Title: Sick Bargain: Vile House 1

Author: Nordika Night

Publisher: Self-Published/Indie Author, 11/19/2024

ISBN:978-1-0691308-0-8

Goodreads Rating 4.1, Amazon Rating 4.4

Personal Rating: Hide yo Kids!

Original 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 11/30/2024 – 12/01/2024

Reread ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 06/14/2025 – 06/16/2025

Am I running from death… or racing towards it?

Remiel Sauder has reached his breaking point. With no other choice, he leads his lifelong tormentor to Vile House, hoping to scare him off and increase his chances of survival. Vile House is well known, but he’s about to learn how deep their secrets and mysteries are rooted in the town’s history. No one enters Vile House without making a bargain, and Remiel is about to hand his life over to the devil he’s forced upon.

The Vile Boy in the purple mask.

Krypt never intended to take the bargain. He’s never taken one before. But when Remiel steps foot in the hall, he claims it immediately. Drawn to Remiel’s fear, Krypt agrees to the terms of the bargain and takes the local boy as his own, liking the way the tainted man brings his deepest monsters to life, rattling their chains. Little does he know that the curse haunting Remiel is about to haunt him, too, tying their lives together in a way neither of them bargained for.

Remiel thrives in fear. Krypt relishes in creating it. 

They’re a match made in Moros and their downfall is their uprising. Because in sickness, these two find their health.

This is NOT a romance, and that is the one thing I found myself most appreciative of when it came to this story. The characters themselves recognize that what they have is a relationship of convenience, and they are unhealthy for each other. What they have isn’t rooted in love but in wanting to be wanted. It doesn’t sugarcoat or hold the reader’s hands to convince us that this is romantic, like many other dark romance stories I have read. They are happy, but they aren’t healthy and quick to let this be known.

Ramiel is cursed. He comes from a long line of men who have all taken their lives for one reason or another, and he believes himself to be next. To save his life and that of his siblings, he goes to Vile House to ask for the lives of three men, and in exchange, he gives up his own.

What follows can be summed up as pure desperation as Ramiel tries to navigate the chaos that the boys of Vile House have to other. This is dark and, dare I say, vile. I found myself truly hating myself and the author because I wanted to save them from each other and see what kind of carnage they could make. Even after we discovered some of the Vile Boys’ identities, I still craved their downfall and someone to save them. This contradiction is what drew me to the story in the first place. Well, that and the cover because, come on. Neon masks are all the rage these days.

This story is disgusting. As I said, readers will find themselves hating themselves and their characters for their choices, but it is also gratifying if you are into that.