Well as much as I hate to do it I am making this a dreaded "dnf". I have given more than enough time on trying to get through it and to me it is just a waste of time.

I will give a small backstory:

Kevin Taylor is a house flipper and he buys houses proceeding to renovate them then flips them for a profit, but he records everything he does through the internet while he is renovating and has been making a good profit from subscribers. Kevin buys a house on Morgan Road in a Detroit suburb that has seen better days and the house has been empty for near 30 years. Kevin is starting to see things ever since he started working on gutting the house.

Thoughts:

The storyline has just been dragging on with literally nothing happening with the haunting and then it started a tiny bit but it is just too much of a slow burn and when I mean slow I am talking "turtle slow" as the whole story so far is Kevin doing the recording of what he is doing. But there is just too much detail for every single thing that he does which is almost like watching one of those subscribed channels.

The problem with the haunting is there isn't much of one and maybe it gets better for the rest of the book, I don't know, but it is so boring to me that I have fallen asleep a couple of times and that hardly ever happens when I am reading books that have hauntings.

I have read other books by this author which have been very good, but I suppose his books are hit and miss as I read another book a few years back that I struggled with as well. Also this book is in a trilogy, but I doubt I will finish it out if it is as slow as this one seems to be. Since this book is a dnf I won't be rating it. Some people really liked this book, but it just wasn't for me.

I wanted to like this book. I tried. I got bored with it. I finished it as I dislike leaving a book unfinished. I do not know if it is because I watch a lot of paranormal stuff and everything was predictable, or this is not my thing reading wise. Now for reference, I only watched the first Paranormal Activity, and it bore me. I was glad I did not have to pay for it. I rolled my eyes all the way through. This was the same.

The premise of the story was not bad. Kevin Taylor was not a poor character. The author could have developed him more, but he was okay. Kevin was interesting, having him as a video blogger. He is someone who flips houses and is hoping to get a tv show. This house would get him there.

The clues for what is going on inside the house were obvious, which is fine with this genre. I have seen and a lot of paranormal shows and am aware of the signs. The reasoning behind the haunting, I liked. It was believable and interesting to read. There was plenty of creeps factor in this book. I got squeamish at a few spots. There was enough gore for me, and I felt anymore, may would have felt as an afterthought. The balance in the book was okay.

For me, the book felt flat. The author pointed a tree out several times, and the reasoning behind it was a letdown. I was expecting it to be something cool, and the excuse was flat. The tree felt forgotten, and the author and editor came up with something on the fly. The setting was fine, but I do not remember the reasoning behind why everyone left the neighborhood bare. It was again a letdown, or never explained.

I do not want to tell anyone not to read something. Everyone has their own taste. This book was not mine. I rarely read this genre, and this could be part of it, or like I said before, I have seen a lot of paranormal stuff and this bore me. If you want to read this, I encourage you to and see if you like it.
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House of Long Shadows is my first novel by Ambrose Ibsen and was startled to see that he has written so much. As much horror as I read, I am surprised that I have not heard of him.

As a haunted house novel there really wasn’t anything new to see here. Many of the themes and tropes have been done before and some of the images seemed to be more for shock value than to make sense in the story. However, this novel got an extra star for me based on the character of Flipper Kevin. As I proceed to the end of the novel I found myself getting disturbed as the circumstances got more and more grim. I can only chalk this up to one thing. Even though plot wise it was very familiar territory, the character was getting to me. I felt sorry for him and found myself hoping that there would be a way out for Kevin. You will have to read the book to see if there was. I hate spoilers.

The fact that I cared this much about the main character was enough for me to add Ambrose Ibsen to my list as an author that deserves further exploration.
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The House of Long Shadows
House of Souls, Book 1
By: Ambrose Ibsen
Narrated by: Joe Hempel
This is an audible book I requested and the review is voluntary.
This book is so creepy and good! A youtuber-type house flipper wants a show on tv. By completing this house, he has a chance, but the house wasn't empty. It is so freaky! Lots of craziness! He is fixing this house by himself! The ending was quite a twist!
The narrator was wonderful and added so much to the story. He made all the voices so unique! He added tension and emotion to the story at just the right times! Terrific job. ( )