The next two haunted house book reviews are brought to you by the letter S.  Ya see, the names of the houses in each of these two books begins with the letter “s”.  Is it Sammy and Sarah?  Sid and Susie?   Sucky and Spoogy?

Nah, nothing like that.  

More like Slade and Spite! 

Kind of has a “tit for tat” sing-songy element to it, don’t ya think?

“Spite and Slade or Slade and Spite. 

A Slade of Spite to Spite the Slade!”

Or, more appropriately –  Slade House and The Spite House

Based on the name only, I confused these two books. I heard about them around the same time. I’d be like, “What was the name of that “S” Haunted House book I was interested in reading?” And I’d search for it and come up with the other.  I’d see the synopsis is like this, which is cool and all, but I thought it was supposed to be about that?”  

 “That and This and This and That!” 

“This for that or That is this”

Turns out, I ended up reading both Slade House and The Spite House.. And here I go, trying to remember what I liked about them.  One should always review a book shortly after reading it.  As I mentioned in my last review, I haven’t been doing this. Shame on me.

Let’s begin with Slade House by David Mitchell. Amazon is telling me I purchased this item on Dec 22, 2022.  What a way to kick off the Christmas holidays! 

Slade House appears only to a few. Pray you’re not one of them. Its entrance is off the beaten path. Behind a pub and down an alley. I remember something about a gate that is locked. Unless it isn’t. Or unless someone has a key. The point is, it’s sometimes permeable. People do go through the gate. Into the house. Into a twisted reality from which few can escape.

Every nine years, the house welcomes guests. There are at least three different stories, maybe more. Different characters from varying time periods. There is a different premise to each story. But the end results are almost always the same. This fooled me. Every. Single. Time.  What is that expression..fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me?  I’ve shamed myself already in this article by admitting to not writing these reviews in a timely manner, so if I can be fooled twice (more than twice, actually) then I guess I can be shamed twice.

In these excursions into Slade House, unreality always sets in for that one person.  Things become twisted. Slowly. Then all of a sudden. 

As I delved into the meat and guts of each account. I related to the characters and I felt as if I too was exploring Slade House with them. Oh, but certain conditions are different from the previous story I just read, so maybe this time,I thought,  things would be different for the characters I’m currently invested in.  This time it’s romantic; a cozy situation. Two lonely people have found each other. It’s still a horror novel, a kind of ghost story, so..okay, allow in a ghost or two, a few little simple scares, that’s enough.  Nope! Not enough. Same twisted fate.  Another time it’s a festive party. Lots of people to bare witness to anything strange, not just one or two people facing some private, mind-fuck of a reality-warp. Nope!  The person you thought would make it is toast!

These “trips” into Slade House are just that – trips. They seem like acid trips is what I’m getting at. But Slade House doesn’t need to drug its inhabitants in order to screw with their minds.  It is very capable of distorting one’s sense of reality without psychoactive substances. The story about the party, however, does involve laced brownies and things like that. Please don’t tell me that the character I’m rooting for is actually tripping while at the same time experiencing a supernatural trip!  That would be toooo much. And yet…it might have happened. Oh dear!

Slade House is a freaky, trippy book, that’s for sure. If you like stuff like that, this book is for you.