Review: You'll have a bloody good time at The Witching House
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 17, 2013
Lock the doors and turn on all the lights because horror author Brian Moreland is at it again with The Witching House, a haunted house tale that will have you on the edge of your seat.Brian is one of my favorite authors, and a reliable go-to guy when I’m looking for a little something to get the blood pumping. If you haven’t read Dead of Winter, I strongly advise you to give it a try.The Witching House is a standalone horror novel that can be read and enjoyed by itself but you can get a little more background info on the house and the witches who lived there by reading the free prequel, The Girl from the Blood Coven.Otis Blevins, who we met briefly in the prequel, is a pig farmer with a special job. It’s his responsibility to feed the house, although he provides a steady supply of pig instead of what the house would prefer to eat.Unknown to Otis, a group of adventure-seekers are about to arrive, unknowingly tempting the old house with the meat it craves. After ten years of a boring marriage, Sarah was looking for a little adventure, and she found it with Dean, who was eager to take on almost any challenge. After months of dating, he’s managed to talk Sarah into accompanying him and his friends, Casey and Meg, on one of their outings as urban explorers, where they explore abandoned buildings. To add a little extra excitement to their outings, Dean and his friends look specifically for buildings that are supposed to be haunted.The group is led to the house by Ronnie, a fellow urban explorer who also happens to be a lot more. Intrigued by the bloody history of the house, the explorers are anxious to start looking around, but they get a lot more excitement than planned when they enter the house that eats people.While Sarah, Dean, Casey, and Meg are the noticeable main characters, there is one more subject in the novel that is just as interesting. Otis is a kind-hearted guy that’s been surrounded by evil all his life, and his story adds a lot of emotional impact to balance out the horror of the house.As far as surprises go, the plot will be recognizable to anyone that’s watched a few horror movies. A group of unsuspecting people enter the Bad Place, and lots of death and destruction follow. You’ll probably even be able to guess who survives, but there are still plenty of twists and turns to keep you from getting bored. Just when you think you know how something is going to go, something unexpected will send things in a completely different direction.Fans of horror will have a bloody good time visiting The Witching House.