Will Maclean: "Solace House" (ARC Review)

Title: Solace House [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Will Maclean [Instagram | Goodreads]
Genres: Multiverse, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2026
Age: 18+ (because of its themes and its complexity, it's a better fit for older readers - though it straddles the line between Adult and New Adult, and can indeed be read by mature teens. See the WARNING! section though)
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Spellbinding, mindboggling, unpredictable, so very clever, exquisitely written.
Cons: The characters aren't what you would call "likeable". While the poetry inserts are ultimately important, their language is dense and old-fashioned. The ending is both open (in a way) and open to interpretation, which might annoy readers who need a decent amount of closure.
WARNING! Murder/decapitation, body horror, self-harm, psychosis, death of a parent, drugs, claustrophobic spaces, forced hospitalisation, references to suicide and domestic violence.
Will appeal to: Those who like creepy, multilayered stories set in a creepy, multilayered reality - with a side of time warp/time loop.

Blurb: In the summer of 1993, broke student Alex Lane joins a team clearing out Solace House, a Victorian mansion bequeathed to the university by a reclusive hoarder called Flayne. The other students are a mixed bunch, but Alex quickly falls into a close friendship with the lively, redheaded Ella. When the crew begins sorting through piles of junk, they stumble upon Flayne's journals, in which he details his obsession with his missing mother, his discovery of a place called Bewise, and - most mysteriously - his belief in another realm lying parallel to ours, along with coded instructions as to how it might be reached. As the students delve deeper into the house's secrets, one of them becomes obsessed with deciphering Flayne's strange opus and its promise of another world...and they may be willing to sacrifice everything, and everyone, to get there. (Goodreads)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Grove Atlantic for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

BUILDING MOMENTUM

In the Acknowledgments section, the autor states that it took him five years to.complete this novel, and I wasn't at all surprised to hear that. Even not taking into account its length (500 pages) and the quatrains that open each chapter (more about them later), Solace House is one of the most ambitious and complex books I've ever read...though I don't want you to get the wrong impression - it will mess with your mind, but you won't have to struggle to crack it open like the proverbial hard nut. You don't need to be well-versed in science, or philosophy, or history, in order to enjoy it (though it might help if you like word games). If anything, you'll find it compulsively readable, at least once the plot moves to the titular house or its vicinity at least (admittedly, the first section is maybe a tad too long, but on the other hand, it's not like I was bored while reading it). When the cast finally comes together, there's a palpable wrongness in the air, or a sense of disquiet at the very least, that can't be all chalked up to the amount of recreational drugs they take 😂 - especially after they have their first experience with the house, and a certain song (inspired by a painting) enters the equation. From there, the tension, uneasiness and horror keep ramping up, all the way to a finale that's either going to have you in awe or make you mad, but looking back, it's probably the only one that fits. [...]

IN PLAIN SIGHT

I'm probably doing a bad job of selling this book to you because it's totally nuts (but in a good way - hence the five stars) and I don't know how to talk about it without spoilers, but hear me out: there's a house (duh). And a garden. And a cave. And in the house: the deceased owner's journals (harboring an earth-shattering secret, one would suppose), disturbing art/installations (or are they?), an impossible phone that keeps ringing from who knows where - because the "house" is actually a mansion with more than fifty rooms that would give the folks from Hoarding: Buried Alive a run for their money. And yeah, you know from the start that multiple universes/realities are potentially involved, but you're NOT prepared for the amount of loops the author will throw you (and his characters) for along the way. And there are clues, if you know where to look - except you probably won't (no offense, but it's the book's job that you don't) and you'll only understand their significance in retrospect, which is even more awesome, I swear.

POINTS OF CONTENTION

At this juncture, you're probably wondering why I didn't mention the characters anywhere if not in passing, and why I gave five stars to this book while admitting that they aren't what you would call "likeable" (hot take: characters don't necessarily need to be "likeable" for a book to be a masterpiece, but I digress). You might be even more shocked to hear me say that I understand why a number of reviewers called out the author on representation - especially when it comes to the female characters and the pale and sinister guy who would appear to be albino if not for the colour of his eyes. While their feelings are of course valid, I reasoned that 1) even the male characters aren't exactly flawless (Clive, I'm looking at you); 2) the story is set in the '90s (and arguably, not to capitalise on the nostalgia - as Leo points out a couple of times, there was a specific sense of anticipation in those days that fits the plot...of course the reader knows how it all panned out, and that fits the plot too), and this means it reflects certain biases/stereotypes of the era (I STILL wish Adam wouldn't have been described as "pale and strange" multiple times, though, and if we were supposed to have a religious nutcase in the book, why could it not be a man for a change?).

And then there are the quatrains that introduce each chapter...which I started to read only to abandon them later, because I didn't like the style and couldn't make head or tail of them. I was sure that they had a function, and for a while I thought I had cracked the code, but nope (knowing what I know now, I guess the author was playing a trick on us...)...anyway, when I realised I was going nowhere with them, I gave up. It turns out Maclean had painstakingly crafted each verse with a very specific purpose, and when it was revealed, I was in awe - and almost felt guilty for not taking the time to read them (especially when he volunteered the information that he hadn't used AI to write them!).

COLOSSAL CRUCIBLE

So, there you are. This was one of my hardest reviews to write - one of my longest too, which is kind of ironic, given that I did my best not to spoil the book - and I'm still not sure if I was able to convey how much Solace House broke my brain and put all the pieces back together, and mainly, how much I loved it despite the "points of contention" I listed above. One thing is true though, and maybe it's all you really need to know to make up your mind about reading it or not: Maclean wove psychological and cosmic horror, philosophy and faith (more like religious zealotry), mystery and memory, dark academia vibes (minus the actual academia) and psychedelia, and a whole lot of obsession, into a story that you won't forget anytime soon. And I'm already looking forward to buying a physical copy and starting it anew to have my brain broken again...

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Like this book? You might also be interested in Adrienne Celt: "End of the World House"; Ryan Leslie: "Colossus".