Episode 13 centers around a reality television crew that goes into a house in Virginia where in the Seventies, a group of paranormal researchers disappeared. The novel uses a unique approach in the narrative style of this novel, by presenting it as a found footage novel, using video footage analysis, journals by members of the crew, and email and text conversation to tell the story. The found footage format is something that has been successfully done in some horror movies, but I have never read anything like this in book form. I applaud the author for taking a chance in this type of innovative approach. And while I applaud the author for innovation, I think this format holds it back in many ways.
Generally I found this novel to be entertaining and as I mentioned I liked the approach. But the biggest downfall is that there is a general lack of tension in the novel. I just didn’t feel the strong emotion that I would expect with this sort of subject material. I also felt that characterization suffered a bit as a result. I also felt the ending didn’t quite deliver in the way that I would have liked. So, in the end, this novel was entertaining and cool, but it lacks a little to make it a really strong novel.
