House of Echoes by Brandon Duffy

402 Pages
Publisher: Random House – Ballantine, Ballantine
Release Date: April 14, 2015

Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Psychological, Sci Fi

Ben is a novelist. His wife, Caroline, is recently unemployed from financial work. On a whim, Ben buys an old house in serious need for renovation. He thinks this will help give Caroline something to do. While out walking with his beagle, Hudson, they come across the remains of a deer. Later, Ben will find the head in an ominous statement. While cleaning out the basement, Ben and his son, Charlie, come across an old wooden captain’s desk. It is heavy and causes

Ben to fall through the dilapidated stairs. The desk crashes back into the basement and lays in pieces. Ben looks through the debris and finds survey maps of the area and an old bible.
Caroline and Ben go to the preservation meeting. The residents make Caroline feel uncomfortable, but Ben is energized by the experience and uses the experience to begin a new novel.

What a book. An old house, an isolated town, and an unusual community. The history of the town is key to the present. The book was slow to build then hurry up at the end. The characters are well developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. If you liked the television show, Haven, you would enjoy reading this book.

The family hits a hard time in their lives. Dad is a failing writer and mom loses her job. Meanwhile their young son is getting bullied at school and things don't seem to be getting better. Then they inherit a house to restore on a parcel of land and they feel like the move is just what they need. If the story had continued on this path, I would really have enjoyed it. But instead, it seemed to go all over the place. Sometimes a thriller, sometimes a bit of history thrown in and sometimes a bit of mystery. I could not relate to the characters as they all seemed so disjointed. A shame really, because the beginning was good.

This one will keep you going as it has a suspense that will keep you hook! Highly recommend this book!

I received a free copy from NetGalley. A family moves from the city to the country for a new start. Mom has issues. Dad is suppose to be writing a book but stuck. The kid isn't making friends and is acting weird. The town as you get to know it, keeps getting stranger and stranger. Okay story line and conclusion, but not my usual read and this book reminded why.

I thoroughly enjoyed this tale. Although the story begins the way hundreds of other book's do, with a family moving to a new town in hopes of a fresh start, the plot thickens after their arrival.

There is just something inherently sinister about a town surrounded by forests. It is a trope, but in a good way.

I rate this book as 4 out of 5 Stars

I finally finished this book! Reading the ARC or listening to the audio book for the last 5 years. It was worth the wait. Very suspenseful. Highly recommended.

House of Echoes is Brendan Duffy’s debut novel, but it doesn’t read like a first novel. Instead, it reads like a book from an old favorite author who is on your automatic preorder list. An author whose work is so mesmerizing, so complex and full of interesting, well-developed characters that you can’t put it down and a story stays with you for a long time.

House of Echoes is a delicious blend of a family looking for a fresh start with bone-chilling terror. Nothing is as it seems. Swannhaven seems like the perfect place to settle, a cozy little village. But looks can be deceiving. Secrets, danger, unexplainable events. Brilliantly crafted, in a setting so full of scary atmosphere you’ll have to read with all the lights on. Highly recommend. Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advance copy. I enjoyed it so much I purchased a hardcover as soon as I finished reading.

For a debut novel this book was really good. Thrilling, page turner. Can't believe it is his first novel. So well written. Thank you #NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book before publication.

This is a gothic style mystery novel that is a good debut for Brendan Duffy. The story flows really well and the main characters were very well developed. Overall a very good read!

The Tierney's are hoping for a new start. Ben and Caroline have hit a wall with their careers and hope to move away for a fresh start. Ben is a writer and has hit an end with his new novel. Caroline lost her banking job and their eight year old son Charlie has been dealing with bullying at his school.

Ben inherits land in the village of Swannhaven. This is in upstate New York. The Tierney's believe that this is their big break. They set out to restore an old house on the land and to get away from all their dead ends they have recently hit.

As Ben begins to uncover some stuff about the house, they begin to question what they have gotten themselves into. Chilling secrets begin to emerge. Charlie begins to explore secrets deeper in the woods as well. What are the Tierney's going to do now? They thought they were doing the right thing by escaping to Swannhaven. You will have to see what all the Tierney's uncover and what happens to them. Will they stay at the house they wanted to restore or tuck tail and run?

This was a good read and I am anxious to see what is next in store for us from Brendan Duffy!

I AM SO EMBARRASSED ... JUST NOW FINDING THIS ONE ON MY KINDLE/AMAZON. WAS NEVER READ SO NO REVIEW COMING AT THIS LATE DATE. MY SINCERE APOLOGIES. BOOK HAS BEEN ARCHIVED.

I'm not normally one for scary stories, so I was a bit concerned about reading House of Echoes. The story was a bit creepy, but I did not find it nearly as frightening or disturbing as I had imagined. The book is easy to compare to The Shining., and in some cases the movie Hot Fuzz, though it has it's own voice. A good bit of the book is spent wondering if the events are super-natural or reality based. Overall the book was pretty good, but had the potential to be far better. There were quite a few missed opportunities or events that could have been more deeply explored.