Review: Slade House

My Thoughts On: Slade House by David Mitchell

Format: Hardcover

Released: October 27, 2015

Review by: Kenneth Toles Jr.

My first thoughts on Slade House were not bad, but they were not great either. I didn’t really feel like the book was for me, like I wasn’t the intended audience. About twenty pages later, I started to see that I was wrong and that it was for me. Here’s what I mean:

The story begins with a child (I’ll try to avoid using names because names are important and spoiler territory IMO) who has gone with his mother to Slade House. It is told from his perspective during the first chapter, and this is why at first I thought the story was a children’s book. Here is where I started to feel differently. He has been taking his mom’s Valium, and though there are strange paranormal things happening around him, he believes that the medicine is causing hallucinations. For some reason though, he keeps his cool. Under pressure, this kid is awesome…a little too awesome to be realistic. You would think any kid who is on what seems to be an acid trip would panic. Not this kid. Still, at this point, I’m interested in the story. I keep reading.

I won’t go into anymore details, but I will say that the story changes perspectives every chapter. You don’t stick with one person, and I like that. I don’t think I’ve ever read one like that before, so I enjoyed it.

Now, here’s my gripe. The story got GREAT two or three chapters in. I was Bookish McGhee for a while… And then… The ending came. The last couple of chapters were not bad, but they were so rushed that I feel like he almost killed the story with them. The story had more to tell, but he seemingly skipped over details so he could just end it. As an author myself, I know that endings are extremely hard to write, but it always sucks when an ending is rushed and feels like the author was just done with the story. That’s what this feels like.

For a second, I almost regretted reading this story because of the end, but I thought about it. I don’t regret it at all. This story is one that is about the journey and not the destination. I enjoyed the journey so much that the ending, though it matters tremendously, wasn’t a deal breaker.

If you enjoy paranormal stories with a little bit of comedy thrown in, give Slade House a read.

I give it a 3.78 out of 5, but we don’t really rate on our blog, do we?

I recommend it. Give it a read, and let us know what you think.

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