PositiveBoing BoingDarnielle\'s prose (and Darnielle-as-Chandler\'s prose; the two are not always the same) teems with teeth-chattering tension, even though the basic facts of both cases are laid out pretty plainly in the first few pages of the books. While the arresting drama of discovery is certainly satisfying, it\'s not the main feast of this book. And that itself is a clever hook: come for the gripping true crime tale, stay for the heartbreaking deconstruction of our voyeuristic fascination with real-life murder ... The prose is consistently luscious, even as it moves like a chameleon from Gage\'s personal notes, to his published prose, to his self-reflections, and then slips into the perspectives of the people affected by these murders ... Not every part of Devil House works perfectly. The section on the medieval Welsh legend of Gorbonian, while well-written, is difficult to read both in font and syntax, and doesn\'t illuminate the narrative quite as cleverly as it seems to wish it could ... The same can be said about the narrative switch at the end—it works, and it\'s effective, and I don\'t know how else the story could have been wrapped up, but it still seemed like a strange structural decision, as if Darnielle just needed another reason to stretch the voice of his prose. Speaking of endings, the ending of Devil House is haunting me. I mean this mostly as a positive: I was unable to put the book down even as relatives arrived at the house for Christmas, and it spooked me out of conversation even after I was done.
Lincoln Michel
RaveBoing Boing\"...feels like a classic cyberpunk noir with a twist of freshly modern relevance ... Michel marries a self-consciously trope-y hard-boiled detective voice with the scathing sci-fi satire. It\'s wacky and pulpy, but with a clear sense of purpose. The technology and futuristic lingo often toe a perfect line between on-the-nose corniness and complete believability ... Michel also demonstrates some remarkably deft world-building, establishing imagery and history (of the future, and the characters) in a few short words that spark the reader\'s imagination just enough to titillate.\
