REVIEW: Tim Meyer’s The Switch House

Novels that have a house as one of their main settings need to avoid the trap of cliches. It’s easy to say that, but with countless stories starting off well, only for them to fade away due to cliches, it needs to be said.

Tim Meyer’s The Switch House, as you can tell, deals with a house, and approaches the premise in a similar fashion. However, what Meyer does, and many others fail to do, is not forget about his characters. Usually when it comes to these types of stories, the characters are thin and never fully fleshed out. Meyer makes sure that his characters are focused on, and as a result, the setting becomes that much scarier. It might seem like an easy task to do, but it’s not. Having the two merge together means the story is that bit more well-rounded.

Meyer creates horrifying situations for his characters, tortures them, and the reader can feel that. Our house is meant to be our safe haven, but if we can’t rely on that, what can we rely on? While Meyer does ask numerous interesting questions, some are never fully explored; and that’s the problem, and the only criticism, of The Switch House.

There’re so many good ideas throughout the story. Some are focused on, some are glossed over, and that little lack in consistency stops the story from being truely great.

The Switch House has interesting and unique characters side by side with some frightening scenarios; it also has some good ideas, but perhaps too many.

Score: 3.5/5

You can purchase it here: The Switch House