“Not all ghosts haunt houses. Some try to live in your head.”

Wow wow WOW I LOVED this! Absolutely Craig DiLouie’s best and strongest novel so far. Episode Thirteen follows a group of ghost hunters who have their own reality type ghost investigation show. When they’re given the chance to spend a few days in a decrepit house with a mysterious past, the team encounter a real genuine haunting. Hooray! But wait…what does this mean for the world, and how far can it really go? The team quickly immerses themselves into the house and its past only to find themselves fighting for their lives.

Episode Thirteen is a fast paced, tones of fun, horror romp.

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“Me, I say grab the fire. I say eat the fruit. I say bring on the suffering.”

Here’s what I loved:

This is one my favorite really specific horror genre tropes; a documentary type crew investigating something supernatural, and things get crazy and out of hand. I was very hyped to pick this book up. DiLouie did not disappoint and added something unique and exciting to this niche subgenre. The story is told through interviews, video footage, journal entries, and emails/text messages as we as the audience piece together what exactly happened in that house and to the Fade to Black crew (the name of their TV show). It’s a great way to read this type of story and I enjoyed it immensely (Reminded me a lot of Night Film and The Last Days of Jack Sparks).
No spoilers here, but just know I deeply loved where this story ended up. Our crew is investigating a house that used to be the home to a group of scientists who were investigating the paranormal until they all disappeared. And now our modern-day group is following in their footsteps. This is so not what you think it’s going to be, and I had a really great time adventuring in this world.
The characters are incredible! Everyone is flawed, everyone has their own goal, everyone is complex and well thought out. Matt, our charismatic hero lead, is possibly my favorite, with Jessica, the paid actress on this real ghost show, coming in at a close second. But all of them are great to read about and never felt stereotypical or just there to move the plot forward.

Overall, Episode Thirteen is already one of my favorites of the year and its only January! Great for found footage fans, for fans of shows like Ghost Adventures, and for fans of cleverly told ghost stories. Big thank you to Redhook for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I highly recommend this and once you’ve read it, come scream with me about the ending because IT’S SO GOOOODDDDDD!

“I also know this is just TV for you – money in, money out, which is fine – but we’re way beyond that now. We are so far out of Kansas, we’re looking at it from orbit. We didn’t just strike gold. We touched the grail.”