A House With Good Bones

I liked the broad outlines of this one, but I have a number of gripes. Most immediately, it's overwritten, in that "trying too hard" way some authors have of trying to be too clever in their prose. It takes me out of the story, but either it got better as it went on, or I stopped caring as much about it. Probably more importantly, it was too predictable by half, and I anticipated basically every major story beat.

I think the book is at its best in its first act or two, when everything is pleasantly unsettling and before more details are revealed. Although I could still predict where we were going, the horror — like all horror — is much more effective when exactly what's happening isn't spelled out for you.