Devil House by John Darnielle

Devil House by John Darnielle
⭐⭐⭐

Devil House follows the story of Gage Chandler, a True Crime author investigating and writing a novel about a double homicide at (what later becomes known as) the Devil House. As he begins his investigation, he uncovers deeper layers hidden beneath the local rumors surrounding this murder case, and the truth leaves him feeling untethered and unsure of himself.

This book has really divided its readers - people have either loved it or hated it! I fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. The story is interesting and generally, the book has a lot to say about true crime, not only as a genre, but also as a source of entertainment. I loved what this book stood for and the points it was trying to get across. 

Despite enjoying the discussion on sensationalism and true crime though, I definitely have criticisms - one of which is that for 70% of the book, I was so bored. A couple of times I even reconsidered my decision to read it, but clearly, as you can see from my rating, I stuck with it until the very end. It is extremely slow and there is barely any suspense in the story. This book is also so disorganized, and it took away from my overall enjoyment of the narrative. Devil House isn't terrible, because the meaning behind it is very important, but this book is not pleasurable to read. 

Our narrator is constantly trying to meld the present day with the past, which can make the story a little murky at times, especially as you get deeper into it. There is also an entire section of the book that makes little to no sense. It totally removes you from the story and the reason for including it is still unknown to me. 

With that said, however, at a certain point, the meaning of the story is revealed to us, and it was at this point that I realized the entire narrative had been leading to a deeper conversation about sensationalism within the genre of True Crime. By no stretch of the imagination could this be considered horror, though. The story is a ghost story of sorts, as it tells the story of victims being haunted by their trauma, as well as the world's need to retell it.

Overall, I gave this book 3 stars because it served as a great analysis of sensationalism and how society feeds off of blood and tragedy for entertainment. It's definitely not a must-read, though it was very thought provoking!