The Night House

A novel

By: Jo Nesbo, Neil Smith - translator

Narrated by: Michael Crouch

From the internationally best-selling author, a chilling fresh spin on the classic horror novel • When the voices call, don't answer.

“In The Night House, the horror begins immediately. And it only keeps calling from there.”—Josh Malerman, New York Times best-selling author of Bird Box and Spin a Black Yarn

In the wake of his parents’ tragic deaths in a house fire, fourteen-year-old Richard Elauved has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the remote, insular town of Ballantyne. Richard quickly earns a reputation as an outcast, and when a classmate named Tom goes missing, everyone suspects the new, angry boy is responsible for his disappearance. No one believes him when he says the telephone booth out by the edge of the woods sucked Tom into the receiver like something out of a horror movie. No one, that is, except Karen, a beguiling fellow outsider who encourages Richard to pursue clues the police refuse to investigate. He traces the number that Tom prank-called from the phone booth to an abandoned house in the Mirror Forest. There he catches a glimpse of a terrifying face in the window. And then the voices begin to whisper in his ear . . .

She’s going to burn. The girl you love is going to burn. There’s nothing you can do about it.

When another classmate disappears, Richard must find a way to prove his innocence—and preserve his sanity—as he grapples with the dark magic that is possessing Ballantyne and pursuing his destruction.

Then again, Richard may not be the most reliable narrator of his own story . . .

Great journey until the end.

There's a problematic non-character with "schizophrenia" who commits murder. This is a trope that needs to die. People with schizophrenia are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators, and stigma like this is why.

Most of this book is very enjoyable, and had the adventure/journey feeling that I love in a story. The in-universe lore of "word magic" was fun, but felt a little bit lost in translation. The youth detention center is very similar to many of the group homes where I spent my teen years. I loved the character of Fatso/Jack, and the way he responded to people who attempted to dull his shine.

The weak point is the ending. It's got that obnoxious bookend of "none of this actually happened," because it was actually a story within a story, but then the ending kept going and going and ... I turned it off with almost an hour to go.

If you stop around chapter 23 or 24 (I think), this is actually a great book! The author got lost after that.

Too many reviewers are using an adult perspective

This is a YA book! It’s not Harry Hole, its a young adult book. It’s okay for an author to expand their audience. Harry Potter isn’t Strike. I will continue to purchase any Nesbo novel, but hopefully review it from the perspective for whom it was written.

Fascinating story

The story, translation, and narrator were stellar. The story itself was fascinating. I’ll be thinking about this one for a while.

Very engaging

After a slow start I couldn’t put it down. It held my interest to the end.

Great science fiction story

This was not Nesbo’s usual style but I liked it none the less. It left me guessing/thinking right up until the end.