[A] nail-biting new standalone thriller ... As the story takes a gory turn, morphing from thriller to horror, Boone throws nonstop surprises at readers, leading to a spine-tingling final act that’ll make you think twice about disabling Siri and unplugging your Amazon Echo ... reads like a cross between Stephen King’s The Shining and one of John Connolly’s more recent Charlie Parker books ... thrilling, and impossible to put down ... Ezekiel Boone’s latest novel is a total trip to read . . . just make sure you leave the lights on and turn all your devices off before cracking it open.
Both a psychological and physical thriller, the novel is a slow burn of tension, with twists and turns that are shocking ... ven with all the bells and whistles, The Mansion is at heart a haunted house story. Boone is fluent in modern conceptions of computer science, so Billy and Sean's discussions of Nellie feel authentic, but the descriptions of technology and programming are mostly window dressing for the specters that prowl Eagle Mansion ... the mix of both technological and supernatural threats enhances The Mansion's appeal ... a wonderful update of a classic model: people with secrets stuck in an old house with its own checkered past. Luckily, Boone knows the tropes of that old story well, and works to subvert them every chance he gets.
The plot of The Mansion is a bit of a cliché by now. But somehow author Ezekiel Boone has pulled it off, making both the plot and characters surprisingly compelling ... Outlandish but compelling. And the dramatic resolution is unforeseeable yet, in the end, inescapable. Readers who like their tech thrillers tinged with horror won’t be able to put this one down.
Boone is a terrific writer and, despite heavy shades of Stephen King’s masterpiece The Shining, turns in a gripping horror novel that uses technology and psychological terror to alarming effect ... If there’s a drawback to Boone’s story, it’s that the ménage à trois at the story’s center is composed of three pretty miserable individuals ... Regardless, it’s a richly composed, very scary thriller that would be welcome squeezed between Neal Stephenson and Chuck Wendig on your bookshelf.
Decent if flawed ... Boone is slow to move from creepy to terrifying, so that the final confrontation seems rushed. Despite the surfeit of backstory and uneven pacing, technophobes will enjoy this 'bad computer' tale.
