This book was “interesting” to the least. When I read the back of the book it had so much potential, but as I read and finished the book it was so not what I was expecting. This book talked so much about religion which is not something I like to read about. But the overall story is of 4 people going to this house and getting hunted by something names White. In the end there was no real resolution and no definitive end in my opinion. It also felt like the book was going around and around and didn’t really have a good arc to the story.

I hope these authors have better books but I will not be reading anything more from either of them because there was so much misogyny in this book it was unreal. The guys in the books were the only ones who defended themselves in a life or death situation? I don’t think so. Or the fact that the women in the book coward behind a man when faced with something “scary”. Overall if I could I would rate this a 0.5/5 and that’s being generous.

This book had a lot of similarities with House of Leaves, but the reasoning was different and better than HoL. I enjoyed this edgy, supernatural thriller, and I appreciated that while the author is a famous Christian author, it wasn't one of those churchy books. The Christian background did come out strongly in the end, and I thought it was very well done. I would give 3.5 stars but am rounding up.

I was really disappointed in this book. There were a lot of problems with it.

First of all, there is way too much going on and the author kept the energy/tension up too much for the majority of the book. A slow build up can be dull for some readers, but I think this book could have benefitted from a slower build up. This book was full of frantic and fast paced situations and you never got a chance to slow down and feel the terror because things just kept happening. And the author really tried to fit in everything he could possibly think of - creepy rural family, locked in a house, intruder trying to kill people, weird agreements to stay alive, haunted house - and ultimately a battle between ultimate good and evil? It was a lot.

Also, the characters all sucked. I couldn't bring myself to root for any of them because the focus was on their evil sides and not on their good. The only character the author portrayed as redeemable was the main character, who seemed to be a writer stand-in and who is a bit of Gary Stu. The portrayal of abuse survivors was really gross and unsympathetic.

Not recommended for horror readers - unless you thrive on constant action with little substance or character development.

This book deserves five stars because it has a great mixture of suspense and mystery. There is even a little romance! It will keep you on the edge of your seat! If you didn't understand the book then you didn't pay attention while reading it. Ted Dekker is a wonderful author who gives his books Christian themes and backgrounds without making it super religious. Not that anything is wrong with a very religious book. The theme of this book is light defeats darkness. The light being Jesus and the dark being Satan. Just like in real life the light defeats the darkness. But to find out how you will have to read this intense book!

this book's characterization of abuse victims is truly horrifying

One of the worst books I have had the misfortune of wasting my time on.

I would have given this book no stars had I been given the opportunity. Dull, with paper-thin characters and a nonsensical plot that literally consists of said characters running from room to room. The book also seems to suggest that those that don't believe in God deserve to be punished and tortured, which is problematic enough on its own.

Wow am I furious at having been so blatantly mislead by the summary of this book. So let me give you the actual run down. If you enjoy books by Stephen King.............don't read this because you will question your life choices until you die and also wonder how some people ever even get their books published.

If you HATE books by Stephen King because you wish that he didn't know how to write believable characters or progress plot lines in any way or write stories people actually want to read and you also wish he had a not so secret religious agenda that he was shoving down you're throat while not actually intriguing or scaring you in the slightest........ WELL YOU'RE IN LUCK, MY FRIEND!

Because that is exactly what this piece of trash book is all about. This will be my first and last book by either of these authors. What an absolute nightmare, and NOT the kind I signed up for.

I have read books by Frank Peretti that I really liked. The Visitation is one of my favorite books. There are other books By Mr. Peretti that I don't care for at all and some that fall in between. On the other hand I've never read a book by Mr. Dekker that I liked. I've wanted to, I've tried to but I just didn't care for them.

So, here's another I just didn't care for. Personally (and of course the opinions here are my own) I think the book fails as both theological teaching and horror. I appreciate that others will disagree and that's fine. I'll take a moment here to say why I don't care for the book then you can decide for yourself.

First in the spirit of complete disclosure the book pushes a couple of my hot buttons. The first is well...I grew up in the Smokey Mountains. I hate to shatter anyone's assumptions but the majority of the people who live or have lived in the eastern mountains are not pictured by the characters in Deliverance. The stereotype of the homicidal, inbred hillbilly is one of the things that's guaranteed to start a book or movie out with a down-check it will have to overcome...at least from me. As I said I grew up in the mountains and I knew lots of poor people who lived in rundown houses without being dangerous, inbred or whatever.

Second the theme of the lesson portion of the book.  inside your own heart/life theme has been done before and done better. .

Theologically I think the entire idea of grace could have been...more present???? Better handled???? well, decide for yourself.

So, didn't care for the book...decide what you think. To each their own taste I guess.

This book was SO BAD. I hated it from the beginning, and I should’ve just stopped reading when the “inbreds” showed up. And dear lord (no pun intended), that “reveal” at the end? Ugh. That’s a few hours of my life I won’t get back.

Well, that was a bust. I wasted a lot of my time on this and it wasn't even scary. Forget scary, it wasn't even that interesting. I didn't understand most of what was happening. It was pretty dull for a horror novel. And I'm going to use the word dull a couple more times because there is no other word I can use to describe this novel (well, there is but I'm not going to put in that much effort for this novel).

I was on the lookout for haunted house novels and this was one of the recommendations. Granted getting lost in a house that is actively trying to get you lost in it is scary. But this house wasn't doing that on its own; I think it could have been scarier if it was doing it on its own. But it needed the Tin Man (yet another dull character) to do that. Other than that, it was basically just four people (dull) trapped in a house with three psycho inbreds and later the Tin Man. I'd shoot my way out of that house only because it was so boring.  When Susan's character was introduced, I thought things would get interesting but nope. And there was something about light and dark and their heart that needs to change and some other stuff.  

If you haven't read it, don't bother. It really is quite dull.

If it was possible to give zero stars, I would have. That is how much a waste of time this book was. I was so disapointed. From reading the back of the book i was really excited and could not wait to red this one. But from page one this was a dud. Don't waste time on this book.