Twelve Nights at Rotter House
Ratings13
Average rating3.2
The bulk of the book was really good, the scares were fun and I liked the meta-horror discussions. However the the actual plot and the ending twist especially I didn't enjoy much. I'm not the kind of person who thinks a bad ending ruins a whole story and I don't think it here either exactly, but it does reframe the story in a way I wasn't a fan of. Still a fun enough read.
the ending is fucking genuis wow, as for everything else it was slow and a little boring lol
Started off good and I like the idea of the ending but WAY too rushed. I wanted a little more insanity sprinkled in and a more fleshed out ending. :/
I think this may be one of my favorite haunted house books. It ticked every box for me and the end blew me away. J.W. Ocker is becoming one of my favorite authors of all time. Whether it's adult fiction, non-fiction, or middle grade his writing is so easy to get into. I'm honestly surprised that it took me this long to read this AND that I don't see this book more often in the horror community.
I wished I went in knowing a little less so I'm not going to say much else. Just know if you're a fan of horror this is for you. Especially if you love a good haunted house story, even if you're a skeptic. Highly recommend!
WOW. SO good. Seriously. Genuinely loved the tension, relationships, and mystery. Should've seen the ending coming but there were so many twists and turns that I discounted it early (wrongly). Genuinely really liked this book and highly recommend it!!
A 4.5 star for me.
A very good haunted house story with a deep subplot.
The progression of the supernatural phenomenon follow's the development of the relationship (or the remaking of that relationship) between Felix and Thomas, best friends navigating through a fallout.
The character building is incredibly good. The author brings us along a rollercoaster ride of weird, terrifying, and even grisly phenomenon that progressively gets worse and worse over the course of those twelve nights and through the distinct phases of relationship rebuilding.
Both Felix and Thomas are horror movie buffs much to the delight of all movie-buff-readers out there. I have a challenge for you, try to win the multiple horror movie wars they play, no cheating!
This has all the haunted house tropes, but they are presented in such a way that it doesn't feel cheesy or old. A very brilliant trick from the author.
Overall, it's a well build story with an ending that I did not expect at all.
This one is sticking in my mind, lingering like a spectacle, an entity from behind, a “full-torso-apparition casually looking up books in a library.”
I recommend this one to all the horror-movie-buffs out there, but also to all of you atmospheric, numinous, grim, spooky, hunted house fans.
I really wanted to read a good haunted house story. While this was an ok story, it wasn't scary...at all. This would be a good one for readers who want a Spooktober book that is spooky but not terrifying.
In my opinion, this book was amazing. I loved Felix as a narrator (I tend to like when protagonists are authors; especially horror authors in a horror book)
I thought Felix was pretty funny and reading from his perspective really added to my enjoyment of the story. I feel it's important to note that I may have liked his perspective so much because I actually have almost the exact same viewpoint on the supernatural as his character does, so that may have made it more fun for me to read.
The banter and overall dialogue between Felix and Thomas was great and fun to read as well.
I loved the meta-ness of this book, as well as the overall tone to it. I like when books can make fun of themselves a bit, and that definitely happens throughout this.
The only thing is the ending, while I did catch a couple of hints that it was coming, it definitely still caught me off guard. That being said, after thinking on it for a bit, I do like the ending, but I can definitely see how it isn't for everyone. Maybe keep that in mind before you pick this one up.