Darkhouse by Karina Halle Series: Experiment in Terror #1
Published by Metal Blonde Books on May 12th 2011
Pages: 327
Goodreads
Enter the world of the highly-acclaimed Experiment in Terror Series by visiting...the Darkhouse...
There’s always been something a bit off about Perry Palomino. Though she’s been dealing with a quarter-life crisis and post-college syndrome like any other twenty-something, she’s still not what you would call “ordinary.” For one thing, there’s her past which she likes to pretend never happened, and then there’s the fact that she sees ghosts.
Luckily for her, that all comes in handy when she stumbles across Dex Foray, an eccentric producer for an upcoming webcast on ghost hunters. Even though the show’s budget is non-existent and Dex himself is a maddening enigma, Perry is instantly drawn into a world that both threatens her life and seduces her with a sense of importance.
Her uncle’s haunted lighthouse provides the perfect catalyst and backdrop for a mystery that unravels the threads of Perry’s fragile sanity and causes her to fall for a man, who, like the most dangerous of ghosts, may not be all that he seems.
Ok…deep breath…I have had this book sitting on my kindle for months and to be honest I am now kicking myself about why I haven’t read it sooner. Darkhouse totally sucked me in and I cannot wait to read the rest of the books in the series (which I instantly went and purchased once I had finished this).
Perry Palomino is the narrator of the book and I can honestly say I have never related to a main character quite as much as I did Perry. She comes with her own set of insecurities; believing herself to be not tall, thin or pretty enough (especially when comparing herself to her ex-model mother and fashionista younger sister Ada). Perry has found herself working in a dead end job after graduating from college and life appears to be passing her by. Sounds pretty much like any twenty-two year old woman right? Wrong.
See Perry has been having these strange dreams, nightmares really, that seem to be spilling over into her waking hours. Perry was a troubled teen, dabbling in drink and drugs. She was quick to believe her ‘episodes’ in the past were due to her excesses but she cannot explain why she is being plagued now.
Wanting to get away from it all for a few days, she joins her family on a trip to see her uncle and twin cousins on the Oregon coast. It is there she has a chance encounter with Declan (Dex) Foray, an amateur ghost hunter who she bumps into exploring a boarded up Lighthouse on her uncle’s land. Dex…is quite unlike anything I have come across before. He is mysterious, edgy, sarcastic, crazy, unhinged, a self-confessed liar and more than a little bit sexy. Well, Perry certainly finds him sexy at any rate. Dex works as a producer looking to do a webcast on ghost hunting and he soon ropes Perry into going back to the Lighthouse after their first encounter yields some strange goings-on.
Of course the Lighthouse really is haunted (and fracking scary to boot). The pair might just have stumbled onto something and will need to rely on each other to survive what dangers await them.
I really loved Darkhouse. It was spine-tinglingly creepy in places (the scene in the bathroom at the end was far scarier for me than the Lighthouse to be fair though there were a few moments there that made me want to duck beneath the covers). What really stood out though were the main (and supporting characters). I loved, loved, loved Perry and I think Dex is going to make a very interesting character to get to know too but I am not yet ‘in like’ with him just yet – there are just too many unknown factors. I am looking forward to seeing him develop further as he has oodles of potential.
I am already there with Perry though. She is a fantastic character. I have a truck-load of empathy for her (though I think she would defy anyone to feel sorry for her). I also really enjoyed the supporting characters as well, especially Ada, Uncle Al and the twins. Hopefully will see more of them in upcoming books.
Overall, a very strong start to the series (which I am told gets even better with each book). Cannot wait to see what happens next!
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