'Slade House' by David Mitchell is a mysterious and eerie tale that revolves around a hidden house in London where unsuspecting victims disappear every nine years. The story follows a series of characters lured into Slade House, each chapter set nine years apart, as they encounter supernatural elements and face the chilling reality of the house's inhabitants. David Mitchell's writing style intricately weaves together multiple characters and timelines, creating a haunting and suspenseful atmosphere that keeps readers engaged throughout the book.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings include themes of death, trauma, and psychological horror, though the level is not extremely high.
From The Publisher:
The New York Times bestseller by the author of The Bone Clocks and Cloud Atlas | Named One of the Best Books of the Year by San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, National Post, BookPage, and Kirkus Reviews
Keep your eyes peeled for a small black iron door.
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 stranger will greet you by name and invite you inside. At first, you won't want to leave. Later, you'll find that you can't. Every nine years, the house's residents-an odd brother and sister-extend a unique invitation to someone who's different or lonely: a precocious teenager, a recently 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 an 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.
Praise for Slade House
"A fiendish delight . . . Mitchell is something of a magician."-The Washington Post
"Entertainingly eerie . . . We turn to [Mitchell] for brain-tickling puzzle palaces, for character studies and for language."-Chicago Tribune
"A ripping yarn . . . Like Shirley Jackson's Hill House or the Overlook Hotel from Stephen King's The Shining, [Slade House] is a thin sliver of hell designed to entrap the unwary. . . . As the Mitchellverse grows ever more expansive and connected, this short but powerful novel hints at still more marvels to come."-San Francisco Chronicle
"Like Stephen King in a fever . . . manically ingenious."-The Guardian (U.K.)
"A haunted house story that savors of Dickens, Stephen King, J. K. Rowling and H. P. Lovecraft, but possesses more psychic voltage than any of them."-Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Tightly crafted and suspenseful yet warmly human . . . the ultimate spooky nursery tale for adults."-The Huffington Post
Ratings (27)
Incredible (5) | |
Loved It (14) | |
Liked It (4) | |
It Was OK (3) | |
Did Not Like (1) |
Reader Stats (70):
Read It (30) | |
Want To Read (27) | |
Not Interested (13) |
2 comment(s)
So gooooooood! I like the comparisons to Henry James'
Turn of the Screw, because even though you know bad things are happening, you still somehow don't know what's happening. What is this magic trick you are playing on me David Mitchell. How can you keep ramping up the suspense in chapter after chapter in which essentially the same thing repeats itself.
The only reason I gave this four stars is because early chapters are a bit info-dumpy. The novel is short, there is a lot going on, and sometime the villains have a conveniently info-packed conversation. David Mitchell is so skilled, I wonder if he could have found a different way. However, I still loved this book and I think it's a great introduction to Mitchell for people who don't want to start with an 800 pager.
This book seriously disturbed and creeped me out! I had nightmares after reading it. I like the author's writing style, might check out his other work.
What can you read after
Slade House?
About the Author:
David Mitchell is the award-winning and bestselling author of Slade House, The Bone Clocks, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, Black Swan Green, Cloud Atlas, Number9Dream, and Ghostwritten. Twice shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Mitchell was named one…
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