The Mansion

disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for review consideration. All of the opinions presented below are my own.

With a premise that seemed to be a combination of Smart House and The Shining, I was stoked to try this book out. Unfortunately, the first 50 or so pages were a background dump and were so repetitive that I had to wonder if an editor actually combed through this or not. (To be fair, I was reading an advanced copy and it's possible this was cut down). The characters were solidly one-dimensional and I was torn between wanting to see if there was any development and not believing it was even possible. I skimmed reviews to determine whether it was worth continuing and this one reaffirmed my feelings on it. While it appears there are others who genuinely liked it, it doesn't seem like the issues keeping me from enjoying it will abate.

In addition to the poor pacing and lack of characterization, there were a couple instances where I had to raise an eyebrow at what I was reading. The first is mentioned in the above linked review: one of the characters has a secretary who is objectified in an incredibly misogynistic and racist manner. The second is another character thinking about how a daycare on a houseboat could only appeal to men with autism. First of all, what??? Second of all, relevance??? I didn't want to stick around to see what strike 3 would be, so I cut my losses there. Hopefully this went through some serious editing before publishing, but as the ARC stands this isn't a book I'd recommend reading.

It's a good entertaining book. Very little horror, but a thriller. Many parts seem more complex than they are and make it feel empty. However overall relatively enjoyable.