Enter the world of the highly-acclaimed Experiment in Terror Series by visiting...the Darkhouse:
There’s always been something a bit off about Perry Palomino. Though she’s been dealing with a quarter-life crisis and post-college syndrome like any other twenty-something, she’s still not what you would call “ordinary.” For one thing, there’s her past which she likes to pretend never happened, and then there’s the fact that she sees ghosts.
Luckily for her, that all comes in handy when she stumbles across Dex Foray, an eccentric producer for an upcoming webcast on ghost hunters. Even though the show’s budget is non-existent and Dex himself is a maddening enigma, Perry is instantly drawn into a world that both threatens her life and seduces her with a sense of importance. Her uncle’s haunted lighthouse provides the perfect catalyst and backdrop for a mystery that unravels the threads of Perry’s fragile sanity and causes her to fall for a man, who, like the most dangerous of ghosts, may not be all that he seems.
MY THOUGHTS
In 2012, when I first downloaded this book, this book had a lot of hype surrounding it. So many blogs I followed were recommending it. Like a lot of other ebook freebies, it ended up sitting in my Amazon library for seven years. I finally got around to reading it, and while I liked the spooky plot, it wasn't the amazing ghost story I expected.
Perry is a recent college graduate with a job as a receptionist that she doesn't care about. When she goes over to her Uncle's for the weekend, she decides to explore the defunct lighthouse on her Uncle's property. The lighthouse is properly spooky and it bears resemblance to recent nightmares of Perry's. While there, she runs into a man named Dex, who is exploring the lighthouse. Perry doesn't think anything of it and she posts spooky footage of the lighthouse online. Her posts become a hit and she gets a call from Dex. Dex is starting a new ghost hunting show and he wants Perry to help.
Even though I frighten very easily, I like reading ghost stories. I find them incredibly intriguing, and terrifying. Darkhouse has the perfect set-up of a ghost story. We start by seeing Perry's nightmare and while I usually hate it when books start with a dream sequence, I like how it tied in with the creepiness of the book. The lighthouse is absolutely terrifying. Halle does a fantastic job of building up the suspense in the lighthouse scenes and building up the mystery. What was a disappointment to me, though, is that the build did not go anywhere. We do get an insane scene in the lighthouse that feels climatic and was likely intended to be climatic, but I didn't get answers. I understand that this is meant to be the first book in a series, but each book (as far as I can tell) has a different ghost story. This one did not feel complete. Everything we know about the lighthouse is speculation. No one knows what really happened and usually, that's what ghosty books explore. There was also no explanation as to why the ghost was haunting the lighthouse.
I went back and forth throughout the book about whether I liked Perry. I think she is somewhere in the middle. She was relatable at times. That's one of the good things about me taking so long to read this book because I'm now around the same age as Perry, so I understand how awkward the time after college can be. Other times I felt like the book was trying too hard to show that she's different from other girls (She wears black! She doesn't like pop music!), which always worries me in books. Overall, though, she was a decent MC.
Dex was a problem, though. I really didn't like Dex which greatly impacted my feelings towards this book, and maybe that also impacted my feelings towards Perry because I couldn't understand what she saw in him. She was annoyed by him, but she also liked him. Dex is a butt, to put it lightly. He is thirty-three years old and acts like a twelve-year-old. He is constantly mean and annoying to Perry. There is one time he stands up to his boss after his boss calls Perry fat, but it felt out of character for him. Dex uses the words "retarded" and "gay" to describe things he doesn't like. Dex also calls Perry kiddo all the time. That may not sound like an issue, but based on other reviews, Dex and Perry eventually become a thing. There may not be a big age difference between them, but if Dex considers Perry a kid, then the idea of them becoming romantically involved makes me uncomfortable. Thankfully, there was no romance between them in this book.
IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I liked the spooky elements in this book and it was a great way to kick-off the Halloween season, but there wasn't closure to the ghost story. I also really didn't like Dex. There were some mysterious elements that intrigued me. I wanted to know more about Perry's history with ghosts and why the clown lady kept showing up. I get the feeling that this will be addressed in the next books. I've heard that the books will get better, but I don't think I will be continuing. This is mostly because while there was no romance in this book, I know it will happen at some point in the series and I really don't want to see that. I can't stand Dex. There are other creepy ghost books I can read that will have characters I like.
I hereby give this book
2.5 Stars
Meaning: I almost liked it but not quite.
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