3 stars

Wrapped up with an extremely effective last act, but that doesn't make up for the tedium leading up to it, I'm conflicted with The House of Last Resort, because on one end it's extremely atmospheric — the earthquake-prone, historic European small town setting provides a lot of contextual nuances. However, its critical undoings are the character and plot, which are thinly-drawn and unfocused; the absence of an emotional connection really hinders my overall engagement beyond scenes of horror and tension (which are expertly crafted).

For a story pivoting itself around the committed love between its protagonists, at no point do I actually 'feel' it; switching between two POVs, each character constantly proclaims their feeling through extended internal monologues. The overuse of telling, instead of showing, renders the emotional journey hollow and superficial. In a domino effect, not able to relate to the protagonists also impacts greatly in instances when readers need to tolerate some dumb character decisions for 'horror story reason' (so many things could've been Googled ahead of time, and the novel never provides a convincing reason why they chose to remain in the house).

(On a side note, it irks me how often the characters talk to themselves in this book — as if the author fears without this additional commentary, the readers would not grasp the 'point' of the situation. But in practice it is extremely immersion-breaking.)

The House of Last Resort should've been a short story, even though I love the how chilling and 'un-Hollywood' it concludes, in retrospect the lengthy human story is passively told and superficial, and the horror aspect is allocated to a very dull plot line (too much focus on restoration). While it has the vibe nailed down (reminds me of the horror film The Sentinel from the 70s), overall it doesn't quite scratch my horror itch until the very end.

**This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Much appreciated!**