Book Review: The Writer by James Patterson and J.D. Barker

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The Writer by James Patterson and J.D. Barker  was published on March 17, 2025. It opens with Detective Declan Shaw at a closed subway station trying to work up the nerve to commit suicide when he receives a call from his partner about a break in and homicide at the home of a true crime author. Shaw makes his way to the crime scene to work the case, and in a turn of events, Declan comes under scrutiny in another case loosely connected to this new case. I received an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of The Writer  from NetGalley and Little , Brown, and Company for free in exchange for my honest review. I'm appreciative that my request for this book was approved. With this story opening with the main character trying to commit suicide, I almost didn't go any further with the book. However, I am glad I stuck with it as it took me on a fantastic ride and had my emotions all over the place. There were so many twists and turns that just when I thought I had it all figured out, there was ...

Book Review: The Night House by Jo Nesbo

the night house by jo nesbo
The Night House by Jo Nesbo was published October 3, 2023 and is an adult horror novel published by Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor.  The novel is about a kid named Richard Elauved who has been sent to live with foster parents in Ballantyne after his biological parents were killed.  Richard is an outcast and bully at his new school and becomes a suspect when a classmate named Tom goes missing.  He tries to explain that Tom was sucked through a phone booth on the edge of the woods, but no one believes him.  When another classmate goes missing, Richard is in serious trouble with the law.

Not having read any books by Jo Nesbo, I was intrigued by the synopsis and cover art of The Night House.  I requested to receive an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of this book from NetGalley.  I was absolutely ecstatic that I was approved.  I received a digital copy for free in exchange for my honest review.  Please note that my review does contain spoilers.

Part one of The Night House seemed a little young as if it was targeting middle readers between the ages of eight and twelve.  When Tom is sucked through the telephone and another character was turned into an insect, it seemed like it was something that would appear in a Goosebumps book by R.L. Stine.  Then, the main character, Richard Elauved, was searching for a mysterious person that used to live in Ballantyne, which made me think of the book called The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.  Part one concludes with Richard trying to kill a "soul" by setting it on fire, which is reminiscent of the Netflix show Stranger Things.


Part two opens up fifteen years later with Richard Elauved attending his high school reunion.  This section seemed much more mature than part one, and it very much felt like It by Stephen King.  There were plenty twists and turns through out this section that kept me guessing, and nothing was as it seemed.  When this section concluded, it had elements like Desperation by Stephen King.  At this point, I was very leery about the book because it felt like the author was sampling ideas from others.

Part three threw me for a loop.  Like the previous section of the book, it was more mature than part one.  It took me a moment to figure what was actually happening, and I was very disappointed because it was very much like the movie Shutter Island, which is based off the book of the same name by Dennis Lehane.  I never read the book but did see the movie because it starred Leonardo DiCaprio.

Overall, I was disappointed in The Night House by Jo Nesbo because it didn't seem very original, and I hated the way the story ended.  It did however keep me interested enough to read the entire novel to see what would happen.  Three out of five stars.

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