Nightingale House by Steve French [book review]
Nightingale House book summary:
Nightingale House is about newly widower Daniel Price and his daughter moving to a new home. They are both still trying to recover from their wife/mother just passing away from a horrific accident. But moving into a new home doesn’t exactly help. Not only are they trying to get use to a really old house and all the noise it makes but there’s also something wrong with the house. Or is their imagination going a little crazy?
As Daniel does some research on the home and who once lived there he soon discovers that some of the worst things have happened in that house.
What I thought about Nightingale House:
For those of you who actually read my blog should know by now that I love horror and anything that’s pretty creepy. So I really couldn’t pass up Nightingale House off of Netgalley. For starters, the cover is pretty creepy and is what attracted me to the book in the first place. I mean come on look at that cover.
I don’t know why but I always like books that have this sort of simple cover yet appealing. There have been a lot of times when a cover has too much going on and makes me really not want the book. But if the book is too simple then I won’t even bother picking it up. I know I know sometimes it’s a little hard to figure out a happy medium when it comes to covers, and I’m sure there are other readers who think differently than I do.
The Character(s)
Kids always have the craziest imaginations. That’s what I love about them. They could pretty much come up with things at the top of their head. With that being said I’m not really sure if I would believe a kid in this situation especially if they have a habit of constantly coming up with these crazy stories. I would want to believe her but the fact that she’s constantly making things up would make me not want to.
Wouldn’t it be cool to live in a house that actually has a name though? I always think that older houses are so pretty but if I were to ever move into one I would definitely want the inside to be updated. That may be wrong of me though.
The Plot
Nightingale House follows two perspectives and that is the father and a woman from the 1800s. Throughout the whole book, it follows both characters as things unfold in both the past and present. Usually, I have a hard time reading books that take place in the past because most of the time authors like to be pretty authentic with how they talked back then.
That’s usually when a book loses me. I know it’s best to always be authentic but using the language they used back then just makes me feel like I’m back in high school reading things I couldn’t understand. I’m honestly glad that Nightingale House didn’t do that because A) it actually flowed well and B) if it did I probably would have put the book down so fast.
This is actually my first book by Steve French. Have any of you guys read any of his books before? Which one should I read next?
Jodie | That Happy Reader
I love psychological thrillers but not horrors and enjoyed your review. I just finished The Girl in the Mirror and highly recommend it as a psychological thriller!
admin
I haven’t heard of that one but I will check it out!
Molly @ Transatlantic Notes
This sounds like something I’d enjoy. I’ve not read much horror in a while so I was looking for some ideas — thanks for the helpful review!
admin
I really hope you like it!