Alice from Resident Evil meets Howard Roark in this twisty, intriguing locked house horror mystery novella.

I am thankful to Tor for my review copy – Below are my honest thoughts on this twisty novella.

In this age of Algorithms and AI, Arkady Martine has written a novella about AI that feels almost algorithmically designed – hewing to popular themes of locked-room murder mystery, an egoistic creator, and a determined, driven, overworked cop who just wants to solve the case by any means.

“Deniau’s houses were haunted to begin with. All of them. But Rose House was the last-built and the best.”

RoseHouse, the titular house in question, is unique – the house is not AI-enabled; it has AI embedded everywhere – RoseHouse is pretty much both house and the AI system. RoseHouse is also architect Basit Deniau’s greatest achievement and his own mausoleum. Basit Deniau, one of the greatest architects, carries his trade secret with him in RoseHouse, and as the book opens, we realise that RoseHouse doesn’t just house one corpse (that of Benit’s) but also another. RoseHouse takes it on itself to inform the local China Lake Police Department, in the form of Detective Maritza Smith. Detective Maritza’s immediate suspect is Dr Selene Gisil, Basit’s former student and now archiver, the only person who is allowed to enter RoseHouse – and that too only for a week annually. The murder investigation that unfolds veers into decidedly creepy territory – it’s not just Basit’s corpse made into a diamond that haunts the house but also old memories and newer AI interactions that flit in and out of the house

“What is a building without doors, Maritza? Rose House asked her, blandly inquisitive “A Prison”

RoseHouse hones in on the theme of disembodying – be it Basit and the memories associated with him, the very presence of RoseHouse, and also of the other corpse lying within the house and its previous actions. This theme extends to Detective Maritza as well when it comes to her duty – Arkady Martine paints a vivid picture of a society that is struggling with civil general unrest due to water scarcity and strict rostering of the police department to avoid overtime and burnout. Selene, on the other hand, sees Basit all through the house – given her falling out with Basil, she feels it even more. She wasn’t even able to spend her rationed one week in the house the last time and had to rush out in 3 days to avoid memories and ghosts of the place. RoseHouse as the disembodiment of Basit amps up the creep factor even further

Arkady Martine’s writing style takes some time to get used to, and it is kind of poetic that a novella about architects and design has a sense of whimsy yet precision. Portions of the book feel almost Edgar Allan Poe-like, conveying a sense of menace and horror that just gets under your skin. The description of the RoseHouse itself and its surroundings is fantastic but at the same time a little foreboding and imposing. Make no mistake, this is an extremely unsettling book for characters – Maritza especially in whom the AI seems to take special interest, especially given the way she gets into the house. Maritza’s identity (not what you think) is a question that the AI ponders all over and decides to play along with her, like a cat playing with a mouse. The creep factor is further heightened as outside forces try to find their way into the secrets that RoseHouse holds through any means possible – even murder.

“Narrative’s not evidence. Narrative’s interpretation”

I do think this is a “vibe” book because the central murder mystery doesn’t work as well as I expected. I struggled a fair bit on that aspect as the book went on, and that element didn’t exactly lead to much satisfaction in its resolution. There are a few other characters introduced outside of RoseHouse, and those elements again didn’t have the same impact as the ones inside, and for a novella, that felt a bit wasted in certain regards. However, as a vibe novel, I found it extremely satisfying and unsettling – so that’s there

Rose/House is an interesting novella that has many things going for it. Twisty, clever, and creepy, it has a sense of weirdness and unease that permeates the book and is elevated by the writing style that is pretty precise and unique. However, if you go in expecting a neat denouement of the central murder, this isn’t the book for it – this is more a book that deals with ghosts, internal and external, human and digital, creator and his creation – Frankenstein and his monster, RoseHouse

Rating – 3.5 on 5

Rose/House is available now, you can order your copy HERE