Where to begin with this book? I think, first off, if you’re looking for a YA Horror story that has the power to actually make your skin crawl then Horror Hotel is just your ticket. I made the mistake of reading this before bed and, well, let’s just say that my dreams weren’t all that pleasant. This story manages to walk that line between the terror of the paranormal, and the terror of actual people. It will constantly leave you wondering which of the two is worse. So yes, do yourself a favor and don’t start it before bed.

Moving onto the characters, my favorite part I’m sure you know by now! I loved that Fulton and McClaren wrote the ghost squad the same way my childhood remembers stories like this. Each character brings their own personality, their own strengths, and of course their own weaknesses to the table. Where one fails, another fills in that space. It was nice cohesion that made it a lot easier to follow along with team. After all, we love to see support in a friendship group! My only gripe here was, because this did follow the “squad” formula there wasn’t much depth to these characters. They were well done for how quickly this book reads, but I would have loved to see some more of their inner workings. This is a multiple POV story, and the characters were just similar enough in their thought processes that I had to keep checking to see who was speaking at the moment.

In terms of plot, this is the part of this book that I had a bit of a rough time with. Horror Hotel reads very heavily like a shot for shot remake of the documentary featuring Hotel Cecil, except that it has a more paranormal flair to it. Now, for what it’s worth, I did enjoy that paranormal twist. The idea of a young group of ghost hunters being brave enough to tackle one of the most haunted places in LA? Sold. As I mentioned when I started this review, the paranormal scenes are done so well that at times you will need to take a breath, and remind yourself that you’re still at home and not in a terrifying hallway with a ghost.

However, the meshing of these two plot points does make it so that sometimes the book feels a little disjointed. There were portions where everything felt really beautifully strung together, and then something wild would happen and I’d be confused for a few pages, then right back to how it was before. I think this kind of thing would work excellently on the screen. It’s difficult to picture a character having a complete mental breakdown in a hallway one second, and being able to climb out a window safely the next, but with a bit of imagination and an understanding of how Chrissy’s brain works it is possible to get there. I just really wish some of those scenes had been a little more fleshed out and, more than anything, that some of the paranormal aspects of the book had more backstory. A tiny spoiler, but there’s mention in this book of an elevator game that connects you to the “other side”. Do tell, author friends. I wanted to know more! Instead we get a quick glimpse, and it’s off on another chase and side story.

Points go to this story for being absolutely, compulsively readable. It’s nearly impossible to set this down once you start reading it. I picked up Horror Hotel in the morning one day, and finished it at 11pm that evening. That’s the benefit of how quickly this book moves, even if it does leave me wanting a bit more. So I’m happy to give this a glowing three star rating! If you’re looking for a story that is fast, intriguing, and the right amount of terrifying? This is it.