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Liked It “~Reviewed by FRANCESCA & posted at Under the Covers Book Blog |
Didn’t Like It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “It wasn't quite as as bad as I thought it would be, even though the writing was fairly adolescent at times. I went back and forth with the main character. At times she seemed ok, but mostly she was very annoying and somewhat whiny. The horror elements in the story seemed more like a vehicle for...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“~Reviewed by FRANCESCA & posted at Under the Covers Book Blog
Under The Covers Book Blog wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“If you want a refreshingly creepy with a dash of scary read, then this is the one for you. Karina Halle’s writing made this story and this book totally unputdownable. Literally.” ~Under the Covers
I’ve been hearing praises for this series ever since I finished reading the available books in The Artists Trilogy. I’ve fallen in love with Karina Halle’s writing over the last few months and I really couldn’t wait to read more from her.
So, DARKHOUSE to me had a lot of the feel I found in THE DEVIL’S METAL. Obviously this was written before so it was the original, and it’s set in today’s world instead of the past. But a lot of the same elements and “scare tactics” apply.
DARKHOUSE is the story of Penny. A 22 year old who has confidence issues because she’s a bit overweight and is…well…she sees things. Her whole life she’s had episodes where she’s seen people and talked to them that nobody else could see. She still lives home with her parents and younger sister and is trying to move up at her company and get a better job. Even though she hates it. Did I mention she drives a bike? Anyway, I fell in love with Penny from the very beginning. She has a silent strength to her and a core that needs to come out. The experiences set forth in this book are bound to do that and I can’t wait to see that happening.
But this is not all about Penny. See, she goes on a family trip to visit her uncle who happens to own some land that has an unused lighthouse. Wreckless that she is, she goes off in the night, alone, drunk, into the lighthouse. Things quickly turn creepy in there but it turns out she’s not alone. There’s a cute guy with a camera there, yeah he broke in, trying to document any paranormal activity. That’s Dex. A little scraggly, a little psycho. He offers Penny an opportunity to be the star of the paranormal web-show he was trying to pitch to his boss. For that, they have to go back to the lighthouse and shoot some good footage.
And that’s when things really get creepy. I’m not going to lie, I was reading this at night and kept looking over my shoulder until finally I flipped on my back to read this and made sure my feet and hands were under the covers. Karina Halle doesn’t pull any punches nor does she leave you thinking about what might be there. You get the full on detail.
This is just the beginning of Penny and Dex working together and I’m very excited to see what other trouble they get into next.
For the romance lovers…there is a connection between Penny and Dex and I’m sure we’ll see more of that in the future. But in this book, Dex is unavailable and I’m happy the author kept things the way she did so that it also shows respect between the characters that they didn’t go jumping into situations that would hurt others.
I do have to say I think there’s something off with Penny’s parents and I wonder if they’ve been hiding something from her.
If you want a refreshingly creepy with a dash of scary read, then this is the one for you. Karina Halle’s writing made this story and this book totally unputdownable. Literally.
”
“It took me a while to warm up to this book. I had a hard time being in the head of the protagonist. She, Perry Palomino had an outrageous over active imagination that at first drove me crazy. But then it made me laugh, when I got tired of being fed up I saw the craziness that is Perry Palomino. Most female protagonist seem to have an overactive imagination about what's probably happening or what someone might be thinking, but Perry certainly took the cake in my opinion.
Genea wrote this review Monday, April 15, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Perry Palomino's life isn't going the way she would have desired. And how would she have liked it to have gone? She has no clue, she just want to stop being bored out of her mind. Perry is very insecure, especially where her weight and height is concerned, and she hates her job so much that she's become ill-tempered. Then she meets Declan Foray and sees and opportunity to do something interesting and add some variety to her life, albeit very scary. Perry is instantly mooning over Dex and can't seem to focus around him.
Perry has a wild imagination so when she sees strange occurrences, she just blows it off as her wild imagination. But ever since she was a child she remembers having a lot of imaginary friends which made her parents very nervous for her and still is to this day. Perry met Dex in a so called haunted lighthouse and after a long bout of indecision and trust issues, Perry agrees to partner with him on a Ghost Hunter type web show. Perry is consumed with lust for Dex while at the same time she mistrusts him and the more she learns about him the more she fears him but she can't seem to get over the school girl fantasies she keeps having for him.
Declan Foray is a mystery, he comes across as a split personality kinda dude, (I had no idea how right I was). One minute he's this freakishly flirty guy and the next he is serious freaky (still)adult guy toward Perry. He has a hot girlfriend that he sings her praises one minute and the next he makes her sound like a bitch. Put aside his confounded behaviors, Dexs' mysteriousness and obvious issues makes him strangely likable and makes me want to hug him tightly while patting his back and tell him everything will be okay. He seems so damaged and you can tell there is something pretty dark in his past that made him the person he is.
In the end I ended up liking this book a lot, I could see the damage these two characters have so clearly in the writing and feeling I got from the story. They were real people who just happen to be thrown into the mist of some freaky supernatural shit mystery. The scary parts were so creepy and that's good since it is a ghost story. There is so much more within the pages of DarkHouse and I definitely got a mystery vibe from this book. Would love to find out what's really going on and why did Dex and Perry need to meet to solve this mystery? Again, just want to reiterate, "there is some creepy shit taking place in this story".”
“3.5 stars
Yodamom wrote this review Monday, March 4, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Lighthouses, why do they alway have so much 'evilness' around them ? This kelp ridden nightmare starts out semi easy- nice girl struggling to make her way through the job nobody wants, especially her. She goes to visit her uncle with her family on the Oregon coast. There while relaxing around a fire at night she takes a walk in the dark to a creepy arse lighthouse and slams her way inside ?!?!??! Right here I started worrying about her mental state, because who the heck in their right mind would do that ? There is that too, something may or may not be up with her mental state, it's complicated. Okay so while exploring this horrendous nightmare of a place she meets a man that will throw her already wishy washy life into a tornado. The two of them could be the most damage people or not, once again it's complicated. It's all complicated and horrible addicting, I felt like I might need medication to keep up with it all. Remember tornado.
I'm already off to book 2-”
“I couldn't finish it”
TikTok wrote this review Wednesday, January 30, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Perry Palomino is a college graduate working as a receptionist when she meets Dex Foray while snooping around her uncle's haunted lighthouse. Dex is an internet tv cameraman, trying to develop a new show. As Dex and Perry join forces, what results is a loose horror story about the ghost in the lighthouse and a one-sided romance. Neither is terribly well developed or interesting.”
bookappeal wrote this review Monday, January 21, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“4.5 stars”
Monica wrote this review Sunday, January 13, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Karina Halle is quickly rising to the top of my list of favorite authors. Her humor is one of a kind and it shines through in her writing and the characters she births.
Ali (Ginger-Read) wrote this review Wednesday, January 9, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Perry Palomino is your not-quite average young woman. She works an average job that she's crap at and still lives with her over-bearing mother, father and nearly perfect younger sister. She dreams of a better job, escaping the scrutiny of her family and of evil, menacing, darkly shadowed men. She attributes the dreams to her previous years of drug abuse but an old lighthouse exploration changes all of that.
Dex is a semi-professional ghost hunter. Happenstance has him at the abandoned lighthouse at the same time as Perry. Triggering the events that lead to a new partnership between the two, ghost hunting for webcasts. Dex is a self admitted liar, he's blunt, aloof, mysterious, charming and heroic. What a combination, huh?
“Well, I knew from experience that you weren't supposed to trust the guys you thought were as sexy as hell. Dark, brooding and mysterious? Handle with care.”
These two are odd balls all on their own and paired up they are a riot of quirkiness. They both have some failure and damage but it is revealed slowly and Halle leaves the reader with many questions as to who they were in the past. While the relationship between these two is fun, endearing, sexy and at times frustrating - the story only partially lies there.
The rest of the tale sits in the haunting of Perry and the connection between what her dreams show her and what she witnesses at the lighthouse. If you like a good ghost story, Darkhouse delivers. The boos and bumps in the night are in perfect contract to the uniqueness of the characters. We follow Perry and Dex on a path of discovering what is haunting the lighthouse, what is haunting each of them and what it is that connects them. Darkhouse had me laughing at times and covering my eyes at others. The best compliment I can give it is this... I am so so glad that this is just the first book in a long series as I can't imagine not having more Perry, Dex and their spooky escapades in my life. ”
“(This is a joint review with Lynsey. Find this and other reviews at www.thedemonlibrarian.com book blog.)
Janice (the_red1) wrote this review Tuesday, November 20, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Lynsey: Well, as recommendations go, this was certainly a winner!
I'd had this book on my TBR for a while and had snapped it up as a Kindle Freebie. I was vaguely aware of a good buzz surrounding it, but was ultimately convinced to bump it to the top of my list when Janice said the immortal words, "you have to meet Dex."
Now, when a character is so awesome that he defies describing in a few sentences, you just "have to meet him" to understand, I'm instantly intrigued because I am all about characters; the more unique, the better.
Not only was Dex 100% unique (literally unlike any other character I have read in any book from any genre), but so is Perry! I think possibly Dex gets mentioned in reviews more often since he's more mysterious to us as readers—it's written 1st person through Perry—but I have to give Perry a virtual high-five too because she totally rocks as a protagonist!
So thank you, Janice! I am so glad to have started this series and can't wait to read the rest! (I've already started book 2. TBR list? What TBR list?!)
Janice: You're very welcome, Lynsey! I knew you'd love it!
I discovered Karina Halle's Experiment In Terror series earlier this year and fell instantly, utterly, in love with both it and Halle's engaging writing style. In anticipation of the release of book #6 (Into The Hollow), I decided to re-read the entire series, beginning with Darkhouse, and I gotta say, it was even more enjoyable the second time around. There were so many little details I'd forgotten, hints and clues of things to come in future books. But more than that, I just wanted to revisit the world of Dex and Perry. It's a very cool and creepy place to be.
Lynsey: It certainly is. I think this will be a series I end up re-reading, too. Once I finally get some answers about Dex, I'm sure it would be fascinating to go back to the beginning and look again at some of his scenes and be like "Ohhhhh, I get it now," lol.
So, aside from having two fascinating, intriguing and endearing main characters, what is the book about? Well, ghosts and ghost-hunting, essentially. I suspect there's a lot more to the series once you get a few more books down the line, and I definitely get the sense that we've only seen the tip of the iceberg where Dex and Perry's back stories are concerned, but for this first book alone it was the story of how Perry met the delightful Dex who is a webshow filmmaker, cameraman, composer and all-round enigma with an... unusual approach to conversation, shall we say (understatement alert), and how they set out to make a documentary-style film about a haunted lighthouse.
Janice: But who, exactly, are these incredible characters Lynsey speaks of? Well, Perry is a twenty-two year old college grad living at home with her parents and younger sister, working a dead-end receptionist job and sort of drifting through life without any real purpose or direction. She's always been the odd duck in her family, always felt like she was meant to do something more, only she could never quite figure out what that something was...that is, until one fateful night when she investigates the lighthouse on her uncle's property and bumps into a trespasser named Dex Foray.
"If there was a moment that determined the course of my future, I'm pretty sure this was it. I had two somewhat simple choices. I could make a run for it and go back to Uncle Al's. Back to the bonfire where my cousins and dear sister would be drinking and revel in the normalcy of a Saturday night and forget I ever went to this horrid place and ran into this weirdo. Or I could go with said weirdo up the stairs in this decrepit old lighthouse, which was most likely condemned and unsafe, towards some unknown person (or thing) that was walking around, potentially waiting to murder us in horrific ways.
It didn't seem like a very hard decision to make. In fact, I think 99.7% of people in the right frame of mind would have picked from column A and gone on with their merry lives. But for some freaking crazy reason, I thought that maybe, just maybe I should go with this stranger up those kelp-ridden stairs and toward the lair of unimaginable horror. You know, because it was the more interesting alternative."
That's what I love about Perry. Even when she's scared out of her mind, she is not a roll-over-and-play-dead type of girl. As a narrator, she's snarky and so easy to relate to; she just draws you into the whole experience. What she feels, you feel. She is also more than able to hold her own with Dex, which I don't think many people could do.
I wish I could describe Dex to you. Oh sure, I can rattle off an impressive list of adjectives - intense, flawed, enigmatic, funny, maddening, and sexy, just to name a few - but the truth is, Dex is not a man who can be pinned down with mere words. He must be experienced.
Lynsey: That's so true; I can totally see why you say that now. It's almost like it would do him a disservice to try to sum him up or something...
Janice: Exactly! Dex is...well, Dex. I love the dynamic between him and Perry. It's so electric and brimming with possibility, and Karina Halle does a brilliant job conveying the tension in their relationship. They are constantly pushing and pulling each other. Can I trust you? What are you going to do in this situation? How will you react if I say this? Who are you, really? And as the reader, you're totally caught up in it. And you know, instinctively, that these two characters are going to take you on a journey unlike any other.
If any two people were fated to meet, Dex and Perry were. Don't believe me? Ask the Creepy Clown Lady. (That restaurant scene...*shudder*...freaky!)
Lynsey: No, not Creepy Clown Lady! Anything but her! Lol.
There were quite a few interesting secondary characters, actually. It wasn't just the Dex and Perry show (although they totally stole it). I quite liked Perry's kid sister, Ada, for example. I really felt like she added another layer to Perry's character. I've not encountered many heroines with a teenaged sister before—in fact, quite often they have no family at all or were adopted or fostered—so it's refreshing to read about Perry's relatively normal family and all its accompanying issues.
Like most things with Dex, his family (or lack thereof?) remains a mystery at this point.
I thought Halle's writing overall, although quite straightforward in style, was extremely effective in creating a scary movie-like atmosphere and made everything very easy to visualise (Creepy Clown Lady being a prime example!). I thought all the ghostly action scenes were really well-done; nicely spooky with a sinister edge. And although much of the book was an introduction to the characters (to be expected in a first book), there was definitely plenty there to keep action-lovers happy. My favourite thing of all, though, has to be the dialogue—I do love reading dialogue and body language! Especially when you have to work at reading between the lines, seeing past what you're being told to what might really be the case.
Janice: For me, the beauty of Darkhouse - of all the EIT books - is how well it blends the mundane and the scary. You're going along, cheering for Perry or laughing at some shocking thing Dex has said, and then....everything shifts. The tone darkens. Sometimes it's sudden, like a door slamming down the hall, making you jump. But most of the time, it's more insidious, creeping over you like a rolling fog. As I was reading Darkhouse (both times), I could often feel my body curling in on itself in a sort of defensive posture, as if I was subconsciously preparing for an attack. My grip on my ereader tightened, too - not quite a death grip, but close - and I was suddenly, intensely aware of every shadow in every corner of every room. That uncomfortable, on-edge feeling, it doesn't just go away when you put the book down, either. It lingers. That, to me, is more frightening than any monster in any horror movie.
Lynsey: So have we convinced you yet? I hope so because I definitely, wholeheartedly recommend this book. Especially while it's still a Freebie. I mean, what have you got to lose? Answer: nothing!
Janice: Seriously, folks, don't wait. Get your copy of Darkhouse today and START READING! You'll thank us, I promise!
Janice's Rating: 5 Stars ★★★★★
Lynsey's Rating: 5 Stars ★★★★★”
“This is a joint review with Janice . Find more reviews like this one at www.thedemonlibrarian.com book blog.
Geekius wrote this review Tuesday, November 20, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Lynsey: Well, as recommendations go, this was certainly a winner!
I'd had this book on my TBR for a while and had snapped it up as a Kindle Freebie. I was vaguely aware of a good buzz surrounding it, but was ultimately convinced to bump it to the top of my list when Janice said the immortal words, "you have to meet Dex."
Now, when a character is so awesome that he defies describing in a few sentences, you just "have to meet him" to understand, I'm instantly intrigued because I am all about characters; the more unique, the better.
Not only was Dex 100% unique (literally unlike any other character I have read in any book from any genre), but so is Perry! I think possibly Dex gets mentioned in reviews more often since he's more mysterious to us as readers—it's written 1st person through Perry—but I have to give Perry a virtual high-five too because she totally rocks as a protagonist!
So thank you, Janice! I am so glad to have started this series and can't wait to read the rest! (I've already started book 2. TBR list? What TBR list?!)
Janice: You're very welcome, Lynsey! I knew you'd love it!
I discovered Karina Halle's Experiment In Terror series earlier this year and fell instantly, utterly, in love with both it and Halle's engaging writing style. In anticipation of the release of book #6 (Into The Hollow), I decided to re-read the entire series, beginning with Darkhouse, and I gotta say, it was even more enjoyable the second time around. There were so many little details I'd forgotten, hints and clues of things to come in future books. But more than that, I just wanted to revisit the world of Dex and Perry. It's a very cool and creepy place to be.
Lynsey: It certainly is. I think this will be a series I end up re-reading, too. Once I finally get some answers about Dex, I'm sure it would be fascinating to go back to the beginning and look again at some of his scenes and be like, "Ohhhhh, I get it now," lol.
So, aside from having two fascinating, intriguing and endearing main characters, what is the book about? Well, ghosts and ghost-hunting, essentially. I suspect there's a lot more to the series once you get a few more books down the line, and I definitely get the sense that we've only seen the tip of the iceberg where Dex and Perry's back stories are concerned, but for this first book alone it was the story of how Perry met the delightful Dex who is a webshow filmmaker, cameraman, composer and all-round enigma with an... unusual approach to conversation, shall we say (understatement alert), and how they set out to make a documentary-style film about a haunted lighthouse.
Janice: But who, exactly, are these incredible characters Lynsey speaks of? Well, Perry is a twenty-two year old college grad living at home with her parents and younger sister, working a dead-end receptionist job and sort of drifting through life without any real purpose or direction. She's always been the odd duck in her family, always felt like she was meant to do something more, only she could never quite figure out what that something was...that is, until one fateful night when she investigates the lighthouse on her uncle's property and bumps into a trespasser named Dex Foray.
If there was a moment that determined the course of my future, I'm pretty sure this was it. I had two somewhat simple choices. I could make a run for it and go back to Uncle Al's. Back to the bonfire where my cousins and dear sister would be drinking and revel in the normalcy of a Saturday night and forget I ever went to this horrid place and ran into this weirdo. Or I could go with said weirdo up the stairs in this decrepit old lighthouse, which was most likely condemned and unsafe, towards some unknown person (or thing) that was walking around, potentially waiting to murder us in horrific ways.
It didn't seem like a very hard decision to make. In fact, I think 99.7% of people in the right frame of mind would have picked from column A and gone on with their merry lives. But for some freaking crazy reason, I thought that maybe, just maybe I should go with this stranger up those kelp-ridden stairs and toward the lair of unimaginable horror. You know, because it was the more interesting alternative.
That's what I love about Perry. Even when she's scared out of her mind, she is not a roll-over-and-play-dead type of girl. As a narrator, she's snarky and so easy to relate to; she just draws you into the whole experience. What she feels, you feel. She is also more than able to hold her own with Dex, which I don't think many people could do.
I wish I could describe Dex to you. Oh sure, I can rattle off an impressive list of adjectives - intense, flawed, enigmatic, funny, maddening, and sexy, just to name a few - but the truth is, Dex is not a man who can be pinned down with mere words. He must be experienced.
Lynsey: That's so true; I can totally see why you say that now. It's almost like it would do him a disservice to try to sum him up or something...
Janice: Exactly! Dex is...well, Dex. I love the dynamic between him and Perry. It's so electric and brimming with possibility, and Karina Halle does a brilliant job conveying the tension in their relationship. They are constantly pushing and pulling each other. Can I trust you? What are you going to do in this situation? How will you react if I say this? Who are you, really? And as the reader, you're totally caught up in it. And you know, instinctively, that these two characters are going to take you on a journey unlike any other.
If any two people were fated to meet, Dex and Perry were. Don't believe me? Ask the Creepy Clown Lady. (That restaurant scene.....*shudder*....freaky!)
Lynsey: No, not Creepy Clown Lady! Anything but her! Lol.
There were quite a few interesting secondary characters, actually. It wasn't just the Dex and Perry show (although they totally stole it). I quite liked Perry's kid sister, Ada, for example. I really felt like she added another layer to Perry's character. I haven't encountered many heroines with a teenage sister before—in fact, quite often they have no family at all or were adopted or fostered—so it's refreshing to read about Perry's relatively normal family and all its accompanying issues.
Like most things with Dex, his family (or lack thereof?) remains a mystery at this point.
I thought Halle's writing overall, although quite straightforward in style, was extremely effective in creating a scary movie-like atmosphere and made everything very easy to visualise (Creepy Clown Lady being a prime example!). I thought all the ghostly action scenes were really well-done; nicely spooky with a sinister edge. And although much of the book was an introduction to the characters (to be expected in a first book), there was definitely plenty there to keep action-lovers happy. My favourite thing of all, though, has to be the dialogue—I do love reading dialogue and body language! Especially when you have to work at reading between the lines, seeing past what you're being told to what might really be the case.
Janice: For me, the beauty of Darkhouse - of all the EIT books - is how well it blends the mundane and the scary. You're going along, cheering for Perry or laughing at some shocking thing Dex has said, and then....everything shifts. The tone darkens. Sometimes it's sudden, like a door slamming down the hall, making you jump. But most of the time, it's more insidious, creeping over you like a rolling fog. As I was reading Darkhouse (both times), I could often feel my body curling in on itself in a sort of defensive posture, as if I was subconsciously preparing for an attack. My grip on my ereader tightened, too - not quite a death grip, but close - and I was suddenly, intensely aware of every shadow in every corner of every room. That uncomfortable, on-edge feeling, it doesn't just go away when you put the book down, either. It lingers. That, to me, is more frightening than any monster in any horror movie.
Lynsey: So have we convinced you yet? I hope so because I definitely, wholeheartedly recommend this book. Especially while it's still a Freebie. I mean, what have you got to lose? Answer: nothing!
Janice: Seriously, folks, don't wait. Get your copy of Darkhouse today and START READING! You'll thank us, I promise!
Lynsey's Rating: 5 Stars ★★★★★
Janice's Rating: 5 Stars ★★★★★
*This is currently a Kindle freebie - snap it up while you can!*
”
0 of 1 members found this review helpful“1st book in the experiment in terror series”
Cryssymarie82 wrote this review Wednesday, October 17, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No