which seems to good to be true. They quickly discover their home, dubbed the home of last resort, was used by the church for mental patients which were deemed "incurable" and some quite possible who were possessed by demons. There were some creepy moments leading up to the finale however this one was a bit slow paced for me. Tommy's secret backstory with his family is implied many times but the explanation doesn't really come until much later in the novel. As much as I wanted to love this one it ended up being just a mediocre read for me but still perfect for getting in the "Fall mood".

Although this novel had a worthwhile ending and a fantastic gothic atmosphere, this did not make up for a weak (and somewhat overused plot) and lackluster characters.


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127306384

This was such a fun twist and concept for a thriller. It was super creepy and fast paced. Makes you think but also makes you scared.

4/5

If you had the opportunity to buy a gorgeous home in Italy for only one euro....would you do it?

I mean, duh. Right?

Here's the gist- an American couple has the opportunity to move into this stunning abandoned home. They sell everything they own, move across the world, unpack into their new home....and realize things aren't *exactly* how they appeared in the Real Estate listing.

I've seen mixed reviews on this one, but I really loved it. It's spooky and creepy and 100% up my alley. Possession/exorcism stories always give me an extra EEEK, and this is no different.

The biggest negative for me is that it was almost TOO fast. I wanted to marinate in the spook a little longer?

Also, it maybe focuses a little too much on the architectural restoration bits vs character development for my liking.

It's worth noting: my best friends just moved to Germany and 95% of their culture shock stuff is super accurate. I texted them mid-read to make sure their new home was, in fact, not full of demons.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. All views expressed are my own.

I love Christopher Golden books so when I seen this one I knew I had to read it .
This was a great haunted house spooky read, that I couldn't stop reading.
Def recommend for those who love a good haunted house story .

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this book

I wanted to love this one because I really enjoyed previous books, but this one felt a bit too dragged out. The ending was great and half unexpected, but the amount of repetitive narration was frustrating at times. I’m not sure how much more I could take of being reminded that they were American transplants and purchased their home cheap as a part of a political campaign to re-invigorate the town.

I expected it all to hit the fan way sooner than it actually did.

I think I need to stop reading things by Christopher Golden. I keep getting sucked in by the absolutely fantastic premise/inside flap, and then the execution makes me want to rip some of my skin off. Whoever is writing his blurbs, though? A+, you absolutely need a raise. This story was very atmospheric, I'll give it that, the setting was pretty well realized which made the tone and atmosphere come to life. The characters and romance were not great, though. The characterization and romantic feelings were clunky and just proclaimed/dumped on you rather than be a piece of the story that you see unfold. There was SO much telling in this story that I felt like someone was just outlining a story at me. Their reasons for remaining in the house are also...not great? It feels like their choices were made for the sake of the plot/story but not true to any sort of realistic characterization. I read a review on here that says this should have been a short story, and I agree. Without the expectations for in-depth characterization or plotting, this could have been quick and fun. This is just too passive of a "horror" story with a pretty uninteresting overarching plot that I couldn't stay interested in it.
I can see where people might enjoy this, but overall I wasn't a huge fan.

Golden does it again! THE HOUSE OF LAST RESORT creeped me out in the best way possible and I will never be over that ending!

Extremely effective last act, but doesn't make up for the dull path leading up to it, I'm conflicted with The House of Last Resort, because on one end it's extremely atmospheric — the earthquake-prone, historic European small town setting adds a lot of contextual nuances to this haunted house story. However, its critical undoings are the character and plot, which are thinly-drawn and unfocused; the absence of an emotional connection really hinders my overall engagement beyond scenes of horror and tension (which are expertly crafted).

For a story pivoting itself around the committed love between its protagonists, at no point do I actually 'feel' it; switching between two POVs, each character constantly proclaims their feeling through extended internal monologues. The overuse of telling, instead of showing, renders the emotional journey hollow and superficial. In a domino effect, not relating to the protagonists also impacts greatly in instances when readers need to tolerate some dumb character decisions for 'horror story reason' (so many things could've been Googled ahead of time, and the novel never provides a convincing reason why they chose to remain in the house).

(On a side note, it irks me how often the characters talk to themselves in this book — as if the author fears without this additional commentary, the readers would not grasp the 'point' of the situation. But in practice it is extremely immersion-breaking.)

The House of Last Resort should've been a short story, even though I love the how chilling and 'un-Hollywood' it concludes, in retrospect the lengthy human story is passively told and superficial, and the horror aspect is allocated to a very dull plot line (too much focus on restoration). While it has the vibe nailed down (reminds me of the horror film The Sentinel from the 70s), but overall it doesn't quite scratch my horror itch until the very end.

Awesome book, just like all his others, I just loved it. I would love to visit there in that wonderful area and so it was totally a great book, with the scary stuff always happening and wonderful scenary around,I was loving every minute and maybe give it some time to read again very slowly.. I am scared to death of rats so that had a big impact on me to say oh no!! Get away from there and to see them coming at you, run stupid is what I say. LOL If you enjoyed his other books then get this one right away and be prepared. Honestly I couldn't live in a scary house but can definitly read about them, Keep it up Mr. Golden, I love your books as they keep getting better!!

Tommy and Kate get the opportunity of a lifetime when property in the Sicilian town of Becchina is being sold for one Euro on the promise that buyers will invest in fixing it up and live there for at least five years. Not only is it a scenic and historic town, but it's where Tommy's father hails from, and his grandparents, his nonno and nonna, still live. When they arrive at their massive, beautiful new home, they find one locked door sealing off the right annex, with no key in sight. After being there a little while and having bizarre dreams and possibly ghost sightings, the door is suddenly open. And what hides behind it and below the surface is more frightening then they could ever have imagined.
If you haven't read any reviews or further details about the plot than what's in the basic description, don't seek any out. This novel keeps its secrets close to the vest for a good part of the story, and you may find yourself pleasantly surprised at where it leads if you have no real inkling ahead of time. While there is a simmering of something malevolent early on, what's really happening doesn't make itself known until a lot has occurred plot-wise. While the story doesn't exactly cover new ground in the horror realm, it does take a very different look at its horror than most other similar stories.

So the author is a blind read for me. I always enjoy his books and love going in with absolutely no clue of what’s to come.

And what a creepy delight this was!

First of all, I studied Italian in Taormina and the author absolutely brought me back to Sicily. And despite the horrors that the brings us, there was still absolutely one part of me that said…I want to go back there and live there! Just maybe not this house in this town.

Golden does a masterful job of building the eeriness in this one. It starts creepy and ends in full on iconic horror!

I was only sorry that it was over.

An absolute thrill of a read!

• ARC via Publisher

Thanks to Netgalley and Minotaur books for the ARC.

If you're into suspense/ horror/thriller books then you should enjoy this book. I love his spin on a complaint I've heard many people complain about over the years, and write a book about it. What's that complaint? Someone needs to do something with those pesky abandon houses.
In the House Of Last Resort, Tommy and Kate buy a rebuilt abandoned house for one euro, but commit to living there for 5 years.
Shortly after, weird things start happening and they learn that there's plenty more going on than meets the surface.

I was engrossed in this book film tbr beginning. It was fast paced and just kept pulling me in.