This is much more a character driven novel which still definitely works, and because of the way the book is written you are sent deep inside the heads of Jack and Syd and therefore know exactly how they're feeling and what they want you to see. She was like a firecracker standing too close to a match: all potential energy, still wrapped up so neatly. All four of the inhabitants begin to experience strange events while in the house, including unseen noises and ghosts roaming the halls at night, strange writing on the walls, and other unexplained events. The House turned out to be a rather successful experiment and ultimately I am glad I read this book.

House: A totally heartbreaking and powerful story The Irish House: A totally heartbreaking and powerful story

The first half of the book is written in the form of a journal charting Syd and Jacks thoughts and feelings as events unfold in the present day as well as how and where the couple met and syd recounting memories from her past. Sure, the house is dark and a little creepy, but it is large and in a good neighborhood and they get an offer accepted almost immediately. Riley’s icy style and uncanny ear for dialogue create unflinching prose that is funny and devastating by turns.There also were some things that I wasn't comfortable with like drug use and mental abuse, but I continued to read because I had to find out what the story was with the house. The story begins with the police watching the house, with Jack and Syd writing down their experiences of living there, with the occasional contentious perception. When you're caught inside a dungeon, even the faintest flicker in the dark is like a promise of daylight. I'm just simply saying that, to a certain degree, the 'feeling' of this story reminded me of it -- in a good way. When something is too good to be true, they should have been more wary, but they move in without a second thought.

House: Now a major ITV series starring Martin Compston Our House: Now a major ITV series starring Martin Compston

well, everyone seems to think he's strange, which probably has something to do with the fact that he lives in this "Patchwork house" and no one ever sees his parents but I found him fascinating and very sweet. And just so y'all know, I thought that this was gonna be a creepy book and scare the shit out of me, but what do ya know! It shot up my TBR list just because it fit the bill for what I was craving perfectly, and boy am I glad it did because Simon Lelic's prose alone was enough to keep me totally invested in this story from start to finish. Real life relationships don’t work like that, and I think that’s why I felt no real chemistry between the couple.

So it starts out with the heroine coming back to school in a town she'd left several years ago and reconnecting with a guy she knew from before. I thoroughly enjoyed this riviting book and look forward to reading more books by this author in the future.