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The Exorcist's House by Nick Roberts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A demon living in a basement inside a rural farmhouse? Yes, please!
The first installment in this trilogy series by Nick Roberts will have you sleeping with the lights on and making your husband stand guard outside the bathroom door in the middle of the night so you can pee in safety (at least, that was my experience). The story centers around the Hill family, who purchase a farmhouse in the country, but they're idyllic provincial dreams are upended when they discover a secret room in their basement with a boarded up well covered by crucifixes and the horrors that lie within.
This book is quintessential horror, equipped with an eerily foreboding prologue, a bathtub scene for the ages, and some pretty good psychological terror. The main character, Daniel Hill, is the typical pompous and cynical male protagonist we've come to expect in the horror genre. He explains away all the spooky occurrences well beyond the acceptable range for denial and doesn't act until it's too late. Some of the early scary moments were so blatant that it befuddled me that the family didn't talk to each other about what was going on.
I listened to the audio version of the book, and in typical fashion with male narrators, the female dialogue came out very whiny and nagging. Is that really how we sound to men that they interpret audibly interpret us as Edith Bunker. Otherwise, the narrator did a great job of voicing the demon. It was deep, dirty, and terrifying. The pace of the book was spot on; never lagging.
Quick and dirty: I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. There were subtle nods to The Exorcist and The Amityville Horror, while maintaining its own storyline and voice. It was atmospheric, foreboding, gory, terrifying, and tragic. It hits all the right spots for the horrorphile. I would definitely recommend it, both in print and audio.
SPOILERS AHEAD! PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
READER'S CORNER (DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK YET!)
1. They never explained why the demon was so hot in Luke's body, or why it had to slither back into the cave, weak and diminished.
2. I found it corny that Luke and Merle came back to save the day with a flashlight!
3. The author never explained why the demon was so hot in Luke's body. Also, why did it have to slither back into the well, weak and diminished?
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