I feel like I am cheating in Spooktober. Although I am currently reading The Lingering, House of Glass and Sleep No More, I have 10 more books on my October reading list, which I now know I won’t be able to finish. I’ve got so many books this month and they’ve bumped their way into the first lines of TBR, so my Spooktober is not going well!

You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann is almost a novella, short but sharp, eerie, brilliantly chilling read set in German mountains, in a holiday villa.

“It is fitting that I’m beginning a new notebook up here. New surroundings and new ideas, a new beginning. Fresh air.”

This is the opening lines of the book, where a screenplay writer, on a writing slump, starts writing a journal in a holiday villa he just arrived with her daughter and wife. He is mildly depressed, the marriage is not the perfect one, and he feels detached as a father to his daughter.

Hoping this holiday will help, he begins writing. But the house they’re in  has other ideas. Somethings start to happen. Is it him, or the house? And why are the villagers staying away from the house?

Oh I can’t say more, as it’s so short you must be brave enough and dive in. If you love John Carpenter movies, you will love this book. Perfect October/November read, it made me scared, I felt a bit funny reading it alone in my house 🙂

I would love to read more from Daniel Kehlmann.

4 stars!