The House of Last Resort

I was pulled into this book based on its enticing blurb. A couple takes advantage of a too good to be true deal and buys an Italian mansion for one Euro in a remote Italian village. The only caveat is that they must live in the house for five years and renovate it. But the home has its own secrets and a dark history. 

Golden provides a beautiful yet haunting setting in the small Italian town. There is a sense of foreboding, and the sinister atmosphere was my favourite part of the book, but the story takes quite awhile to get into the house's secrets. One plot point that that irked me is how Americans Kate and Tom move to the small town to get away from the busyness of American culture only to immediately want to turn the quaint town into a tourist destination without talking to the locals. 

This is a very slow burn read with creepy elements (that felt a bit absurd at times), but not nearly as scary as what I (a self-proclaimed wuss) imagined a horror book would be. And while the ending had high energy, the tension was often disjointed, and the plot lagged in the middle with a lot of internal dialogue which caused me to put down the book a few times. I think this book would fare better as a short story.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to St Martin's Press for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 2.5 stars

Author: Christopher Golden

Genre: Horror(?), Suspense

Type and Source: eBook from publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: St Martin's Press

First Published: January 30, 2024

Book Description from GoodReads: Across Italy there are many half-empty towns, nearly abandoned by those who migrate to the coast or to cities. The beautiful, crumbling hilltop town of Becchina is among them, but its mayor has taken drastic measures to rebuild—selling abandoned homes to anyone in the world for a single Euro, as long as the buyer promises to live there for at least five years. 

It’s a no-brainer for American couple Tommy and Kate Puglisi. Both work remotely, and Becchina is the home of Tommy’s grandparents, his closest living relatives. It feels like a romantic adventure, an opportunity the young couple would be crazy not to seize. 

But from the moment they move in, they both feel a shadow has fallen on them. Tommy’s grandmother is furious, even a little frightened, when she realizes which house they’ve bought. There are rooms in an annex at the back of the house that they didn’t know were there. The place makes strange noises at night, locked doors are suddenly open, and when they go to a family gathering, they’re certain people are whispering about them, and about their house, which one neighbor refers to as The House of Last Resort. Soon, they learn that the home was owned for generations by the Church, but the real secret, and the true dread, is unlocked when they finally learn what the priests were doing in this house for all those long years…and how many people died in the strange chapel inside. While down in the catacombs beneath Becchina…something stirs.