Partially read, mostly listened to the audiobook on this one and it was pretty good! The pacing was good and I was rooting for the main character to have a happy ending which I suppose he ends up with 🤣 this is my first Nesbo book and I’m interested to read more from him!

I really didn't like the mental health rep in this. It's not only inaccurate, but kind of offensive. This also leans heavily on a particular trope and uses language that's very dated - neither of which aged well. On a positive note, there were some scenes that were written very well.

This one didn't do it for me like her other books, though it wasn't bad at all. It just didn't hit like her previous titles. I think it was trying to accomplish too much or maybe it was just wasn't my thing this time.

I've been familiar with the name "Jo Nesbo" for years, and knew he was a popular Scandinavian mystery writer famous for his Harry Hole series. But I'd yet to bite the bullet and pick that series up (mostly because I heard the "hero" was pretty unlikable/could be quite racist). But then I heard about this, Nesbo's first foray into horror, and thought the premise was interesting, so I put in my request.

Ultimately, The Night House -- not to be confused with the 2020 horror/thriller starring Rebecca Hall -- didn't impress me. Nesbo's style of writing/characters just fell flat for me (tho perhaps that was more the translator's fault, to be fair). Doubt I'll be picking up anything else by Nesbo going forward.

Great book! It had all the fears of growing up. Make a choice. Turn the page or close the book. Enter the darkness if you wish!

This is a quick read - I read it in two sittings. Nesbo added in some fun twists along the way, dropping bits of information throughout the novel to lead the reader to these gasp moments. I thought I knew where the book was going but then I was wrong - which I love! It didn't wow me as much as I hoped it would though.

Overall,I enjoyed this book but have liked some of his previous books better than this one. I was hoping for some scares and major creep factor - but didn't get that with this one. This book was broken up into sections and the first section was definitely my favorite. Overall, I would recommend it but I would start with some of his other novels first!

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley. This is my honest review.

This story was a bit of a mind-fuck overall, and the main character is set up early on as a bit of an unreliable narrator, which just contributes to the overall mind-fuck. When you don't even know what to believe because it could all be lies, it just messes with you. And that's what this book does for the entirety of the story.

I was thrown off by the class reunion part of the story as well. It felt like it kind of came out of nowhere to me, and it wasn't clear what was going on for parts of it, and I just really struggled to mentally connect it to the boy disappearing into a phone years before.

Overall I give The Night House 3.2736 out of 5 stars. I'll probably give the author another shot, but I wasn't blown away by this book.

I rather enjoyed this book, though I know it's not the author's "usual" such as the Harry Hole series. The three parts did seem a bit disconnected to me rather than being one cohesive book, but it still all tied together in a way that kept me intrigued from start to finish, and I would be interested in reading more stories like this from the author.

4 stars

The Night House ~ Jo Nesbo
In this twisted multi layered spin on the classic horror story, this book will blow your mind. After fourteen year old Richard's parents perish in a house fire, he is sent to live in a remote town with his aunt and uncle. Once there strange things start to happen. One classmate is sucked into the receiver of a telephone while another is turned into a bug. While stories of black magic and an abandoned house terrify Richard and his friend Karen. The first part of the book will have your nodding to it's YA horror roots. Part two will give you pause, as the story becomes more twisted. Part three... that's when your jaw hits the ground. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book in the end, albeit, part two was definitely pushing the horror boundaries.

This was honestly a real mess. Sometimes it feels like something like The House with a Clock in it's Walls with a dash of something like Twin Peaks or an Edward Goreyesque gothic thrown into it for surrealism and oddment and then it goes much more serious, then delves into gross generalization about mental illness, then out of it, and then back in, and then out long enough to tie things up. I don't think it would be inaccurate to say that it felt like I was asked to read three different books, one of which was a half written dark fantasy YA novel, and the other two of which were more like long tangents of something like a short story's length- none of them wholly satisfying or complete with their narratives. Alas, I think that was the point with our protagonist's mental state and I really didn't appreciate that element at all. If the goal was to portray Schizophrenia in anything like a sympathetic way this was absolutely not it.

Narratively the writing itself isn't terrible, however there are a lot of sections that leave out huge chunks of detail and development that really could have made this a decent retro style YA novel or adult mystery novel- no, leaving it "dreamlike" doesn't make it fit the schizophrenia narrative he chose to use here- instead its often frustrating even when you're willingly suspending belief. As many others have pointed out the fatphobic slurs are definitely rough and our main always seems to find a way to become too unlikable just when you start to accept he's complex and most of the other characters never build up enough information to become real people we want to know more about adding more to the confusion and to Richard's ickiness.

For well done books that are made up of books within books go read Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez who pulls it off much more smoothly and with better characters who clearly represent people who have endured trauma and generational trauma over time. I also enjoyed Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward which used mental illness in its narrative but didn't abuse it.

As far as schizophrenia and its horrendous representation in media I truly wish authors and screenwriters would take a course on the condition itself and the overall subject of trauma and trauma recovery as a whole and then do some real soul searching before they toss it into a book as an "interesting spin". PTSD and Schizophrenia can co-occur and share similar traits but they are not so closely tied that those with PTSD should be assumed to have schizophrenia anymore than they should be assumed to have Disassociative Identity Disorder (DID formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder), Borderline Personality Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Psychopathy, or Sociopathy on the level depicted in The Night House. As a person with loved ones who experience DID, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and BPD and a person living with Complex PTSD I was deeply disappointed with the way schizophrenia was handled here.

Okay, I know this book has a lot of mixed reviews but I loved it. There were a couple of twists and it was like whiplash but the good kind. This is a very different type of book from Nesbo and don't go into it expecting his crime series.

If you like layers within a story, and don't mind sporadic and 180 degree changes, then you will enjoy this story. That's all I can say without spoiling it.

Fact? Fiction? Or the lies we tell ourselves to cope with our pasts? In Nesbø’s THE NIGHT HOUSE, the author plays with various layers of truths through Richard’s perspective. Set in three distinct parts, the reader is kept constantly guessing what is real and what isn’t.

I have read a variety of books by Jo Nesbø, but this one was different. Far from the hardboiled detective stories I am used to, this book plays with death in a more sinisterly supernatural way. It is horror at a heightened level but also carefully crafted to explore all facets of humanity, and certain events can set a chain reaction of destruction.

Even though the Harry Hole series will always be my favorite, THE NIGHT HOUSE is a spine-chilling read. The horror of what happens is compounded by the way the author breaks the thriller up. Each section reveals another aspect of the tale as it inches its way to the truth of what is going on. Though, with this book, is the ending an ending? There were so many twists and turns, that this reader is still questioning what is the reality of Richard’s life.

I enjoyed this horror novel, but couldn't fully engage

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this review copy and the opportunity !

This book is a captivating read that effortlessly draws you in from the first page. The story flows smoothly, with intriguing characters and an unpredictable plot that keeps you hooked. It's the kind of book that makes it hard to put down, with just the right balance of depth and entertainment. A thoroughly enjoyable experience that will keep you engaged until the very end.

This was pretty entertaining, but the big twist wasn't ideal. I'm going to spoil it if you're reading this and haven't read the book yet, but It's a trope that pretty much nobody likes, so I'm not sure why the author went with that. It does make sense in context, so it didn't make me hate the book or anything, but I do wish that it was just a straight forward horror story and not a "it was all a dream" type story. I did mostly enjoy the book, though. Probably a 2.5 rounded up.

Did not download. Been having issues with books downloading. Would still like a copy to read and review.

I love Jo Nesbo and after taking time off of ready after the baby, it was so fun to jump into something so spooky and fast paced!

My first Jo Nesbo book and I was instantly shocked by the premise. I loved it. Never did I imagine a child would be eaten whole by a telephone! That was completely unexpected and had me glued to my seat. What followed in the first part of the book was the book I wish I had read. But the second and third parts of the book completely took that away from me. What would have made a fantastic horror novel turned into the strangest book at the end. I'd recommend this book to readers looking for strange horror but I was disappointed as a horror fan.

Packs quite a punch for a slim volume. Not my usual style, but I enjoyed the experience of branching out!

This was a great book filled with suspense and scary thrills. It was well paced throughout the book and didn’t have any lagging periods. It was a really nice read and not hard to follow at all. Jo Nesbo did a great job with this book and I enjoyed it. It is good for suspense and horror fans. It was a very entertaining read.