Review: The House on Blackstone Hill by Antonio Ricardo Scozze

Disclaimer: I purchased a kindle version of The House on Blackstone Hill for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

On first glance at the cover, you may think this is just another haunted house book. You would be sadly mistaken. I sat down with this book one night last week and didn't put it down until I finished it the next morning. It is that good. Right up front, this wasn't a completely easy read for me. In fact, I would suggest a trigger/content warning for anyone who wants to read this book due to domestic violence, child rape, and incest. It is not for the faint of heart. The book starts off chronicling the life of Adam Long, a journalist whose career is riding high until a link is discovered to a catch-and-kill piece about Jeffrey Epstein he was responsible for over a decade earlier. This career misstep is but the first in a series of events that lead Adam, his wife Ava, and their two small children, into making the house on Blackstone Hill their new home. Adam is obsessed with possessing the house on Blackstone Hill no matter the cost, be it his sanity, the lives of his family, or even his own life. Upon more research, Ava learns the dark history of the mansion they now call home. She is determined to save her family from the darkness within the house on Blackstone Hill. Antonio Ricardo Scozze is a masterful writer. In the prologue, he gives a scholarly account of the paranormal entities that inhabit our world that are beyond our belief. As a narrator within the story, Scozze's technique changes from that of world weary scholar to match the tone of our protagonists seamlessly. In researching this novel, I decided to look up Antonio Ricardo Scozze. I couldn't find any previous works by him listed online, but I did find a blog and a YouTube channel, as well as various social media links. From the wording of his foreword to The House on Blackstone Hill, it seems we may have more stories from Scozze in the future. I am very much looking forward to seeing what comes next.

5/5 Stars