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This is my first David Mitchell book, so I can only hope I’m not missing anything by not having read any of his other works before reading this one. Apparently they’re linked, but can be read as stand alone novels. I didn’t feel like I was missing anything when I read this book, but I’d still like to read Mitchell’s other stuff so I can get whatever connection I might be missing. Also just because Mitchell is an amazing writer.
I read this to fulfill the horror requirement on Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge. Based on my experience reading a horror book last year and the way everyone in my book group talked about this book, I was afraid to read it alone at night.
It’s not that kind of horror book. It’s definitely horror, but it’s more trippy and creepy than outright scary. I highly recommend you read it, but if you haven’t yet, be warned, HERE BE SPOILERS!
Slade House doesn’t actually exist. It used to, but then it was bombed to hell in WWII, but not before a twin brother and sister managed to cast their spell on it. Now, once every nine years, on the last Saturday of October, someone tends to find a small iron door set in the wall of Slade Alley. Once through the door, the visitors see a large lawn and garden flanked by a grand mansion, but the similarities end there.
Sometimes they’re greeted by a woman and her son. Sometimes a childless widow. Other times a massive Halloween party. In each case things start to look weird at some point, but the characters always attribute it to something else. Also the house has a way of playing tricks on the mind and making them think they’ve been there for more or less time than they really have.
The twins have been running this operation for about 150 years. Every nine years they need to lure in someone with a particular kind of soul. Only these special people can open the metal door and only their special souls can provide the energy to keep the spirits and their illusion going for the next nine years.
At five chapters and just over 200 pages, this book is pretty short. Each chapter takes place in a different year and covers a different person who was lured into the twins’ trap and tempted into eating something before getting their soul sucked out of them.
Things start to go wrong for the twins from the very first chapter when one of their former victims tries to warn off the current victim. Each trap gets increasingly compromised until the last chapter, when they finally make the mistake of luring in someone who knows exactly what’s going on.
I loved that the last chapter was told from the perspective of one of the twins. It was so satisfying to get to see the ritual play out from the other end. The book ended on a bit of a cliffhanger though, so I’m excited to see what Mitchell comes up with next.
What did you guys read this week? Anything else by a new-to-you author? I want to hear all about it!