The House: The BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick

I enjoyed the narrative style of this book and I felt I was getting to know the characters better this way. I wasn’t sure where it was going in parts, but then it joined up for me around two thirds in, when I had a good guess at what might happen.

After a restless night, at about three in the morning I picked up The House to read, and found myself with the character Jack, also awake and hearing a noise in his house. After spooking myself out a little following the similarities, I put the book down with the thought of reading it at a more appropriate time when I wasn’t going to scare myself stupid. Only, when I did go back to it, I was left feeling really flat. I know it specifically states it wasn’t a ghost story, however, I feel like a whole lot more could have been done to blur the boundaries between the two genres of horror and crime. It started off well, but I was left a little disappointed overall.

I love crime fiction, but sadly this has to be one of the weaker ones of the genre that I’ve read. I did enjoy the dual narrative at first, but that soon became tedious as I didn’t find any of the characters likeable. Although it could be argued that Syd isn’t supposed to be likeable, I found her so obnoxious that I struggled to force myself to read her sections of the book.

Some of the ideas in the novel were good, but rather than grounding them in reality, they became farcical and implausible.

The House is an easy read in the sense that it doesn’t take long to finish and it isn’t exactly taxing, but neither is it challenging or exciting. The plot is predictable at points and the big twists were fairly obvious as well.

Sorry, but it doesn’t deliver a strong enough narrative or characters for me.

A book that finished in a different place to where I felt it could have gone. I felt that this book started really well but sort of fizzled out. I didn't warm to Syd very much sadly but an okay book to read.

A fast-paced and gripping thriller, with lots to think about.