The September House

“There was something disconcerting about opening your eyes first thing in the morning and seeing a thick trail of red oozing down your nice wallpaper, pointing straight at your head. It really set a mood for the remainder of the day.”

Margaret finds her dream home and refuses to give it up even after a series of increasingly dangerous hauntings drive her and her husband to the brink. When her husband leaves town and their daughter insists on finding him, Margaret is more concerned about her daughter discovering the truth than the blood pouring down the wall — that, after all, happens every September.

✩ Concept With a pitch like “woman moves into haunted house and is too stubborn to leave,” The September House was guaranteed to draw me in. Carissa Orlando absolutely delivered on this concept and leaned into every gory detail. It felt referential to classic horror media while also taking a fresh approach.

✩ Pacing What I love most about horror is its capacity to explore social commentary and push a hypothetical to its extreme — this book spent a lot of time making sure you understood what the commentary/message was here. That is central to the book, that is the book, but for me the plot seemed to lag under the weight of that message. Genuinely, I'd say the first 70% of the book is pretty slow and more exposition than plot progression. It's not until that last act that things get really interesting. The payoff is great, in my opinion, but it took me a while to read this book.

✩ Character I loved Margaret as a character. Without getting into too many personal details, I definitely saw a lot of Margaret in people I know in my own life. I connected with her character immediately, which kept me engaged while she struggled with the terrors of her house. I kept imagining her as a Winona Ryder type, with that same frantic and determined energy she embodies as Joyce Byers.

✩ Cinematic I often read books and think about how they might be adapted into other media — blockbuster movies, video games, HBO miniseries, etc. This book really felt so cinematic. The way the author moved me through action scenes, through rooms of the house, through time itself, felt like something out of a screenplay. I think she balanced description and action in a way that was both bloody and beautiful. I saw some reviews refer to this book as a dark comedy, and I honestly did not get the humor at all. Not in a bad way, I just didn't pick up on it. I think if it were adapted or I listened to it on audio-book, I would have picked up on the dark humor more.

✩ Psychological I love a haunted house story a la The Conjuring or The Haunting of Hill House. Those are pretty paranormal in nature, but I love it when a storyteller brings in a psychological thriller element. Margaret is an unreliable narrator — and the first unreliable narrator I've loved this much. I found out after reading that the author has a background in Psychology, and you can see threads of that in the book.

In Conclusion

If you love character driven slow-burns where you don't feel the tension creeping up your neck until it's got you in a choke hold — I'd say push through those slow parts and enjoy the payoff.