BOOK REVIEW: The Death House by Sarah Pinborough ★★☆☆☆

WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS

No one returns from the sanatorium.

Yes! That line should be scary and it was something I was going to get right into. But oh no. it was the complete opposite. URGH! Let me tell you what happened.

It started off great, switching seamlessly from past to present. The main character Toby is ripped away from his family, school and life and put in the Death House with other children his age because he has been tested positively for the defective gene. They are studied by Matron and her team of nurses, searching for any signs of sickness developing and when that occurs they are taken at night to the sanatorium. So Toby secludes himself from his housemates and reminisces his past until a new arrival changes everything.

I have to hand it to Pinborough as writing Toby’s first-person narrative from a female author was spot on. Although Toby is not the most likeable of narrators (because let’s face it he’s pretty much cynical and pessimistic) and I don’t agree with his opinions about his unbelief in God (plus he picks on another boy named Ashley who is a devout Christian) however I do understand why he thinks like this. Because he is miserable in the Death House, the narration of his daily activities mundane, it makes the character refreshing. I think it would have been annoying if he was overly optimistic about staying in a place surrounded of death.

I like that there were different characters. You can’t call Jake from Dorm 7 an antagonist, as he acts like the alpha male, other people know not to cross his path and for him acting this way helps him through this horrible time. As mentioned the devout Christian Ashley, who believes in God keeps him going. There is Will and Louis the younger member of the group who rely on each other. As for the girls, well there’s only two to start, Eleanor and Harriet and then the last to come is Clara. She’s one who brings some dynamics into the plotline and changes Toby’s perspective of life, and make him feel loved I guess.

BUT there were some things this that I DID NOT LIKE AT ALL!

I really do not know who proof read this but I found a grammatical mistake on page 252. Jake suddenly becomes Jack. I know it’s an easy mistake, I shouldn’t really pick on that but it was funny to spot it.

I don’t know about other readers, but I felt like all these characters are white. Where are the Blacks, Asians etc? I haven’t got anything against this but seriously it needed a mix. I know most authors avoid this because of creating stereotypes but it just seemed bland. Plus it’s unrealistic that only TWO girls would be at the Death House. Really – is this defective gene rarely developed in females?

Gosh and this is where I’m hugely annoyed. Throughout this story, there’s this continuous build up of Matron hiding something, always in the shadow and spotting any sign of ailment. Toby makes her out to be evil incarnate but really the lady is just doing her job. To add, what is this illness that they keep on banging about? It’s not really explained. Ye,s they have what you call a defective gene, but is it contagious, is there a cure? I read this story hoping it would answer that.

But what annoyed me the most was the ending. Oh Lord, help me! It wasn’t a romantic story at all but unnecessarily soppy. Ever since he meets Clara it’s like I-hate-her to I’m-besotted-with-her and just bangs on and on about Clara’s mermaid red hair and ethereal body etc. I wanted to know about the defective gene. It turned into a romance story. It’s in the wrong genre. There was nothing science fiction about it and if there was it was only hinted about the defected gene. Toby and Clara’s love story was like the main thing and that was not what I had in mind. I thought the whole plot would be different. For example, Toby would be the hero and solve the mysterious illness and get them all out. Or he escapes from the island and gets help.

All in all, apart from the one grammatical mistake it was an OK book, but it went around the wrong way. It was misleading to me and I’m just frustrated with it. I’m not reading this book ever again.

Rating: 2/5
Publishers: Gollancz
Publication Date: February 26th 2015
Genre: Horror/Science Fiction/ Young Adult