Hi all!
Today I am back to review another new release – The Corruption of Alston House by John Quick – which was published in December 2019. I was permitted to read an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) thanks to NetGalley. This adult-fiction, horror novel follows Katherine, a recently divorced woman who yearns for a fresh start. She moves to a quiet town and purchases a mansion called Alston House, which needs a lot of work. After a while, she begins to witness paranormal activity and an evil, haunting presence that wants to control her. It’s up to Katherine to figure out what is going on and how best to beat a ghost that is damned. As always, I am going to provide my honest thoughts and let you know whether I think it’s worth checking out or not. Without further ado, let’s get into it!
Trigger Warnings: rape, sexual abuse, physical abuse, suicide and paedophilia.
WHAT THIS BOOK DOES RIGHT
The best part of this book is the plot. The story was interesting, intriguing and extremely spooky. If a writer manages to scare me, they are doing something right. I was genuinely creeped out at times. I wanted to know who or what was haunting the house and the mystery surrounding it. There is a little bit of a twist at the end that pushed my star rating up. I was really happy with the direction it went in. I was also pleasantly surprised by the rich history of the house and it’s former inhabitants. If you want a scary, haunted house story, this is the novel for you.
WHAT THIS BOOK DOES WRONG
My biggest pet peeve with this book was the writing style. I don’t want this to seem like an attack on the author, but he is a male writing from a female’s perspective. Now there is nothing wrong with that…if done well. John Quick sexualised Katherine so much, it felt really unnecessary. In fact, it was almost perverse at times. He was obsessed with her walking around the house naked or the wind arousing her nipples or her wanting to pleasure herself. It seemed in poor taste and to be perfectly honest, it felt a little seedy. There was also a lot of ‘telling not showing’ at the beginning, but the writing did improve as the story went along so I cannot complain too much.
OVERALL STAR RATING
I gave this book 4/5 stars. It won me over by the end.
If you are interested, you can order a copy here.
I hope you enjoyed this honest review. Let me know your thoughts down below. I appreciate all feedback. Thanks for reading!
Peace & Love xoxo
Disclaimer: I am not being paid or sponsored for this post/products – all my thoughts/opinions are my own