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Anyone who’s moved once or twice will tell you that it can be a daunting process—from finding the right place to making the payments to settling into new surroundings. But in author Adam Nevill’s haunted house thriller No One Gets Out Alive, a hasty move into a new house turns terrifying.
No One Gets Out Alive follows a desperate young woman as she makes a move to the wrong house in the wrong part of town. When Stephanie moves into the big, old house at 82 Edgehill Road, she’s relieved to have found a spacious room for such a good price. But she soon realizes that she may not have gotten such a great deal after all. During the night, she hears things—and feels things—that aren’t really there.
After just one night, Stephanie decides to move out—but when she tries to get her deposit back, her strange but friendly landlord stops being friendly. And things only get worse with each night she’s forced to spend in the horrifying house.
No One Gets Out Alive is an intimidating novel—a massive tome whose bulk alone will terrify some readers before they read a single page. And, unfortunately, it takes a while for the horrors to build.
For the most part, Stephanie is the typical horror heroine. From the beginning of her story, it’s clear that there’s more to her new home than just its eerie, other-worldly aspects, but—in true horror story fashion—she remains entirely oblivious to the not-so-subtle hints. There’s nothing especially memorable about the character—and while the hauntings are disturbing, Stephanie’s initial naïveté about the house and its other residents makes the beginning of the novel drag.
When you commit to reading a novel that’s more than 600 pages long, you want it to be a gripping, fast-paced thriller. But as the story focuses its attention on Stephanie’s increasingly desperate attempts to get out of the house—battling ghosts, nightmares, and a creepy landlord along the way—it takes too long to build into something that’s truly chilling.
Fortunately, though, it does eventually get there. Stephanie finally begins to understand what she’s facing—with both the living and the deceased residents of the house—and her fear, desperation, and rage turn her into a strong and determined character. As the story unfolds, gradually revealing the house’s true horrors, it finally shifts from slightly sinister into absolutely horrifying—the kind of tale that will haunt your dreams at night.
In the end, No One Gets Out Alive is a gripping thriller—but it requires some patience and determination to get to that point. Had Nevill tightened up the first half of the story—trimming a few (or maybe a hundred) pages in the process—it could have been chilling from beginning to end. But by the time it finally builds to something that’s truly worthwhile, many readers will have already checked out and moved on to something more satisfying.
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