“Two men have the carcass.” These words, heard over a crackling telephone line, change writer Karen Lewis’s life for the worse. Months earlier, her brother went missing in the small rural town of Fallen Trees, Washington. And now she finds out he willed his half of a bizarre bed and breakfast to her. “Two men have the carcass.”
Is this ominous phrase enough to draw her into the mystery of Fallen Trees? Is the answer to her brother’s disappearance located there? Or is it just a trap, something designed to draw her into a nightmare world and break her sanity? What horror awaits Karen in the House of Fallen Trees?
Why did I read House of Fallen Trees?
House of Fallen Trees was a buddy read with the Ladies of Horror Fiction team.
The Strengths
The cover was striking.
There was a dog in House of Fallen Trees, and she didn't die.
Weaknesses
My first complaint was the timeline. The main character's brother was missing. Between the nine of us reading the book together, we couldn't figure out how long he had been gone. The main character also seemed to be losing time/days in the beginning of the book, and I have no idea if that was character development (a flaky character) or plot development that was simply forgotten as the plot progressed.
The character development was really inconsistent. Did she love her brother? Hate her brother? Know her brother? Did she have social skills? Was she anti-social? There was no consistency with any of the characters.
House of Fallen Trees was very unoriginal most of the way through, and yet it still managed to confuse me.
House of Fallen Trees turned out to be more of a mystery novel than a horror novel. This would have been OK, but the conclusion to the mystery was unsatisfying for me.
Would I recommend House of Fallen Trees to others?
House of Fallen Trees made for a really fun buddy read, but unfortunately, the weaknesses outweighed the strengths for me.
⭐ Star
