September House by Carissa Orlando
A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.
When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.
Margaret is not most people.
Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.
Review:
I love when a book can creep you out one minute and then have you laughing the next. This book has a perfect blend of horror and humor and a nice amount of heart as well.
The story follows Margaret and her husband Hal, who – on the surface – have led a reasonable life together. They’ve never been particularly wealthy and could never afford to own their own home. One day, after their daughter moves out and starts her own life, Margaret finds an ad for a beautiful Victorian home that is cheaply priced, and both she and Hal fall madly in love with it. It’s not long before they’ve purchased the home for themselves. It’s everything Margaret has ever dreamed of – the perfect forever home.
Little did they know that this house was not as innocent as it seemed. As September rolls around, the house becomes a nightmarish place, with walls dripping blood, and then the mangled ghosts of former residents appear. Many of the ghosts seem to have been a victim of murder – likely within the walls of the house, and there’s a presence in the basement that seems to be extremely dangerous. Most people would pack up and leave, but this is Maragret’s dreamhouse, dammit, and she refuses to leave. Once September passes, the house mostly returns to normal, and the ghosts calm down, but then, when September rolls around again, things start back up. After four years of this, Hal has had enough and wants to leave, but Margaret is still determined to stay. And then Hal disappears, and their daughter, Katherine (who doesn’t know the house is haunted), comes to stay with Margaret and look for her father – kicking off the events of the book.
One of the things that struck me about this book is the author’s exceptional writing style. Carissa Orlando has a way with words that hook you from the very first page and keep you engaged until the last. She expertly balances the creepiness with the humor but also manages to tug at the heartstrings here and there. There were several moments throughout the book where I found myself laughing out loud before being immediately pulled back into the heart-pounding suspense.
I especially loved the allegory in the novel. This is more than just a haunted house book – it’s also about abuse and how difficult it can be for women to leave when they’re being abused, and the lengths they will go to protect their children. It also touches on mental health issues, and the author handles both topics with great care.
Character-wise, Margaret is a strong and resilient protagonist who refuses to be scared away by the hauntings. Her determination to uncover the secrets of the house and find her missing husband is admirable and makes her an instantly likable character. Margaret is very layered, and the further we go into the story, the more we learn about her and the more we adore her.
Katherine, Margaret’s daughter, brings a fresh perspective to the story. She’s very straightforward and holds nothing back. The fact that she is completely unaware of the hauntings adds another layer to the story. Her skepticism and logical thinking provide a nice balance to Margaret’s unwavering belief in the supernatural. The ghosts themselves are also well-developed characters with their own stories and fears, which adds depth to the overall narrative. Rarely do we get to know the ghosts in haunted house stories, so knowing their backstories was very refreshing and made me feel more grounded in the overall story.
The pacing of the book is spot-on, with the suspense building up gradually throughout the story. Each chapter is brief, which makes things move quickly and leaves you wanting more. The way the intensity of hauntings escalates with every passing day propels the novel forward as we try and figure out what happened to Hal, what exactly lives in the basement, and can it be stopped? Or does it need to be? At one point, we begin to wonder if maybe all of this is a figment of Margaret’s imagination. And just when you think you have everything figured out, Carissa Orlando throws in a clever twist that will leave you questioning everything you thought you knew.
I know we’re only halfway through my month of scary reads, but I think I may have found my favorite book of the fall with this one. This is a masterfully written novel that had me hooked from beginning to end. I loved the characters, the story, and the themes. I felt it was very well-written. Do yourself a favor and check this one out.
