This is a review of sorts.
On a whim I picked this book up from Amazon, not knowing anything about it or who the author is. Turns out the author, David Mitchell, is the author of several highly-acclaimed books like
The Bone Clocks & Cloud Atlas -- yeah, the book that inspired the mediocre, experimental film starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry. He's a master of -- I don't even know what to call it -- intersecting narratives? It doesn't follow one character, it follows different characters each chapter who all experience recurring characters and themes. In Cloud Atlas you see it in reincarnated souls meeting across various eras; in The Bone Clocks the story is told by various characters who all encounter the same protagonist as the timeline of the story progresses.
Slade House tells the story of five characters who are drawn to the titular Slade House for a mysterious reason, encountering the villains of the story, a pair of twins that prey on people every 9 years, for reasons that are gradually explained throughout the book. Each chapter follows a formula: the characters encounter the house, meet the twins, are lured upstairs, and then murdered, at which point the twins give exposition detailing a little more about their motives and abilities. I don't want to spoil too much of the book (and I'd worry about even telling you the pattern of the book, though it's gradually subverted as it progresses).
The first character is a socially awkward kid that regularly gets doped up on Valium, and it just gets better from there.
Mitchell's writing is fast-paced and doesn't get cluttered on unnecessary information, so many people have no trouble reading the entire book straight-through (it takes about 4 hours to read). What really solidifies this as great writing is his ability to fully envelop the personalities of each character; each one feels fresh, from the words they use to the structure of their own internal monologue.
My biggest criticism of the novel is that because it's a supernatural thriller that disguises itself as anything but, it requires some clunky exposition later in the book; the fourth chapter of five is basically just pure exposition about the backstory, motives, and methods of the villains. It works okay for what it is, though. At the end of it I would have been happy knowing none of it, but it provides some world-building for Mitchell's universe, as this book takes place in the same world as
The Bone Clocks, though it's not at all a direct sequel.
If you're looking for something that qualifies as light reading that is just as good as some other heavy series out there, I strongly recommend you
pick it up.
Slade House by David Mitchell - read this book (Review)