Book Review: House of Dark Shadows

House of Dark Shadows
By Robert Liparulo
304 pages
Young Adult Suspense
Published by Thomas Nelson 2008



House of Dark Shadows is the first book in the Dreamhouse Kings Series. It was sent to me by Thomas Nelson Publishers to review.

The story starts out 30 years ago with a woman screaming. An unknown giant of a man is carrying her down the hallway of the house. Her young children and her husband try to rescue her but are overpowered by the strong man. He takes her through a mysterious door in the attic and they are gone.

Talk about starting out with a bang. I was out of breath (I must have been holding my breath), tense and ready to read more and that was just the Prologue.

Fast Forward to the present day. Xander is a 15 year old boy who is not very happy. His father has taken a new job. Xander, along with his 12 year old brother David and 9 year old sister Toria, have to move from the big city of Pasadena to a small town in Northern California. They move into an old Victorian fixer-upper.

But all is not as it seems in this house. They go into a linen closet and come out in a locker at the school. They find giant footprints in the dust. Xander and David find a secret passageway that leads to a hidden attic. In this attic, there is a hallway with a number of doors. Each door opens to reveal a small room with another door in the back. Each room has a theme. In one room, there is beach stuff. Another has snow gear.

This book then races forward with the boys discovering the secret of the rooms and find that their dad has his own secret about the house. Near the end of the book, the giant man comes back and leaves us with a cliffhanger ending.

I think this would be a good book for any young person 12 and up. There is plenty of action and suspense.

I was a little disappointed that there was no mention of God in this story. No one prays when in peril. No one seeks God’s direction or help. I would have expected a book published by Thomas Nelson to have a bit of spiritual content.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I look forward to reading the sequel, Watcher in the Woods.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars