The Amityville Horror is basically the after-action report of a haunting in a big old house in Amityville, New York, a house where several murders took place several years before. The new family is informed of the history of the home, but not being particularly superstitious, doesn't really mind. It's a big old house, pretty, suits their needs perfectly. Except it really is haunted, and it causes all sorts of problems.

This book ought to have been right up my alley. It's been on my to-read list for ages as a classic horror novel that's so well thought of that it's been adapted into several movies and has been the inspiration for hundreds more, and I finally decided to pick it up when I was in a slump, really looking for something to start my reading engine again.

However, I ended up skimming this book. For whatever reason, it just didn't hook me at all, and it reminded me far too strongly of The Conjuring. It honestly wasn't very scary, and certainly wasn't very compelling. And that really makes me sad, because that sort of no-nonsense reporting style tends to really speak to me. ( )

Read this when it first came out and it made me sleep with the lights on for a few nights. Jumped at strange noises when I did turn out the lights. ( )

I read this when I was a young teen and it scared the shit out of me. This time around, it didn't scare me but is still very creepy. Also, if your house tells you to get out, listen. Get out. ( )

I read this a couple of weeks ago and forgot it ever existed. It's not a figure of speech. I literally forgot about this book and then randomy saw it on my selves and had some seconds of deep confusion before I remembered I read it as part of my horror book binge 12 days ago.

So, what was the problem with it? Mainly that it was very boring. Why was that? Well, it tried to pass off the described events as real, at every turn Anson took the opportunity to remind us that these are facts that as far as he knows are true.

Now I don't care if he actually believed in all of this, or he did it to add flavor to the book. Point is, I love paranormal horror, and religious horror, exactly because I'm unable to believe in any of it. Ghosts, demons, witches, souls, spirits, devils, gods, energies, etc, I truly and deeply believe in none of it. It is therefore purely make-believe for me, and this makes me able to imerse myself in the stories without having to worry that my entertainment is someone else's literal, horific experience.

So when you try to convince me there's undeniable truth in something I know is fiction, two things happen. Firstly, I feel the pressure one feels when someone pressures them into reading their palm for a few coins. Like watching an ad for call lines of astrologists and tarot card readers, where you call and are charged by the minute for someone to tell you your future. Pressured to give into a scam. And second, I feel immense pity. Because there are people who belive in all of this and are being exploited, or terrorized - it's always one or the other.

So, when you try to convince me that hauntings are real, it always ends up making me really sad, and I quickly lose my interest.

To all of this, add that Anson isn't a hidden gem of a writer, that he hasn't tried to do much more than narrate what he tries to sell as facts, and the story becomes boring. If you must write about a haunting based on actual events of people deluding themselves of paranormal sightings, then at least try to make it as fictitious as possible, give it some excitement, something. Otherwise we just read about charlatans and delusional people. And that's not what I signed up for. ( )

Scared the pants off me. Better than the movie, of course, but the original movie based on the book was really good. ( )