The House at Phantom Park delivers on the creepy vibes but not much else.
Synopsis
Lillian and David are in charge of overseeing the conversion of an old hospital into luxury apartments. From the beginning, everything starts to go wrong, with contractors suddenly becoming immobile or knives floating in the air. They suspect it might be activists messing with them. But Lillian has a job to do, and she is nothing if not determined, no matter how many people end up in the hospital with perplexing symptoms.
Review of The House at Phantom Park
The publisher’s blurb is slightly different from the contents of the book. It mentions John and Petulia Pearson, who are excited to convert the hospital into a seaside hotel, but they start witnessing unfathomable terrors. That makes it seem like those two would be the main characters, but as I described above, it is Lillian and David tasked with converting the hospital into apartments, not a hotel.
Overlooking those discrepancies, I found most of the characters were unlikeable and poorly developed. I enjoy reading about unlikeable characters if they’re multifaceted and have some depth to them. Many of the characters here were one-dimensional and fell a bit flat. And it took them an incredibly long time to start taking things seriously.
I had to push myself to finish this one and was glad when it was over.
CW: gore, war, ableism, sexism.
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️
Expected Publication: 13 October 2022
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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