Title: Episode Thirteen

Author: Craig DiLouie

Publisher: Redhook 2023

Genre: Horror

Pages: 437

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall TBR

Fade to Black is the newest hit ghost hunting reality TV show. Led by husband and wife team Matt and Claire Kirklin, it delivers weekly hauntings investigated by a dedicated team of ghost hunting experts.

Episode Thirteen takes them to every ghost hunter's holy grail: the Paranormal Research Foundation. This brooding, derelict mansion holds secrets and clues about bizarre experiments that took place there in the 1970s. It's also famously haunted, and the team hopes their scientific techniques and high tech gear will prove it. But as the house begins to reveal itself to them, proof of an afterlife might not be everything Matt dreamed of. A story told in broken pieces, in tapes, journals, and correspondence, this is the story of Episode Thirteen—and how everything went terribly, horribly wrong.

Very creepy descent into the mysteries of a haunted house that ended with a bit whomp whomp instead of a satisfying ending. I was very creeped out while reading this book at night in bed. None of the characters are extremely lovable, but they are very intriguing with their own backgrounds and roles within the show. I must say that Jessica was my least favorite in that she never settled on her role within the show and I wanted to see her more clearly. Beyond that nit picking about Jessica, I started to root for the team as a whole after the incident with the apparition in the room upstairs. From there, things start to fall apart for the team, and I was more into the book. Once the team went into the well, I was speeding through the pages to the end. However the ending just wasn’t my favorite. I didn’t feel satisfied by the ultimate ambiguous nature of the finish. I wanted just a little bit more.

Next up on the TBR pile: