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theliteraryhooker's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
An interesting premise, but sadly the execution was lacking in depth. I wanted the ideas around the spite house and the returned to be way more fleshed out. The haunted house element was good but there were so many other details introduced then never really explored. The pacing was also pretty uneven which was jarring in places.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Child death
Minor: Racism and Miscarriage
maryellen's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, Confinement, Grief, and Child death
Moderate: Death of parent and Child death
lovelymisanthrope's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I picked up this book because it was the March selection for the Literally Dead Book Club.
"The Spite House" follows a plethora of characters, but the story centralizes around Eric Ross. Eric is on the run from something haunting him in his past. He left his wife and has his two daughters along for the ride. He is desperately trying to make money as they run from town to town. He thinks his luck is finally turning around when he sees an advertisement to reside in this house and document any strange occurrences. But this house harbors decades old secrets and Eric quickly discovers that this may be a larger undertaking than he thought.
I was initially intrigued by this story because there are multiple mysteries going on. First, we do not know what Eric and his daughters are running from or why they are running. Second, we do not know what is going on at Spite House. It ended up taking me a LONG time to get into this story because it is so densely written. It may be closer to a novella in length, but it felt like I was reading a 500-page story. I also struggled because there are so many different characters and POVs to read from. I felt like just when I was becoming invested in one character's story, I was given a new character. This constant changing really took me out of the story. For a book this short in length, I wished we got less POVs. I think the story could have been just as strong with solely Eric's POV.
Once it was finally revealed what was going on, I was interested in the story once again. I really enjoyed the mystery that Eric was trying to hide about why they were running, and I ultimately enjoyed the resolution they reached as a family about how to handle it. The Spite House's mystery was a bit more traumatic I felt, but it was definitely engaging. My heart went out to everyone affected.
I had a very okay time reading this, and I am intrigued by Johnny Compton as an author.
"The Spite House" follows a plethora of characters, but the story centralizes around Eric Ross. Eric is on the run from something haunting him in his past. He left his wife and has his two daughters along for the ride. He is desperately trying to make money as they run from town to town. He thinks his luck is finally turning around when he sees an advertisement to reside in this house and document any strange occurrences. But this house harbors decades old secrets and Eric quickly discovers that this may be a larger undertaking than he thought.
I was initially intrigued by this story because there are multiple mysteries going on. First, we do not know what Eric and his daughters are running from or why they are running. Second, we do not know what is going on at Spite House. It ended up taking me a LONG time to get into this story because it is so densely written. It may be closer to a novella in length, but it felt like I was reading a 500-page story. I also struggled because there are so many different characters and POVs to read from. I felt like just when I was becoming invested in one character's story, I was given a new character. This constant changing really took me out of the story. For a book this short in length, I wished we got less POVs. I think the story could have been just as strong with solely Eric's POV.
Once it was finally revealed what was going on, I was interested in the story once again. I really enjoyed the mystery that Eric was trying to hide about why they were running, and I ultimately enjoyed the resolution they reached as a family about how to handle it. The Spite House's mystery was a bit more traumatic I felt, but it was definitely engaging. My heart went out to everyone affected.
I had a very okay time reading this, and I am intrigued by Johnny Compton as an author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Child abuse, Abandonment, Death of parent, Torture, and Confinement
Moderate: Medical content
starrysteph's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The Spite House is a gothic horror tale revolving around parental love & protection, ancestral hauntings, and complicated karmic seeds.
We follow the Ross family (dad Eric and daughters Dess and Stacy) as they run from their mysterious past, desperate to improve their circumstances and find some stability. When an eccentric billionaire offers them a small fortune to stay inside a mysterious house and record potential hauntings, it’s too good of an offer to pass up. But of course everything isn’t quite so simple, and vengeful ghosts and complicated family histories soon intertwine in a deadly way.
If you tend to get irritated by horror story protagonists making absurd choices for no reason, you won’t find that here. The Ross family aren’t foolish risk-takers. They’re not intentionally charging into danger. They’re thoughtful and do safety drills. They’re logical and calculated. And they’re forced into the house out of desperation – which makes this story all the more compelling.
I enjoyed the multiple POVs, but could have gone without the one-offs of side characters and antagonizers. I would have appreciated being kept to a more limited viewpoint - so that I as the reader could uncover truths alongside the three Ross’, instead of being given reveals from the secret-keepers surrounding them.
I thought the pacing + flow was very well done. However, I would have loved more scenes of action & atmospheric horror inside the house. We actually didn’t spend a whole lot of time between its walls. Additionally, the history of the house was well thought out, but became a bit convoluted. This was a 300 page book and a lot of info was squished in.
Overall, this was an engaging read and a chilling story – I only wish the plotting & POVs were little less complicated and more expansiveness was given to the central family and terrifying spite house;
CW: death (incl. child death), gore, murder, child abuse, psychosis, war, racism, gun violence, mental illness, kidnapping, confinement
(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Body horror, Confinement, Death, and War
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