THE MANSION is Ezekiel Boone's new book after fabulous The Hatching trilogy. This book is something else completely. It's a story about an old crumbling mansion and a love story that will destroy a friendship and turn two men into bitter enemies.

Shawn Eagle and Billy Stafford were once a great team, but Shawn's girlfriend Emily left him for Billy. Shawn, however, ended up with the innovative computer Eagle Logic that he and Billy had created together. So, while Billy and Emily had each other, Shawn ends up one of the richest men on the planet.

Years later, Shawn turns to Billy for help to help finish a program they had started on together but never got to work properly: a next- generation computer program called Nellie. Nellie is the ultimate assistant, knowing what you need before you know it yourself. Shawn has put Nellie in the old mansion he inherited and he needs Billy to make it work. Billy agrees to it, but can he and Shawn pick up where they left? And there is just something very wrong with Nellie...

THE MANSION is a pretty thick book and I felt that too much of the story was spent on the backstory of the characters and too little on the current situation with the mansion. I loved getting to know Emily, Billy, and Shawn. But, at least half of the book was spent on building the characters. It took ages before Billy and Emily even set foot in the mansion. The writing is great and there are great moments like when Shawn thinks about his childhood. But, you need a lot of patient for this book. I found myself most intrigued by Emily's twin nieces that both seemed to have second sight. I wish the story had focused more on them because they shined.

THE MANSION could have been great if the story had been more about the mansion in the present time because the ending is truly fabulous. I would have loved to read more about their time in the mansion rather than all the emotional baggage that they had to deal with first. The mysterious mansion is such a great place, suspected to be haunted, and now the place for a new technology system to begin. And yet, so little time is spent exploring the place. Final verdict: be patient, because the ending is truly great, and it's worth the read to get to it!