The full review can be found at The Book Bratz

No book has given me goose bumps, or freaked me out as much as The Dead House did. This book is a complete mind trip, making you second guess every single thing you read. Dawn writes in a way that left me as a reader dying to know more about the Johnson Incident.

The story is told through diary entries, interviews, and video tapes that are organized as a police file with footnotes to guide you through it. The Johnson Incident took place in 2004/2005 and the case is reopened twenty years later for investigation. Each reader is presented with documents that describe the events leading up to the incident and after, and ultimately in the end it is the matter of perception on what is wrong with Carly. Was she possessed? Or was she mentally ill? I see the argument from both ends and it is hard for me to actually choose, but I believe it was a bit of both things that ended up causing the fire.

The book has a diverse set of characters that grow on you through out the story. I loved seeing how Nadia and Kaitlyn's friendship developed through out the second half of the book. When the book started Kaitlyn felt like Nadia was taking Carly away from her, she was on the defense and constantly rude to Nadia until Carly suddenly goes missing. In The Dead House no one is who they say they are, Kaitlyn eventually learns that one of her friends is out to get her, with a form of vodoo magic.

As much as I loved The Dead House I do wish the magic was clarified a little more. There were moments I was completely lost in what was going on at certain moments. But in the format of the story it makes sense that not all the pieces are their for you to put together in the first place. It is a matter of making them fit. Overall I really enjoyed this one and will be looking out for my of Dawn's work in the future.

Thank you so much to The NOVL for sending me and ARC of The Dead House!