Slade House by David Mitchell

Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed The Bones Clocks and recommend it to many, many people who have never read a Mitchell before. I think The Bone Clocks is very accessible and not as dense or as incomprehensible as his earlier works. But I still usually only give it a 3, maybe 4 star rating in my mind.

My judgement of Mitchell's earlier works is purely based on my abortive attempts to read Cloud Atlas and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and Mr Books so-so attitude towards Ghostwritten. I haven't actually read one of these right through though.

Despite all of this, I was ridiculously excited when my ARC of Slade House arrived. There is something about Mitchell's writing and the worlds he creates that sucks you and makes you forget your previous prevarications.

Due to it's slimness, I approached it (in my mind) as a novella. But I knew nothing else, except that it seemed like a good book to read during R.I.P.X so that I could sneak in with my one and only Peril the Third choice.

I was pleasantly surprised when I quickly discovered that I was inside another Bone Clocks world. Starting in 1979 we follow the (mis)adventures of the occupants of Slade House every nine years. The date is the last Saturday in October each time. For those of you good with numbers, you'll have already realised that the last chapter finishes in 2015...on the last Saturday in October - the 31st October, 2015 - Halloween!

Slightly creepy, a little disturbing and immensely readable. The final chapter is very satisfying if you've read and enjoyed The Bone Clocks.

Slade House is due for release tomorrow...just in time for the weekend and you guessed it...Halloween!

This is also book 14 in my #15in31 challenge.