The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich

September17 book for Poison Apple Book Club

Instagram: @taleswithnicole

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"Part-psychological thriller, part-urban legend, this is an unsettling narrative made up of diary entries, interview transcripts, film footage transcripts and medical notes. Twenty-five years ago, Elmbridge High burned down. Three people were killed and one pupil, Carly Johnson, disappeared. Now a diary has been found in the ruins of the school. The diary belongs to Kaitlyn Johnson, Carly’s identical twin sister. But Carly didn’t have a twin . . .

Re-opened police records, psychiatric reports, transcripts of video footage and fragments of diary reveal a web of deceit and intrigue, violence and murder, raising a whole lot more questions than it answers.

Who was Kaitlyn and why did she only appear at night? Did she really exist or was she a figment of a disturbed mind? What were the illicit rituals taking place at the school? And just what did happen at Elmbridge in the events leading up to ‘the Johnson Incident’?"

 

- taken from goodreads

 

It took me a while but I finally got to read this spooky story just in time for the Halloween season. The Dead House was a quick read because of the amazing and interesting way the story was presented. I have never read a book like this before but thought it was an intriguing way to get the information.

 

I really liked both Carly and Kaitlyn's character. They were complete opposites of each other and it was interesting to get into their mind. The more I read through the story the more I didn't know what to believe about their situation, nor could I find myself trusting any of their friends.

What started out as a murder mystery story slowly started to turn to more dark, with the secrets Carly keeps in her head, and the supernatural rituals preformed by Nadia. I wasn't a huge fan of this, I thought the solutions Nadia demonstrated was a bit confusing and found myself getting less interested. Kaitlyn was what kept this book going for me; her mind and finding out the secrets about her and her past.

 

After such an intense built up the ending I personally thought was fantastic. I sat there for a while, book closed, trying to wrap my head around everything that happened, reevaluating all the information I knew about the case. After reading all the evidence, and reading the psych evaluations, and Kaitlyn's real journal entries, your beliefs decide how this ends. You could believe Carly and Kaitlyn's side of the story, the therapist, the police. Everyone seems to have their own theories to the Johnson Incident.

Whose side are you on?

 

 

The Dead House has been picked up for a TV series, you are going to want to read about The Johnson Incident before you see it.  

Companion Novella: The Naida Tapes (available only as ebook)
 

My Rating: 4/5 Stars