This is a good old fashioned evil object story that feels like it came straight of the 1970’s it would fit right in with Rosemary’s Baby and the Exorcist, although it is set in more modern times, with mobile phones, internet etc, which makes it feel more relevant while still having that vintage cursed object feel.
I really enjoyed this one, the writing was good, with characters you could really get into. The story was familiar but different enough as so not to be predictable.

I would recommend this book if you like the the books mentioned above, or even Stephen Kings Duma Key.

*Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.*

What drew me to Philip Fracassi's new book Gothic is that fantastically evil cover. And the premise behind the book ain't bad either. A struggling horror novelist Tyson Parks is trying to write another bestseller, and he just can't manage to do it until his longtime partner Sarah surprises him on his birthday with a new desk. But what they don't know is that the desk once served as the altar for satanic rituals and feeds off its users.

Cool story, cool cover, but the execution just didn't live up to the promise for me. For one, our main protagonist Tyson feels underdeveloped. We get an idea of his struggles, but I never felt sympathetic to his plight. And once the desk gets its shoots in him and drives him to detestable actions, I like him even less. Side characters Sarah and Tyson's daughter Violet are underutilized and not well-voiced.

There's also another character trying to acquire the desk so that she can rid the world of its evil. She's entirely boring. I didn't enjoy the altar backstory her narrative provides. However, she fits into the book's most shocking moment. It was a welcome jolt to a lackluster journey thus far.

⭐️⭐️

A bit of a letdown following the excellent A Child Alone With Strangers.

The initial setup and premise were intriguing but the story comes to a climax much earlier than I expected, and in a very unsatisfying manner. And then the extended code, the final fourth of the book, introduces more good ideas but ends before really exploring them.

Unpopular opinion coming up. Gothic was extremely predictable. The only reason I bumped it from a 2 to a 3 was because the story was delivered well.

This was a really disappointing read. I really enjoy the premise, but the execution was lacking. The way it was written made it have no tension. I also found the order of things a bit odd..when the background of the desk popped up early in the story it felt very out of place. It was not the worst read ever, but I also did not care about any of the characters or what happened and almost dnf-ed it.

This is the story of horror author Tyson Parks whose partner gifts him a new writing desk for his birthday. He has been struggling to write his next book, but once he gets the desk everything changes. And not for the better.

Now other reviewers have likened this to The Shining, and I see where the comparisons would be (there are even references to it), but this is no Stephen King novel. I don't even love The Shining, but it is a far superior read of someone's descent into madness. I just...it was not for me. The writing didn't catch me, the storyline was too light at times and wasn't substantial enough. We have another character Diana, whose family originally owned the desk but it was stolen and she has been trying to track it down to keep it from harming anyone else. I must say she was the most useless character in the book. She almost could have been cut out completely with little change. I mean she does murder a few people, but that could have easily happened another way. She is supposed to know all about the evil in the desk, but the desk kills her in two seconds. Like...if you knew all about the evil why would you be so lackadaisical when around it? It made no sense. At least there should have been a longer struggle with her fighting the evil, but nope it just takes her out almost instantly once she is in the room with it. I don't know what the point of her was...

There is also the private detective she hired, Ben, who in the last chapter could be setting up a sequel. You don't find out much about him, but there are things hinted at that could be expanded upon, though if there were to be another book I would pass on reading it. But the base story, Tyson and what his family goes through was just not very good. I wanted more. I wanted more creepy things happening, I wanted to care about what was going on. The writing didn't work for me so the story didn't work.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.