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The Night House

The Night House

Summary

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In the wake of his parents' tragic deaths in a house fire, fourteen-year-old Richard Elauved has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the remote, insular town of Ballantyne.

Richard quickly earns a reputation as an outcast, and when a classmate named Tom goes missing, everyone suspects the new, angry boy is responsible for his disappearance. No one believes him when he says the telephone booth out by the edge of the woods sucked Tom into the receiver like something out of a horror movie. No one, that is, except Karen, a beguiling fellow outsider who encourages Richard to pursue clues the police refuse to investigate. He traces the number that Tom prank called from the phone booth to an abandoned house in the Black Mirror Wood. There he catches a glimpse of a terrifying face in the window. And then the voices begin to whisper in his ear . . .

You know who I am. She's going to burn. The one you love is going to burn. There's not a thing you can do about it.

When another classmate disappears, Richard must find a way to prove his innocence-and preserve his sanity-as he grapples with the dark magic that is possessing Ballantyne and pursuing his destruction.

Then again, Richard may not be the most reliable narrator of his own story.

©2023 Jo Nesbo (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Reviews

  • Nesbø doesn't spend any time fiddling about, building up, or misdirecting. In The Night House, the horror begins immediately. And it only keeps calling from there. There are lessons to be learned here: who to believe and what to believe in. And how a person can change, when the impossible turns possible and the unimaginable is laid bare. This horror fan loved it
    Josh Malerman, best-selling author of Bird Box and Spin a Black Yarn

About the author

Jo Nesbo

Jo Nesbo is one of the world's bestselling crime writers. When commissioned to write a memoir about life on the road with his band, Di Derre, he instead came up with the plot for his first Harry Hole crime novel, The Bat. His books The Leopard, Phantom, Police, The Son, The Thirst, Macbeth and Knife have all since topped the Sunday Times charts. He's an international number one bestseller and his books are published in 50 languages, selling over 60 million copies around the world.
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