House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo

Would you like to live in a mansion in the middle of nowhere? A mansion that has rumours of a family being murdered? Well then if you want to know what it would be like then this is the perfect book for you. The book House of Dark Shadows is written by Robert Liparulo and is the first book in the Dreamhouse Kings series.

This novel is about the King family who move from L.A. to a small town called Pinedale. At Pinedale they move into an old Victorian style house which has been abandoned for over 40 years and has rumours of the last family living there being murdered. After hearing this, the Kings are suspicious about the house but move in anyway only to find strange occurrences happening such as voices coming from different directions, a linen closet that teleports you to locker 119 at the local school and large, bare footprints appearing in the dust. Then the Kings find the strangest occurrence of all…

One of the main characters in this novel is Xander. He is a 15-year-old boy who is very disappointed to move to Pinedale. He now has to go to a new school with new friends and he also has to move into the old, creepy Victorian style house. In other words, he has to adapt to a totally different lifestyle. After a while Xander realises that Pinedale isn’t such a bad place after all but all of this changes after he finds a secret hallway. He is a curious character who likes to give lectures to his little brother, David and he also likes to annoy his little sister, Victoria.

This book is written by a best-selling author who engages the reader by using a suspenseful writing style. The title of this book is also based on the vampire movie, House of Dark Shadows, and there are also hints of this in the novel itself. This book is set in America and in the modern world. The themes in this book are horror, mystery and suspense with a hint of magic.

I personally think that this book is one of the best that I have ever read and I would highly recommend this book and the rest of the books in the Dreamhouse Kings Series to other people. If you love scary houses with a hint of magic then I highly recommend that you read this book.