Madhouse

Short and a good story. I liked it a lot.

This short story has more excitement than a 300 page novel! Very well written and edited. I couldn't put it down until I finished it so I was late for work! Not your fault Miguel.

Strange main character- I found myself having a hard time connecting with the main character in order to root for his escape. The beginning of the story sets him up to be an intelligent and mischievous almost-preteen, but then he runs away to punish his parents for wanting to divorce and cries when he’s sitting in the dark, which makes him seem much younger. This fear of the dark is also used as a storytelling crutch because it prevents him from escaping his situation several times when usually the threat of death would override your fear of the dark and pump you full of enough adrenaline to get past it temporarily. It made it hard to root for the kid because he kept making dumb decisions. Generic villains- I felt that the Andersons were not very unique as villains. They’re the stereotypical crazy kidnappers/killers, with the man being violent and aggressive, and the woman being promiscuous and delusional. It would be interesting to have included some unique traits for both of them so that they would stand out from other thriller villains. They would also just leave this kidnapped child all alone without any restraints and expect him to just stay put, which is unrealistic. Timeline problems- The newspaper clippings said that the Andersons were already middle-aged when they lost their two children. Their previous house burned down, meaning they had to get a new one, but the house described throughout the story has dirt and grime that would take decades to build up, even for very messy people. Trust me, I’ve seen hoarder houses. The Andersons are not old enough in the story for that time to have passed, therefore it would make much more sense if they had lost their kids when they were young. However, the twist at the end would make that impossible. It’s also not a good twist. Grammatical errors- Certain parts of the story were confusing because of grammatical errors within the text, or just sentences being worded in a strange way. I noticed less as the story went on, but the first couple chapters were full of them, which is unfortunate because the beginning is where you want to hook your reader, and I’m sure many people were turned off by this. (I also found a bunch in chapter 18, but there’s a couple here and there throughout the book.) Descriptions- One thing I can give this story credit for are the descriptions. Each room of the house has a different atmosphere that is conveyed very well, and the imagery of the violence that happens during the story is vividly described. I could picture it almost like a video game in my head, which I found enjoyable as a survival horror fan. Would I recommend it?- Not really. I was going to say that it was short enough to not be a total waste of time until I got to the last two pages. That twist actually made me laugh a little. It really comes out of nowhere. The story setup had potential, but it fumbled. Maybe the author will try a rewrite in the future?

Lucas’s horror story starts when he learns his parents intend to get a divorce. His plan to get them back together leads to danger. If he ever returns to his parents, will he even be safe there? The imagery in this short piece were disturbingly vivid. Unfortunately, some of the story’s power got lost in typos and poor words choices that rudimentary editing should have caught.

I haven’t read in years. Just this year 2025, I promised myself I would begin to read more. I’m a huge horror fan and never thought of reading horror books. This is my first book of this type of horror I’ve ever read. The moment I started reading it definitely had my attention from start to finish. I ended up getting the all of Miguel Estradas books. I tried to look up Miguel on social media as well to give him a follow and couldn’t find anything about him. I don’t have facebook but noticed a Facebook page that hadn’t been updated since 2019. I want to keep up with his works. Hopefully there’s updates in the future! I’m a lifelong fan moving forward Miguel!

It sounds a little bit like English is not this persons first language, which is okay. It just sounds very choppy, and something’s were reiterated that didn’t need to be.

Amazing and shocking story.

Very good book it keeps u interested through out the whole book. Don’t start to read unless u have time to not put it down

I started reading this book, but didn’t finish because I do not like books were children are involved with killers. What I read was good quality, except for the spelling had not been edited well.

After reading Heaven’ Peak. I was very disappointed with this novel! It’s garbage man!