The Nightmare Room Review

I discovered Chris Sorensen and his work the way I have many of my new favorite books and authors, through the amazing horror book community on the web and social media. I’m not typically a fan of haunted house books.  I’m not here to bash anything, I simply felt that in order to properly convey how much I LOVED this book, I needed to start off by telling you I don’t have much love for this sub genre. The Nightmare Room by Chris Sorensen, is simply put, one of the best haunted house novels I’ve ever read.

Sorensen’s novel is the story of husband and wife Pete and Hannah Larson. Family illness has our protagonists moving to Pete’s childhood home to wrap up family affairs, while affording them an opportunity to put their own troubles behind them and start fresh. The Nightmare Room isn’t a long book, coming in at under 300 pages. This works in the books favor as Sorensen quickly ratchets up the tension and doesn’t waste a single word throughout. Transitions from past to present happen frequently, but are never jarring due to the skill of the author. Another major strength of this book is Sorensen’s ability to make you care for Pete and Hannah in the brief time we spend with them. Due to the way he makes you connect to them, you feel what they feel as the story unfolds.  When things get going towards the conclusion, Sorensen expertly knocks it out of the park.  The nature of the haunting in this sub genre is typically what ruins it for me. I usually find the endings cheesy, and I’m happy to say this WASN’T the case in this book.

As I reflect on this book, I believe I’ve found what is very likely my favorite haunted house novel. The characters are great. The story is well written and genuinely spooky. At one point I stopped reading during the night because I couldn’t shake a spine tingling feeling the book gave me.  I don’t say that lightly, it’s the first time that’s happened to me since I read Salem’s Lot as a teen. I had to finish this book in the daylight.  I read this book on my Kindle, but frankly, I enjoyed it so much I’ll be buying a physical copy as well, Sorensen has certainly earned a spot on my shelf.

5/5 mortar rounds for The Nightmare Room, By Chris Sorensen.