Review: Darkhouse (Experiment in Terror, #1) by Karina Halle

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Review

WOOHOO!! A brilliant start to a series that immediately has me hooked, and which I am sure will become a firm favourite. 

The story has just the right amount of thrills, but it’s also seriously funny. It also has a bit of an alternative feel to it with main characters that are not your standard. They are slightly crazy and wonderfully flawed, and that’s why I love them so much.

Perry is 22 years old, and coming off some very out of control teen years. She’s not rail-thin, she doesn’t have her life together – living with her parents, and her sassy 15 year old sister, and working a job that she hates, but she’s funny as all hell, and I love her self-depreciating attitude, mixed with her need to find something special in her life. She hasn’t found her niche yet, but isn’t afraid to put herself out there and give something a try.

“My mother calls me wishy-washy. I just think I’m delightfully impulsive.”

Dex is awesome. Seriously, I love this guy! He’s not tall, built, or drop dead gorgeous, but there is something about him that just appeals to me (and to Perry). “Dark, broody and mysterious”, he is a total smartass, sarcastic and witty, and had me laughing many times (he also grins and smirks a lot, and that’s hot!). He is 10 years older than Perry, and has a hot and gorgeous girlfriend, but he has an underlying vulnerability about him and there’s something about him and Perry together that just meshes. Even though they admittedly don’t know each other really well, they ‘get’ each other. And their relationship is just gold! It’s not romantic, but they have a very strong connection, and Dex is gorgeously protective of her. Their banter is brilliant (God, I love good banter!), and the UST is already starting to simmer away nicely. So excited to see where that goes!

And then there is the story. Perry and Dex meet when she literally runs into him while exploring a mysterious and broken-down lighthouse in the middle of the night (as you do). Dex introduces himself as a cameraman, producer, and cinematographer for an online webshow company, and is there trying to get footage of spooky phenomenon. So the two of them explore a little bit, and end up having a weird encounter of the ghosty-kind, which Perry films with her own camera and later posts online. When it goes viral, Dex tracks her down and offers her the opportunity to work with him to create a pilot for a potential new internet ghost-hunting series. Being the tenacious little thing that she is, of course she says yes. So the two of them head off and willingly go forth into a “potential pant-shitting scenario”, and that’s where things get REALLY interesting!

The story is spooky, and had me freaking out a number of times, with lots of supernatural goings on and some freaky-ass ghosts (Crazy Clown Lady *shudders*). And Perry has really disturbing visions and nightmares that I really shouldn’t have read late at night before going to bed, because they also seriously freaked me out. But it’s the characters and the absolutely brilliant dialogue that make this book so awesome. It’s so clever, and so witty. I could have highlighted half of the book on my kindle.

I absolutely loved this story and after that brilliant set up, and with so many threads left undone, I am fully expecting to be blown away by the next books. It can really only get better from here.

5 awesome stars!

 

Experiment in Terror series

Darkhouse - 80  Red Fox - 80  SONY DSC  Dead Sky Morning - 80  Lying Season - 80  SONY DSC 

The Dex-Files - 80  Into The Hollow - 80  And With Madness - 80  Come Alive - 80  Ashes to Ashes - 80  Dust to Dust - 80  Perception - 80

Darkhouse (#1)
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Red Fox (#2)
Review
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The Benson (#2.5)
Review
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Dead Sky Morning (#3)
Review
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Lying Season (#4)
Review
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On Demon Wings (#5)
Review
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Old Blood (#5.5)
Review
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The Dex Files (#5.7)
Review
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Into the Hollow (#6)
Review
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And With Madness Comes the Light (#6.5)
Review
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Come Alive (#7)
Review
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Ashes to Ashes (#8) 
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Dust to Dust (#9)
Review
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Please see our Karina Halle Author Spotlight.

 

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