Monday, August 27, 2018

Review: Haunted House Flipper

ISBN: 978-1983682025

Cover Description:


Ray is a friendless realtor who stumbles on supernatural tools that get rid of demons. He decides to flip haunted mansions by ridding them of demons, renovating them, then selling them for a hefty profit. Discover a new world within our own as Ray learns how to use his supernatural tools, fights demons, makes new friends, & outsmarts new enemies.

Background:

So here's how it happened.  I was just hanging out on the socials, trying to keep up with all that rigamaroll, when a guy on Instagram starts talking about this strange new book he's reading about a "haunted house flipper".  (Much the same as the description above.)  I was intrigued by the concept and started asking more about it.

Turns out the author himself was lurking on the conversation since his name was @ tagged.  He was like "here, lemme send you a copy".  And I'm all like, "Kay."  -- Though the conversation may have been less teenager-y than that, that was the jest of it.

He sent me the ebook, not asking for a review or anything, just, "here you go".

But I liked the story and thought I'd write a review anyway, so here goes...

Review:

First the cons:

As far as the technical craftsmanship, a couple of things fell a little short. 

First off, the cover.  I mean, it works, and it isn't MS Paint by any means, but it does seem a little lacking when compared to many so-called "professional" designs.  Maybe a B- project in Photoshop class.  Especially surprising since the author is not a bad artist, so I assume part of this could be a "personal taste" factor at play here.  Anyway, I had the ebook, so it really wasn't front-and-center to bother me regardless.


The other thing that seemed to fall a little short was in the writing.  Though in many ways very well done, the author's tendency to re-use the same word over and over got a little monotonous.  Again, a passing grade by all means, and like the cover design, your average reader not being so obsessed with the minute details of the craft probably wouldn't notice.

This problem was further compounded by the choice to write in the first person.  Not an easy undertaking, but in doing so, every sentence tends to go I... I... I...  And with the two together we arrive at:  I needed to ride the bus so I went to the bus stop and I waited for the bus.  When the bus came I got on the bus... I, bus, I, bus, I, bus... Sheesh!

All that nitpickery aside, none of this amounts to much of a handicap.  The critical part of any novel is always the story, and this one turned out to be engrossing enough that after a couple of chapters the writing style became irrelevant.  And that's really where it counts, #amiright?

The story, though everything the description promises, wound up having several eyebrow-raising twists and facets to it, which were delightfully clever and unexpected.

For instance, when I heard about the concept of casting out demons and turning a profit from it, I wondered, "Interesting idea, but would that really be ethical?"  The author has a creative, and again, unexpected, way of addressing that.

Not to spoil it, but as a teaser (and probably the defining quote of the book IMO), at one point Ray says:
"I only knew how to serve myself so that's what guided my decision.  I would get rid of that demon all right, but I would do it so I could flip that mansion and make a huge profit from it."
In fact, whenever the plot ran into any questionable situation, the author did a great job of putting it right in terms of a proper Christian worldview -- yet at the same time not painting a false picture of the world as being all saccharine and Kumbaya.  The story doesn't spare the blood and grit of real life, which I truly appreciate.

The characters also really grow on you, and the excitement and peril keep you sucked in and always wanting to know what happens next.

Side note: I don't how to work this into the course of the review.  In fact, I don't even know if this was cleverly intentional, or just a mere coincidence, but I noticed that the first demon battle occurred in chapter 13!  How apropos!

Finally, although the ending in many indie books tends to be either either rushed or left unresolved, this one is orchestrated perfectly.  The plot is all tied up with a neat little bow, yet with just the few unexplored dimensions to make you wonder, "Gee, I wonder what happens next?"

In Summary:

Even though I spilt a little of the proverbial red ink at the beginning of this review, in the end I can honestly say that this is a delightful story which I'd recommend for anyone to read.

That is doubly so if you have friends who are realtors or even full-blown house-flippers.  In which case, you absolutely MUST get them a copy of this book!  They'll love it!

Más Awesomesauce:

(Yeah, I've been hitting the Duolingo Español a little heavy lately.  Cut me some slack.)

I don't usually give props to the author's website itsself, but this one is worth looking at.  It is rich with other audiobooks and short stories, many of them FREE for the downloading.  Check it out:
www.DanDanTheArtMan.com