I listened to the audio as well as read the print version. The narrators were PHENOMENAL and made the book so creepy. The story was interesting and creepy but left me confused at the end. Which I hate. I believe another book I read by this author also left me feeling like, "what just happened?", when I finished the book. I wish she would quit doing that.

OMG! I honestly do not know what I was waiting so long for! This book was amazing! This book had so many layers and still left you wondering what exactly was this book was about!!!! I guess at it's core it's about a girl...or should I say 2 girls. 2 girls, 1 body. Carly gets the day and Kaitlyn gets the night. She's not your average girl with split personality disorder, as her Dr. says, since it's always split like that. Her Dr. thinks that her personality split to help her cope with her parent's tragic death, but the thing is, the 2 girls have always been here. Their parent's didn't think people would understand so told them to keep the secret. They were so right!

But now, something has gone very wrong. The police are involved. Carly is missing. Several people are dead. And more and more questions are being asked.

I think I need to read this book again! So good!!!

I honestly wasn't sure what to think of this book going in. It's been a while since I've read a horror novel and I didn't know if I still felt the same way about them.

This book, though no longer in a genre I'm crazy about, was pretty good. I liked the format in which it was written and the creepy little scenes that had me looking over my shoulder. Not a bad story, very intriguing and original.

Review on Goodreads and Amazon

I have to say that I have tried to push through this book since I requested it from Netgalley for review and just can't do it. I have gotten far enough along that I can give an honest review, but this is after almost two years of trying. Normally, I am all over a great ghost story.

I found the book very discombobulated in its formatting. Was it first person narrative told through diary entries? Was it a simple narrative? It combined several different, which left me cold. I thought the premise of the story was excellent and it is what had drawn me to the book. The storytelling was quite different.

Now this book is highly rated, so it is one that more than likely didn't mesh with me.

It messed with my brain and left me speechless! I mean, if you`d asked me to retell the story, I wouldn`t have been able to. Just because I don`t know myself what really happened there. This book is a trickster, and we have a very unreliable main character.

Did not finish. Unfortunately, the writing style is cumbersome and the story line overly complex.

*eARC kindly provided by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers via NetGalley*



Holy shit. While not necessarily scary, it was definitely a creepy read, and quite fascinating. Personality was always like my favorite area of psychology, so that combined with the horror and supernatural elements made for a fast-paced, on-the-edge-of-my-seat thriller. And the way it was written also added to the atmosphere. I just wasn't 100% into the paranormal aspect, nor did I emotionally connect to any of the characters. But I felt like it was worth my time, and I kept reading because I just HAD to know how it all came together.

Rating: 3.5 Paw Prints!

Such a creepy, scary, freaky book! I couldn't listen to it at night! It took a minute to get into but once I did, wow! Two narrators and full sound effects makes for an eerie story! Told in interviews, audio clips, camera clips, and diary entries, it's up to the reader to piece together who Carly and Kaitlyn are, what you believe about mental illness, and who was really in control during these incidents. It was really cool. I went back and forth between the e-book and the audio.

Highly confusing; poor writing. Whatever small creepy factor it had it got diluted in bad writing and unclear, flimsy plot. This book was a collection of missed opportunities.

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of The Dead House. This is my honest opinion of the book.

When a historical high school with student boarders catches fire, leaving three dead and one missing, a suspect named Kaitlyn Johnson is said to be a student, although she was never registered as one. A message book found in the attic points to a very disturbed mind. Kaitlyn, Carly Johnson's alter, communicates with her other personality by leaving notes in the message book. When things start to change and become more sinister for Kaitlyn, how will her spiral affect her real life?

I have to admit that The Dead House intrigued me at the beginning, but when the subject matter turned to trapped souls, it lost me. The format of the book did not help, as the unconventional way of expressing information via video, doctor notes, police interviews, and Kaitlyn's journal served only to disrupt the continuity. I wish that the author had fully committed to one idea, either with the supernatural elements or without, as the focus was pulled not unlike an unwinnable tug-of-war. The spooky, horror aspects were not fully realized so, in the end, The Dead House suffered from an identity crisis of its own.

Dawn Kurtagich is such a fantastic writer! I love the format of this book. The use of a diary, police interviews, doctor sessions, video, and even post-it notes is brilliant. One thing she does really well, is to keep you unsettled and guessing until the very end of the book. It's always a little uncomfortable to read one of her books, but you cannot put it down because you just have to know what is going to happen. With this story, I HIGHLY recommend that you read the author's note at the end of the book. How she came up with the idea for the story is truly fascinating. My gut feeling is that she will have a very long and very successful career as a writer. She better, because I need to read more from her!!!