I loved this book. I found it to be very similar to Anne Rivers Siddons "The House Next Door". Subtle, atmospheric and quietly spooky.

Sorry, torture porn fans, this one is not for you. The vomitophiles aren't going to get any love from this book either.......you all are just going to have to swig some ipecac syrup if you aspire to puke during the reading of this novel. Don't worry, there are plenty of gut busting, entrail dangling bloodbath stories for you out there, I'm sure you will find them.

Fortunately for me, and other readers like myself, this book and hundreds of others cater to our tastes and I am thrilled to have found this one. ( )

From Amazon:

The house had history. Perhaps too much history.
362 Belisle Street is a homeowner's dream. A nice neighborhood, close to schools, new hardwood þoors, unique original detail. So why then, wonders real estate agent Glenn Darnley, won't this charming property stay off the market? Perhaps the clawed feet of the antique bathtub look a little too threatening. Or maybe it's the faint hospital-like smell of the room off the top of the stairs. It's possible that the haunting music that pours out from under the steps keeps the residents awake at night.
In the three parts of Susie Moloney's hair-raising novel The Dwelling, ownership of 362 Belisle changes four times -- with Glenn Darnley brokering each deal. The Þrst occupants are a young couple, Rebecca and Daniel Mason, who have big dreams of wealth and success. It doesn't take long for them to realize that they're not welcome in their new house. After a ghostly seduction and a violent confrontation, the property is once again for sale. Next comes Barbara Parkins, a divorcée, and her unhappy young son, Petey. Lonely and looking for companionship, the two Þnd comfort in some new, playful young friends. When the Parkins family leaves, the house is sold again. Last, ownership goes to Richie Bramley, a drunken writer and lost soul. But like the others, he can't settle down in this house -- which has a mind, and a heart, of its own.
For Glenn, however, the house is a dream, always warm and welcoming. The doors gleam, and sun pours in through the windows. Owners come -- and 362 Belisle makes sure owners go. It's waiting patiently for its beloved to realize how much it loves her. It's waiting for Glenn, the very special person who can really turn this house into a home.

My Thoughts:

The house on 362 Belisle Street is a haunted place...an enigmatic place that one is at first hard-pressed to understand if its nature is malevolent or benevolent. In ways it seems to be the culmination of elements of both from hundreds of years of haunting tales. The house fascinates, but so do the human characters. As for the house itself - through some uncanny magic, even the oldest and most used 'haunting' aspects come off fresh and real. Footfalls in the night, doors that be either open or shut but instead are the opposite, that sort of thing. And these lead up to more inventive manifestations, such as walls that were recently repainted a new color having returned themselves to their original color the next time a new character notices them, as if the house molds itself to its own liking. A lot of things in the early going seem small, or could be coincidence or imagination, except for the fact that so many of these 'things' are happening. And the fact that the book has so many characters means that one character can note a couple of things that a different person in the book (someone they maybe even don't come into contact with) doesn't observe, but instead takes note of different curiosities, means that there can be a constant, almost staccato, stream of odd and bizarre occurrences, but no one person has any idea how many of them are happening, sometimes practically one on top of another. It all makes for a wonderfully mysterious and eerie atmosphere. One of the best haunted house stories I have encountered since The Haunting of Hill House. ( )

It reminds me very much of the first season of American Horror Story (although this novel predates it by several years): a haunted house, a collection of ghosts, a series of residents who occasionally add to the collection. I found it slow going because Glenn was the only character I actually liked; everyone else I was just waiting to see how they ended badly. ( )

Some parts are a little to vivid, while others seemed rushed and others seem drawn out. The story line starts off good and plays out well enough, until the end. I didn't care for the ending and it left more questions than it answered. ( )

ok, different!