Twelve Nights at Rotter House (by J.W. Ocker)
Twelve Nights at Rotter House by J.W. Ocker is an excellent haunted house story! Absolutely perfect for the Halloween season of reading spooky books. Travel writer, Felix Allsey, is not your typical travel writer; he writes travelogues about haunted places. He seeks out the most haunted locations, inhabits the place, and writes books about his experiences. Felix thinks he has found the golden egg with Rotterdam Mansion, and that his writing career will skyrocket with success.
Felix gathers the essentials he will need for an extended stay at Rotter House. He establishes his usual rules of not leaving the house, avoiding outside contact, and sleeping during the day, so he can explore the residence at night when the ghosts are most active. For this project, Felix asks his best friend, Thomas, to stay with him. There is an unspoken tension between the two friends. You’ll have to read the book to learn about their sordid past.
Ocker is an outstanding writer. This book is extremely well written, especially regarding descriptive context of the house. I was able to conjure the most lucrative, abandoned mansion in my mind. I appreciated a twist to the story early on. It was nothing ultra shocking; I just thought it was a clever twist to the story and I like how Ocker held the detail back until it was necessary. The progression of the story kept me on the edge of my seat wondering about the history between Felix and Thomas.
Unquestionably, the story spiraled in ways I didn’t expect. As the ghostly encounters increased in intensity, I was curious how this book was going to end. It was alarming, and I wish it would have ended differently as I got a bit attached to Felix and Thomas. At the same time, I absolutely loved the ending!
This is an excellent spooky season read and I highly recommend it! An added bonus to this book about a haunted mansion, is that Ocker offers an extensive reference for scary movies that are perfect for the Halloween season.
I borrowed the audiobook from my local library through the Libby app. Narrator, Matt Godfrey, did an excellent job bringing the book to life.
I was introduced to J.W. Ocker through his book Poe-Land, which is about Edgar Allan Poe. You can read my review of that book below. You’re welcome to check out my adventure blog post of our visit to the Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia here.
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