Saturday 16 July 2016

Review: The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich

Title: The Dead House
Author: Dawn Kurtagich
Published: 6th August 2015
Publisher: Hachette UK (Indigo Imprint)
Source: Library
Reviewed: Sapphired Dragon
Rating: **** 1/2

My Review:

I could not put this book down! I picked it up yesterday afternoon asI had been meaning to read it for a while and decided to try and squeeze it before my next couple of review reads and I had finished before just after midnight.

I found it had the right balance of Creepiness and Mystery with out being over the top and I found it not only easy to read but found myself compelled to keep reading pulled into the mystery and needing to see exactly what happened and how it would all play out.

I loved the way it presented in the style of official documents,diary entries, video excerpt and police interviews as testimony for a trial. The book itself is set in the future and they are looking at a incident (called the Johnson incident) which occurred in 2005 involving parts of a boarding school being burned down, the death of three people and the serious injury of another. It gave you the feeling you were interpreting the evidence right along side the jury and to see how your conclusions married up with those at the end.

This novel is part creepy, part mystery part psychological thriller and through the whole experience you are constantly needing to make up your mind whether are events are happening as described and seen or the ravings of a seriously disturbed young girl. An the end ending , regardless of the conclusions you have previously drawn leaves you with questions anew that you may just find your self thinking about at 3 am in the morning..

If you love a good compelling spooky read that hook you in from beginning to end and then leave you breathless, then I definitely recommend the Dead House.

I give it 4 1/2 stars!

Sapphired Dragon xx





About The Book:



The Dead House By Dawn Kurtagich












Part-psychological thriller, part-urban legend, this is an unsettling narrative made up of diary entries, interview transcripts, film footage transcripts and medical notes. Twenty-five years ago, Elmbridge High burned down. Three people were killed and one pupil, Carly Johnson, disappeared. Now a diary has been found in the ruins of the school. The diary belongs to Kaitlyn Johnson, Carly’s identical twin sister. But Carly didn’t have a twin . . .

Re-opened police records, psychiatric reports, transcripts of video footage and fragments of diary reveal a web of deceit and intrigue, violence and murder, raising a whole lot more questions than it answers.

Who was Kaitlyn and why did she only appear at night? Did she really exist or was she a figment of a disturbed mind? What were the illicit rituals taking place at the school? And just what did happen at Elmbridge in the events leading up to ‘the Johnson Incident’?

Chilling, creepy and utterly compelling, THE DEAD HOUSE is one of those very special books that finds all the dark places in your imagination, and haunts you long after you've finished reading.  


 
 
 
     

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