I was on a horror kick a few years ago–well, a “horror buying” kick, which means that here and there, I’m on a “horror reading” kick, but anyway–and when I was in my local independent bookstore (oh God that sounds so pretentious, I’m sorry), the cover of John Darnielle’s Devil House caught my eye. I picked it up, read the back cover, and thorught it sounded interesting. I went home, put it on a bookshelf, and there it sat, only ever being “used” as part of our living room Halloween decor. A couple of weeks ago, I was looking for something to read that wasn’t Star Wars or for a podcast and since the title had been staring at me from that bookshelf every time I went in the office to record, I decided to pick it up.

The premise is that Gage Chandler is a true crime writer who buys the infamous “Devil House” in Milpitas, California, the site of a grisly murder back in the 1980s that people had connected to the Satanic Panic. His method of writing often involces immersing himself in the case, and that’s what he does. Along the way, we get the back story of Milpitas’ infamous crimes, as it was also the site of two other notorious murders. One was the real-life murder of Marcy Renee Conrad, which was the inspiration for the 1986 film River’s Edge. The other is fictional “White Witch” murder where a teacher hacked two teenagers to death in self-defense during a home invasion. That murder has its own story, which made Gage famous and becomes an important part of Devil House.

To me, this was interesting when the novel focused on Gage, his methods, or a metatextual look at true crime. In fact, while it doesn’t use the words “True Crime Brain,” I know that is what Darnielle is criticizing in places; unfortunately, there is also some strange filler and the book is at times disjointed, leading to a final section that reminded me a little like the ending of Life of Pi and also didn’t really land very well, if I’m being honest. I’d say that this one could have been 50-100 pages leaner and could have done without the distracting tangents.

Keep, Sell, Donate, or Trash?

Keep (because it’s still Halloween decor)