The Death House- Sarah Pinborough BOOK TALK

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The Death House was a very mysterious and intriguing world to jump into. It gave me a Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children vibe from the very beginning. There was a whole mystery to unravel throughout this book and, while I didn't feel completely satisfied by the end, it was a great read.
It's secretive, captivating and worth the read if you're into creepy and dark reads.





SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD- SPOILERS AHEAD
I had conflicting views on Toby as a protagonist. Strangely enough, I preferred him at the beginning compared to the end of the book. He started off being quite depressing and realistic and I liked that reaction and view of the Death House. But, after Clara joined, he turned too love-struck for my liking. His whole personality flipped and suddenly he'd changed all his opinions. Toby, overall, wasn't my favourite character mainly because he was either too much of a bully or too love-struck- it was quite a bit of a contrast.
The whole love between Toby and Clara was too insta-lovey and it didn't seem very realistic. I thought it was quite immature and cliché.
Through this book, I was seriously theorising. I would question everything that happened! Like one part, when Toby and Clara had sex, my first thought was that she would be pregnant. I honestly thought they would have a defective kid. But, obviously, nothing I theorised was correct- apart from Toby and Louis not really being defective.
Louis and Will were my favourite characters. Their friendship, for me, was the strong point of this book. They stuck together and they supported each other through everything. It tore my heart apart when Will died. And that Louis didn't get to say goodbye! I thought that what Toby and Clara did was very kind to Will but it made me so damn upset.
Maybe it's just the cynical side of me but how the hell did Toby and Clara realistically think they'd run away? That they'd travel the world with no money? That they were going to jump on the ship with no one noticing them? That they'd live on a beach? How did they think they'd get away with that? Who's stupid enough to think that would work? 
And the whole Toby dying with Clara thing was a bit... Romeo and Juliet, for my taste. But, we'll let that one go for love, I suppose...
The Death House was a mystery type of book which I did really love. It's one of those books where you figure out things as you go along but at the same time, by the end, we didn't get much closure. We watched the death of the two main characters but there was no bigger picture and story completed.
To be honest, I was completely and wholly dissatisfied with the ending of this book. Nothing was tied up and the loose ends were immense. This giant mystery was created, set up and built throughout the course of this book and, through it all, we're waiting for a big eureka moment where everything makes sense... and it just doesn't come.
All that is really established is that these kids have some kind of defective gene that sort of clicks on at some point and that they're killed for it. That's it. There's no explanation or exploration with this unique concept which was beyond disappointing. The whole defective gene sort of reminded me of the cranks in The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner. In my head, I assume the defective go crazy and have to be put down.
It's very open to interpretation and that is a good part of the book. A benefit of it being so loosely ended is that it's open to interpretation. Everyone who reads this will have a different theory on what they think happened.
But, obviously, there were many burning questions when I finished.
Did all the other kids die? Ashley? Jake?
Did Louis escape? What did he do? We have no idea! He could've been killed for all we know.
What about the nice nurse? What happened to her?

Overall, this was a mysterious and intriguing book but it just lacked the fulfilling end for me.

Thanks for reading! Comment your thoughts! See you soon,
Chloe