The Night House

After his parents die in a fire, fourteen-year-old Richard is sent to live with his aunt and uncle in Ballantyne, a remote and isolated small town. The hot-tempered, taciturn outsider is quickly shunned by his classmates, and when his only friend, Tom, is "sucked into the receiver" of the phone booth at the edge of the woods, everyone is convinced Richard did it. The scene Richard describes to the police sounds like something out of a horror film, and no one believes him—except Karen, a captivating and aloof outsider who urges him to pursue the leads the police refuse to follow. Tracing the number Tom dialed from the phone booth, Richard finds an abandoned mansion in the mirror forest and catches a glimpse of a chilling face behind a window; from then on, a voice begins whispering in his ear: "She will burn. The girl you love will burn. And there is nothing you can do." When another classmate goes missing, Richard must struggle to prove his innocence while holding on to his sanity, even as he confronts the dark force that has taken hold of Ballantyne. Yet the one telling this story may not be entirely reliable—unfolding in three parts and three perspectives that layer twist upon twist, the novel thrusts adolescent trauma, guilt, and the reliability of memory into the reader's face. This is Jo Nesbø's standalone novel, a departure from the Harry Hole series into horror and psychological thriller territory.