Book Review: Slade House by David Mitchell

Title: Slade House
Author: David Mitchell
Publication Date: October 27th, 2015
Publisher: Random House

Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis: Down the road from a working-class British pub, along the brick wall of a narrow alley, if the conditions are exactly right, you'll find the entrance to Slade House: a surreal place where visitors see what they want to see including some things that should be impossible. Every nine years, the house's residents, and odd brother and sister, extend a unique invitation to someone who's different or lonely, a precious teenager, a divorced policeman, a shy college student. But what really goes on inside Slade House? For those who find out, it's already too late...

Spanning five decades, from the last days of the 1970s to the present, leaping genres, and barreling toward its astonishing conclusion, this intricately woven novel will pull you into a reality-warping new vision of the haunted house story, as only David Mitchell could imagine it.

Arc provided by Random House in exchange for honest review.

Going into this novel I had at best expected an average haunted house story. Since I have yet to read a David Mitchell book I had no idea what was in store.. Let it be known that this book easily took me by surprise.

Spanning across five decades from 1979-2015, David Mitchell tells the compelling story of twins Norah and Jonah who inhabit Slade House and every nine years they invite guests for a visit. Permanently.

This story was the perfect October read. They way David Mitchell tells a story is compelling. His prose and plot arc, settles in your mind and plays tricks on you until you don't even know what is the truth.

The best way to go into this novel is knowing very little, for it leaves much to be imagined. When I realized that this novel was actually told in five separate story lines that intertwine with each other, I was a bit apprehensive. Many times coming across a book with separate story lines, its can come across as choppy and hard to follow. This wasn't the case with Slade House, Mitchell is able to blend and intertwine his story lines which also take place in different decades, beautifully.

The story of Slade House is chilling and haunting and I found myself definitely creeped out while reading this at night. It's fast paced and quite short so you'll find yourself flying through it quickly.

Nearing the end I was pondering how Mitchell would conclude this novel and I have to say that is where my ratings fell. Upon reading other reviews I realized that David Mitchell blends some of his characters and elements from his previous book The Bone Clocks, in this novel, and that it's best to read that prior to this novel if you want to understand the ending more clearly.

The ending was bit confusing and felt rushed to just drive the point home, which is why Slade House ended up as a four star book for me. I am still very much intrigued to read David Mitchell's other books.

If you're still looking for a creepy mind altering novel after October then I definitely recommend this book. It is sure to be one you'll never forget.