The Exorcist’s House by Nick Roberts – A Book Review

Blurb:

In the summer of 1994, psychologist Daniel Hill buys a rustic farmhouse nestled in the rolling hills of West Virginia.

Along with his wife and teenage daughter, the family uproots their lives in Ohio and moves south. They are initially seduced by the natural beauty of the country setting. That soon changes when they discover a hidden room in the basement with a well, boarded shut and adorned with crucifixes.

Local legends about the previous owner being an exorcist come to light, but by then, all Hell has broken loose.

Author: Nick Roberts

Publisher: Crystal Lake Publishing

Release Date: 06/06/2022

Genre: Horror

Pages: 288

My Chosen Format: Kindle

My Rating of ‘The Exorcist’s House’: 4 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon

Review:

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Crystal Lake Publishing is one of the first places I look when I want some solid horror. I’m happy to say that ‘The Exorcist’s House’ definitely hit the high notes as far as good, solid horror is concerned.

Our story takes place in the 90s (love a bit of retro (can you call the 90s retro? Is it old enough for that? And should I be using a bracket inside brackets? Who knows?) and took me back to when I was growing up in a time before smart watches/phones/tv’s/everything. Any time I get to inhale a bit of nostalgia, I love it. And I loved this.

I will admit, I do prefer my horror to be a little more inconspicuous, where this was very overt horror. Once I accepted this was going to be a bit more in your face rather than creepy and spine-tingling, I adapted as a reader and enjoyed it more than if I’d simply stuck to my guns and wanted slow-burn creepy.

The aspect of telling a tale set in the present and the past, is always a dynamic I enjoy reading. It’s easy to do, but it’s also easy to get wrong. This was certainly more right than wrong. My only wish is that there was a little bit more done with the past entries than there was, but the whole thing came together well enough that it was a small complaint rather than one with any real weight behind it.

One thing I thought the author did very well was throw in some very (and I mean very) obvious character tropes/characteristics which had me thinking ‘I know where this is going’. Only for me to sit there after all was said and done thinking ‘Huh, turns out I didn’t know where that was going after all.’ So well done Nick for making me think I knew everything when I really didn’t.

The Exorcist’s House is a snappy (just under three-hundred pages), fun, horrory read that’s bound to delight fans of the demonic possession style of horror. It’s very easy to picture this book turned into a film, the author does a very good job with the visuals and his overall storytelling and strength of writing is solid.

There are some very graphic scenes, so it might not be for everyone. But, if you go into a horror novel expecting sunshine and rainbows then you kind of deserve what you get in my opinion 😉

All in all, this was very enjoyable with only a couple of personal issues knocking it down from a five to a four. I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for Nick’s future works.