Three Houses on a Hill by Nicholas Holloway
Three Houses on a Hill
by Nicholas Holloway
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
My Rating 4.6/5
Synopsis
Lazalier Brady is an ex-firefighter on the verge of homelessness. When he discovers his sick toddler, Ellie, abandoned by her mother, fatherly instincts take hold despite his dark, haunting secret.Intent on providing for Ellie, Laz accepts a humble position as groundskeeper to a wealthy oil tycoon in the wild and frozen interior of Alaska. By day, Laz tends to the structure and the grounds of the Dilbrook Mansion. By night, he sits huddled within his Cabin, haunted by the secrets of an eerie Shack perched on the western ridge of Horseshoe Hill.When he stumbles upon a charred corpse in the woods, Laz unearths a web of murderous secrets kept hidden by the mysterious Dilbrooks, and suddenly finds himself in the deadly center of it all.
My Thoughts
I'm falling in love with this book all over again as I re-read it. Three houses on a hill by Nicholas Holloway is justly revered as an exemplar of the mystery thriller genre, not only because its plot provides the template for all those haunted house tales to come, but also because its superb prose and subtle psychology transcend genre, transforming what might otherwise have been merely a sensational tale into a artful novel, worthy of a discerning reader.
This book is not about fear but rather about the love of being afraid--for the ravenous gauging of limits. Adrenaline is searched for.... neurosis & a dreadful collective paranoia ensues. & cause, naturally, follows effect.
There is an aura of authentic literary splicing here: the psychological novel as exceptional a short story as this is a superb Three houses on a hill is a prototype, an ingenious fountainhead for all future horror maestros to drink from). Three houses on a hill is in actuality a person who is on the precipice, the verge of disaster; here is the quintessential tome about the inner demons becoming unleashed and wreaking havoc in horrific ways.
To sum up...a terrific gothic story. Well written, engaging and with what I thought was a Fergaluscious ending that fit perfectly with the rest of the narrative. I think this is a novel that could stay with you and should become even better upon subsequent readings.
Highly Recommended!
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