“Fade to Black” is a reality show following a group of professional ghost hunters: Matt, Claire, Kevin, Jake and Jessica. When ratings for the show dip during its first season, the leader, Matt, decides to take matters into his own hands and steer his team to Foundation House. Foundation House isn’t just any haunted mansion; not only is it the site of reported paranormal happenings, but it also has a dark past seeped in human experimentation and psychosis.
Craig DiLouie’s “Episode Thirteen” follows this team as they try to navigate the house for their thirteenth, and possibly final, episode.
This book was DiLouie’s 2023 release, while his most recent as of Jan. 2025 was “How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive” (2024). DiLouie is obviously no stranger to the horror genre, and while the premises of some of his books may seem tacky and simple, (ex: ghost hunters find real ghosts) they are most certainly not. In presenting his novels in this almost silly light, he subverts the expectations of his audience, making his horror that much more shocking.
The veteran horror author delivers a masterful and intense iteration of the “found-footage” horror subgenre with help from his intriguing cast of characters, sharp writing and formatting style, and his use of the story’s setting.
Unique and dynamic characters can be hard to come across, especially in the horror genre. Just about every author out there has coined their own version of the “secret psycho” or the “one that survives” (not to mention the one that will always die first). The problem they then run into is that these weak stereotypes can’t support the plot, and it just ends up feeling empty and pointless. To avoid this, DiLouie builds his characters on top of these harsh stereotypes, rather than putting them straight in the mold.
A prime example of this is Kevin’s character. Kevin is introduced as an ex-cop who hastily quit the police force and now uses the show as an excuse to “make use of his detective skills”. What makes him different from the typical ex-cop archetype, though, is why he really quit his old job, and how that led him to Matt and the crew.
DiLouie also has each character’s personal journal entries scattered throughout the book, giving the reader a clear view of not just the relationships within the team but also of those more personal ones that exist outside of the show. Later in the novel, he does an incredible job of using the inner turmoil of the characters to show the possible psychological effects of these “paranormal investigations” and how they vary from person to person.
To put it more simply, the reason DiLouie’s horror is so effective isn’t because of the house’s eerie atmosphere or background, it’s because he takes the time to delve into their combined impact on the characters. DiLouie proves himself to be an expert on documenting the deterioration of the human psyche, whether real or not, and how that relates to aspects of both science and religion.
His writing relays thoughts on the longevity of science and discovery, the impossibility of omniscience, the illusion of a single reality, the possibility of an afterlife and what that means for those we hold dear. He writes the kind of horror that is scary and anxiety-inducing, but not because of gore or ghosts. What makes DiLouie’s horror so terrifying and so impactful is that there is no way of knowing how close it could be to reality.