Twelve Nights at Rotter House

Felix Allsey is a travel writer. Well, he wants to be a travel writer....one that focuses on the macabre. But his previous works have been largely ignored. So, he decides to spend 13 nights totally immersed in a haunted house. No leaving the house. No contact with the outside world. Just the house. Nothing else. No electricity. No internet. No cell phone. No distractions. And it's not just any haunted house. It's Rotterdam Mansion. Or Rotter House, for short. In its 200 years, the house can boast 3 stories, 40 rooms, 3 suicides, 8 murders, 2 deaths of undetermined cause, 4 deaths of a weird sort, 2 disappearances, and a stint as hideaway for a murderer. Not to mention its years as a boarding house of ill repute and a bordello. Felix is show more determined to stay for 13 nights in the house. He even invites a friend to join him. His friendship with Thomas has been on the rocks for awhile....and maybe this adventure will help work things out.

I love haunted house stories, so thoroughly enjoyed this book! There are a lot of film and book references sprinkled in the dialogue between Felix and Thomas. I took many reading breaks to check if certain films were on Netflix or Amazon Prime.....and to check if my library had a copy of certain classic haunted house stories. Not to mention all the reading breaks for looking up the history of Ouija boards, the Amityville Horror scandal, Gail Russell's difficulties on the set of The Univited, etc. I have enough horror films and creepy books on a list to last me for a few months. :) Fun!

This story is a tale about a haunted house....but also a story about the relationship between Felix and Thomas. They talk a lot while investigating the house. I liked how their friendship and investigating the house intertwined together. The story definitely kept my attention from start to finish. It is well-written, definitely creepy in spots, and the ending was great!

This is the first book by J.W. Ocker that I've read. I like his writing style, all the movie/book references and the plot. I will definitely be reading more of his work!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** show less

When I was a teenager I used to breeze through novels in two or three sittings, becoming completely immersed in the narrative, forgetting to deal with the real world responsibilities knocking on my door. But then came, jobs that turned into a career and marriage which became a family, and my reading habits had to change. These days a decent novel can take me a couple weeks to get through. And to be honest, I miss those days when I could just get totally lost in a book for 48 hours.

JW Ocker's new book "Twelve Nights at Rotterhouse" just made me do just that.

Even though the horror genre is completely my jam, I have largely given haunted house stories a pass. But I have been a fan of Ocker's nonfiction and was curious about his first show more foray into adult fiction, so I figured I'd give it a shot. His trademark voice, which is what I have always liked most about his nonfiction is still there, but with Rotterhouse his imagination really takes flight. This is one haunted house that will, well, haunt me for a while.

And that ending... show less

Felix, a travel writer who specializes in dark locations, has one last shot at remaining a professional writer. His books are too niche to sell well and his wife, Elsa, is leaning on him to get a regular job. He's pinning his hopes on "Rotter House", a huge abandoned mansion that has seen more than its share of unexplained and violent deaths and has a reputation for being haunted. With the owner's permission, Felix enters Rotter House and intends on staying for thirteen nights, never setting foot outside, and documenting anything unusual. If Rotter House is haunted, Felix plans on getting concrete evidence and writing a famous book that will rival The Amityville Horror.
He's invited Thomas to keep him company. The two have been best show more friends and fellow horror geeks since they were kids but haven't spoken in over a year now, and Felix's second goal is to see if he and Thomas can repair their friendship, but to do that, someone has to bring up the incident that caused their rift.
Sleeping through the days so they can explore at night, the most likely time for supernatural activity, Felix and Thomas spend their time looking for phenomenon and sometimes finding it, but also having normal conversations that often turn accusatory. While Thomas is clearly staying just to back up his friend, Felix is exhilarated with each terrifying instance.
I thought I knew what would happen in the end, but there's even more of a twist. This was both fun and scary. show less

Twelve Nights at Rotter House by J.W. Ocker is an excellent haunted house story! Absolutely perfect for the Halloween season of reading spooky books. Travel writer, Felix Allsey, is not your typical travel writer; he writes travelogues about haunted places. He seeks out the most haunted locations, inhabits the place, and writes books about his experiences. Felix thinks he has found the golden egg with Rotterdam Mansion, and that his writing career will skyrocket with success.

Felix gathers the essentials he will need for an extended stay at Rotter House. He establishes his usual rules of not leaving the house, avoiding outside contact, and sleeping during the day, so he can explore the residence at night when the ghosts are most active. show more For this project, Felix asks his best friend, Thomas, to stay with him. There is an unspoken tension between the two friends. You’ll have to read the book to learn about their sordid past.

Ocker is an outstanding writer. This book is extremely well written, especially regarding descriptive context of the house. I was able to conjure the most lucrative, abandoned mansion in my mind. I appreciated a twist to the story early on. It was nothing ultra shocking; I just thought it was a clever twist to the story and I like how Ocker held the detail back until it was necessary. The progression of the story kept me on the edge of my seat wondering about the history between Felix and Thomas.

Unquestionably, the story spiraled in ways I didn’t expect. As the ghostly encounters increased in intensity, I was curious how this book was going to end. It was...

I have photos and additional information that I'm unable to include here. It can all be found on my blog, in the link below.
A Book And A Dog show less

What a bummer. This could've been really good, but instead we get two guys sitting around defining what a haunted house should be, tossing around dozens of horror movie titles, and recalling a blacked-out shameful time in their unknown timeline of friendship. Just nothing happens here... nothing!!! Except for the very last chapter. This was god-awful! I did, however, really enjoy all the horror book and movie references!
The horror book and horror movie titles mentioned in this snooze-fest were some of the best in the genre. It's kind of a shame that this didn't follow that formula.
This was the first book I've read by J.W. Ocker. I wasn't impressed. Maybe it just wasn't one of his better works, but as a personal rule, I cannot base show more anything off of this. I will give this author another chance if I happen to stumble on any of his other works. show less

"The first floor had plenty of furniture, surely bought and left by countless past residents who dared call this behemoth home. When you flee in terror, you rarely stop for the ottomans."

This was not at all what I was expecting from what sounded like a "typical haunted house" novel.
Yes Felix moves into an abandoned house in order to write a book about his experiences, but from the start the alleged haunted history of this home is a bit vague which only serves to emphasize that it may not be the main theme in this story. Enter Thomas, the estranged best friend. We don't really know why these former best buds have stopped speaking to each other, only that Felix has reached out to him for help with his book and although it is the first show more time they've bothered with each other in a year, Thomas has agreed. The pace is a bit slow here and we are given only the briefest of hints as to what could have caused their falling out. At this point I thought I had it all figured out and that the ghosts were not meant to be literal but whether or not this ghost of a friendship could be resurrected from it's death. I can't share much more of my thought process or tell you if I was right or wrong in my assumptions without ruining the reveal at the end but I will say that although it was a leisurely arrival the pay off was with the wait.

I received an advance copy to review.
All of my reviews are posted at https://wellwortharead.blogspot.com/ show less

Wherein an annoying narrator, Felix, begs his way into a "haunted house" alone for 13 nights. Felix is a travel writer of the spooky variety. This book idea is his last chance for a hit before he has to give up his writing career and find a more stable profession to pay the bills. His idea is to live at a haunted house without high-tech equipment (like ghost hunters) and see if the experience will turn him from skeptic to believer.

Rotterdam House is a more locally known haunted house, so the hope is that his experiment and resulting book will make it a famous attraction, or at least that was how he sold it to the owner to convice her to allow him to stay at the house.

After night two, his best friend, whom he had begged to join him, show more finally does. Thomas is a believer, and Felix has the idea that their conflicting beliefs will make the narrative more interesting. And it does because they experience things that Felix just doesn't want to believe, even with his own eyes, while Thomas is trying to talk sense into him. The happenings are creepy as hell, and Felix remains skeptical.

There are things in this book that don't make sense and are unbelievable. Like Felix not believed his own eyes and insisting that they stick it out. Or Thimas being a black man that willing stayed the night at a haunted house-- Not even for my BFF!! But the twist at the end... Wowzers I never saw it coming. In the end, it all made sense. show less