Devils In Dark Houses by B.E. Scully

Devils in Dark Houses by B.E. Scully

Devils in Dark Houses featured 4 connected novellas, each a case featuring a pair of old school cops in the Pacific Northwest.

The new millennium is getting downright bizarre. From high tech games of sabotage to vigilante murder and ghosts who may or may not have their own dark agendas, Detectives Shirdon and Martinez must put their 20th century street smarts to work on four 21st century cases in which nothing is what it seems, and every answer reveals more questions.

2.5 out of 5, here's why:

Devils In Dark Houses is a book of short stories that are tied together because they feature the same two investigators on these mysterious cases of murder and general weirdness.

The Eye That Blinds tells the tale of three college friends who are completely messing up their lives. They once had bright futures but now they’ve immersed themselves so deeply in the unreality that invades our current lives; the internet, reality tv, spyware run amok, that they’ve lost touch with the outside world and quite possibly reality. An ugly love triangle brings out the worst in all of them.

Things start out fascinating but I never become completely involved in the outcome because every character in this story was pretty dastardly and far too self-involved. I suppose that was the point though. 3 Stars

Each Castle Its King After an event happens, a couple decides to relocate to the boonies to get a fresh start. They buy an old fixer upper they call “Blood House” because, well, why wouldn’t you? Their neighbor, Old Man Crampus, advises them never, EVER to walk behind his house. All of the neighbors know better but these two are rebels and do it anyway.

This is another that started off awesomely but ultimately left me feeling vaguely disappointed. Pages go by but not a lot happens and I felt it was too long and meandering. The atmosphere is creepy done right, though. 3 Stars

Nostri A bored teen decides to spend her summer dumpster diving for discarded treasure. Why not? I spent most of my summers in a cemetery. Kids are weird (or was it just me?). Anyway, I am not one to judge. One day she meets a fellow dumpster aficionado and they become bff’s. When they find a baby in a dumpster, they decide to test a social justice talking head to see if she’ll actually stand by her commentary and DO something. This sparks a fire in them that leads them to performing increasingly dangerous and potentially murderous “tests” on public figures in the name of “Nostri” based on some old philosopher’s ideals.

The bones of this story are good and quite horrible in the best of ways but there is so much useless stuff jammed in here that I kept losing interest. The little side-stories didn’t add to the plot, they only sucked all of the tension from the story for me. 2 ½ Stars

Devils In Dark Houses I had to DNF this story. It has the same issues that kept me from enjoying Nostri. Side stories and flashbacks kept creeping in and boring me. I finally quit and called it a day. My tbr pile is too big for this.

I can’t deny this collection held promise but I truly struggled with it. I’m thinking this one comes down to a matter of taste and I have been told mine is atrocious. Many of my friends enjoyed it for its complexity and many layered points of views/side stories but nope, it didn’t work for me.

I received a copy of this ARC from Netgalley.

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