The Night House is one of the most mind-boggling, hair-raising, scintillating horror-thrillers and Jo Nesbo perfectly obscures the big twists that completely flip the narrative on its head for a finale that will shock you just as intensely as 10 electric prods, but in a much more pleasant manner.
Fourteen-year-old Richard Elauved lives with his aunt and uncle in the remote, insular town of Ballantyne after the tragic and mysterious death of his parents. A troublemaker, he finds it hard to get along with others. His predicaments take a turn for the worse when he swears he saw a boy get sucked into a phone receiver in a booth out by the edge of the woods. With no one to believe him, the suspicion falls solely on the troublemaker but he knows there’s evil at play that he can’t explain in conventional terms and he must dig deep into the town’s history. A quick thing to keep in mind, Richard may not be the most reliable narrator of his own story.
Jo Nesbo masterfully creates a disturbing environment where readers feel a palpable anxiety in their bones as Richard explores some dark and mysterious happenings buried under secrets and explanations that feel just a bit off as they do to Richard. In that regard, Richard and readers are together exploring the mystique that surely feels supernatural but yet there’s something even more sinister afoot that rears its ugly head in without fully revealing itself. It’s this aspect that’s perhaps the most horrifying once you become so emotionally invested in the narrative. The payoff is immensely satisfying because it’s only at the end you understand just how everything clicked and you’re left shook and trembling with chills.
It deviates from typical Jo Nesbo thrillers, at first, but hang in there for a truly memorable read that’s nothing like what you’d expect even half way in. Jo Nesbo is a master of misdirection and no matter what genre you’re attuned to the most, The Night House will find you and claim you.
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