👻🏚Book Review:
Title: The Spite House
Author: Johnny Compton
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/3 stars

This book was trippy! Did you know that there really is such a thing as "spite houses?" I had to Google it to get more information! Now, I'm not sure if these real spite houses were as haunted as the one in this book, but it was intriguing to learn about nonetheless.

The Masson House in Degener, Texas, is looking for a new caretaker. Kinda. This "caretaker" will be expected to keep a detailed account of the time spent in this home. The owner, Eunice, believes the home to be haunted. Many have fled this home in terror.

Eric Ross, on the run with his two daughters, answers the ad and applies, desperate for money. The six figures being offered seals the deal. It doesn't take long for him to move his daughters into Eunice's home due to some truly terrifying experiences. Eric is determined to find the answers behind the spite that went into creating this home. This book was truly creepy! It's definitely perfect for the upcoming spooky season!

Thank you, @netgalley and @tornightfire, for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Published: February 7th, 2023

Eric Ross and his two daughters are on the road, living on the run for a mysterious reason that is not revealed until later, when he is offered a job that, if he can pull it off, will pay enough for them to abandon their peripatetic lifestyle and live a normal life. All that Eunice, the elderly woman who is the owner of the Masson House in Degener, Texas wants is documentation of supernatural activity. This is the intriguing premise of The Spite House. A “spite house,” for those who have never heard the term, is built solely to give grief or annoyance to someone else, whether by blocking the view, being an eyesore, or as a reminder of something the other person would prefer to forget. Its origins date back to the Civil War, when a terrible crime was committed that Eunice, the owner, feels spawned a curse on her and her family.

Eric, of course, knows nothing of the backstory, nor does he know that the previous investigators left as physical and emotional wrecks, but he accepts the job and moves in. There is a slow buildup of occurrences, but eventually, everything comes to a head in a shattering climax. While the book was what I believe is called a “slow burn,” the ending was sufficiently original, in my opinion, for me to round up my 3.5-star rating to 4. One of the only things that I wish had been, if not explained, at least explored more fully, is the unusual ability that the builder of the house and members of Eric’s family, including his younger daughter, shared, that probably contributed to his (relative) success in his task.

I also felt that the characters, including Eric and his daughters, Dessa and Stacey, as well as his employer and her staff members, were well-rounded and easy to identify with.

I received a copy of The Spite House from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is definitely one of the better horror novels I've read in a few years, and also made me look up what exactly a Spite House really is. The storytelling is great, the characters are intriguing and the mysterious backstory definitely keeps you guessing. My biggest gripe would be that a large part of the tense moments throughout the book are only delivered effectively if the reader understands the layout of the house, but again, that would be my only gripe. I'll definitely be on the lookout for more!

This was a fun book with lots of twists and surprises! Can’t wait to read more from this author. Thank you netgalley for providing this e copy

The Spite House follows Eric Ross and his two daughters, Dess and Stacy. The family is on the run from the police and all of their family and friends (for a reason unknown to the reader at first), and Eric is forced to take sketchy odd jobs for the family to survive. One day Eric comes across an advertisement seeking a person to stay in a house that may or may not be haunted. All he would need to do is record any signs of paranormal activity and he’d receive a payout that’s a “high six figures at minimum,” enough for his family to start over and build a new life in a new location. But this is a horror novel. I’m sure you’ve guessed that the house is, in fact, haunted and Eric and his daughters are about to have a bone chilling, life ruining, paranormal experience.

My absolute favorite thing about The Spite House is that the plot was very creative. I think an author managing to put a creative spin on a concept as simple and common as a haunted house is super impressive. This book was not predictable to me at all and I loved it that way. While reading I felt like the author might have been building a little too much hype around why the family is on the run and the reveal might fall flat, but the reveal of did not disappoint me at all. The paranormal scenes made me feel physically tense and paranoid at times, and horrors rarely do that to me. I cared about Eric, Dess, and Stacy both as individuals and as a family unit, which is what makes books about families grab me and suck me in.

One particular thing I’d like to compliment is the fact that Stacy, a seven year old, is written in a way that feels true to her age. I’ve found that writers often write the personalities of children around that age as if they’re either toddlers or 16 year olds. They either say things like “pwease” and “I’m hungwy” or sassily express their in depth opinions about romantic relationships and politics. But I think Stacy really did have the perspective and personality of a seven year old (at least from what I can remember about being 7. It’s been a while 😅).

Unfortunately I can’t share my primary complaints about The Spite House. They’re huge spoilers. But I will tell you that there is a trope in here that I hate in any book. I’ve never seen it written in a way that I’ve enjoyed. It’s not anything that I feel a need to warn you about. It’s just something I personally dislike. I also didn’t like the ending. And at a certain point the story started to feel like it was dragging. It’s a slow burn, and I think it could’ve had a slightly quicker pace. I also think it could’ve been a little shorter than it is.

All in all I recommend adding this to your TBR if you’re a fan or horrors, but I wouldn’t rush to read it.

The Spite House is the story of three families, the Houghtons who have been cursed for a terrible betrayal generations before, the Massons who were damned by their inability to find a life outside of the terrible fate that befell their ancestor, and the Rosses who are themselves haunted by a terrible event that caused them to leave everything behind in search of a future of safety and stability. On the face of things this is a modern gothic about a crooked little house haunted by the past and the family who is hired to document the haunting in order to earn their own happiness and recovery, but there is genuinely a lot more ticking along below the surface of this one. If you want to see what I mean you'll need to read it yourself, I won't spoil that for you.

Overall I really enjoyed the narrative here. We get ghosts, a haunting, dark pasts, and so much of the elements one expects from a haunted house story but we also get some interesting insights about what it is to be human and how much the very nature of living is complex and fraught with the tangled parts of what make us up. We also get quite a few interesting plot threads and unexpected turns here. I think the only thing I'd change about it was maybe a bit more fleshing out for our characters and the plot, just enough to ground it a bit more than it already established in its current form. But maybe the dangling threads are intentional? A way to say nothing is as best and tidy as most books make them out to be. In any case, this is a good one and very impressive as a debut!

I really enjoyed this one! I’m a sucker for a haunted house horror and the combination of that with Black Southern Gothic goodness was *chefs kiss* so good!

I had no idea what to expect when reading this book. I divided my time between reading the PDF and listening to the audio book ( whose author has a wonderful voice for this kind of story). I absolutely loved this book. I do not think that people who expect to be terrified will find what they are looking for, but I think for anyone who loves ghost stories, haunted houses and horror with complicated history will enjoy this one. I am a big fan of a slow burn and was thrilled when I got to the reveals towards the end. Could definitely see this as a movie and will be buying this one for my mom for Christmas. Would 100% recommend.

3⭐️

Eric Ross and his two daughters are on the run from their past. They left everything and everyone they know behind, including Eric’s wife and the girls mother. Without being able to get a legitimate job, Eric feels like the odd ad he finds for the Masson House in Texas is the lucky break they needed.

The Masson House, well known as one of the most haunted places in America is in need of caretaker. The owner is also hoping to find proof of paranormal activity and in exchange the caretaker would be paid a huge sum of money. Eric feels drawn to the job not just for the payday, but he’s also hoping to finally understand the uncanny that continues to follow his family.

Based on the story subject matter itself, this could have been a great read. I normally love multiple POV’s in a story but for some reason it really didn’t work with The Spite House. I feel like we got the POV of such insignificant characters in an attempt to draw the story out but it just drew everything out too much. The story also felt a bit choppy which made it hard to follow.

I did like the characters and enjoyed the relationship between the Ross family. Their back story until about halfway through the book felt very dramatic and it drew me in. But once you find out why they were actually on the run it felt kind of lackluster. I think I also would have liked more on Eunice and Emily’s hatred of each other and how Eunice is able to control the town so easily.

Thank you Netgalley for providing this ARC to me!

I did not get the chance to read this one. I honestly forgot I requested it and got held up with other arcs. This is another one I am scanning the shelves for though as I did really like the description of this title.

I love a haunted house story. And this one was not an exception. I was very interested in both the family’s backstory as well as the house and ghosts’. However, I didn’t love the ending as I felt there were a lot of loose threads.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for my digital ARC

The Spite House by Johnny Compton

The Renner's story was so creepy! The descriptions of the house are absolutely fantastic but the pacing wasn't my favorite. The story felt like it was very slow for 2/3 of the book and then ran to the finish line. I'd still be very interested to read more from from Compton.

Would recommend for readers looking for a heavily haunted house with a family drama twist

A Spite House: a building constructed or substantially modified to irritate neighbors or any party with land stakes.
Once you learn this term, phrases like "they built that monstrosity" take on a whole new meaning. Thank you dear author for the enlightenment.

This is a haunted house story with several points of view that meanders in some parts and then races to the finish. What does that mean? That means the pacing was off. It might have been the number/alternating POVs and the many narrative threads that caused this, but let's move on. Even as someone that doesn't like scary movies or anything with too much gore or... most horror in general, I can't stay away from a haunted house story (even if it keeps me up at night). This one didn't keep me awake at night. It promised more scares than it delivered. The characters were fine, but I didn't really care much about them. It introduced plotlines that didn't really go anywhere, and the payout wasn't worth the investment.

If you enjoyed Haunt of Hill House, don't mind being a little confused, and are not put off by unfinished plotlines this might be for you! I would even consider rereading this in the fall during the spooky Halloween season and see if my mood then grants a greater appreciation for this book. I would like to see what this author comes out with next.

Eric Ross has left his entire life behind. Leaving his job, his home, and his estranged wife, all to ensure the safety of his daughters. All to escape the mysterious incident that leaves them unable to stay in one place for any amount of time. But a life on the run is an expensive life and Eric needs money desperately. An ad for a job in Degener, Texas seems almost too good to be true. The Masson property wants for a caretaker. Its owner wants someone to prove that the most haunted place in Texas has actual paranormal activity and is willing to pay a small fortune to someone who can complete the job. The spite house calls to Eric, tugging at his curiosity regarding an old family story. Tugging at the root of what has left his family on the run.

I find myself having a hard time talking about this one without also making it about how I would go about the story. Which is more than a bit frustrating because there is a solid core to Johnny Compton's The Spite House that deserves to be talked about rather than around. And the book has some truly fascinating background lore that I would love to see more done with. But that lore also comes with a strange balance of things feeling both under and over explained.

This is a story with a bloodline curse and people who came back from the dead and the echoing effects of those mysterious revivals. This is a book where a house that should not exist can haunt a town so thoroughly that the wealthy old woman who wants to prove the existence of something after death has to put out ads in other cities to find anyone willing to step inside it. A book where, very occasionally, people just show back up after their deaths ready to jump back into their lives. The ideas are pretty brilliant and are, in many ways, concepts that could carry a book on their own. But the execution is not always there. The house is such a big scary thing that it almost feels like trying to explain the hauntings makes it less interesting, no less dangerous but far less intimidating. The bloodline curse winds up feeling tertiary to the plot despite being the reason Eustice is more or less sacrificing people to the house to begin with, in no small part because the way it was explained felt incredibly off hand.

The revival thing feels like it got this the worst though. We keep coming back to these unexplained returns, people coming back from absolutely certain death seemingly completely unharmed. It is the core of how most of the supernatural events in the book can occur due to it creating impossible places and people, like a thin spot in reality. But it also feels weirdly hollow and under thought through in places. Like, for instance, Eric clearly thinks that there was something supernatural going on with his grandfather and that something similar is happening in the Masson House. He wants to know more about all of this, the mechanics of it, the why's of it, but it does not feel like the reader ever really gets to understand what he is looking for. There is one clear reason, but events suggest that it cannot be the only reason or even, perhaps, the most pressing reason for his search. It feels frustratingly nebulous.

Frustratingly fractured as well, the various characters and hauntings and histories feel like just too much for one book. Like Eustace and the blood curse and her whole deal with trying to prove the existence of an afterlife for selfish reasons could have been amazing, especially with her supporting cast. The Eric and his daughters in the spite house could have been an amazing book, with the contrast of a father trying to protect his girls contrasted with the angry dysfunctional family that haunts the house. The revival aspect all but begs to be gone into deeper, I have so many questions about how it works and how the thin spots it causes affect the world. But all of it put together feels fragmented in a way that Compton probably did not intend, especially with the sheer number of view point characters killing a lot of the tension that might have been built up with fewer explanations of side details.

I have a lot of notes on The Spite House, most of them boil down to me poking at bits of the book to see how some differences might have changed it. This was an enjoyable book, one that I would like to see more of. Compton is clearly a talented writer and, while this is his debut novel, it looks like he has some short stories published. So I definitely want to keep an eye out for more of his work in the future. The Spite House gets a four out of five for me, both because it was an enjoyable if rough read and because I still find myself poking at it.

Grab this book and get ready for a creepy and compelling story. I was sucked right into this book on page one. The family seems so mysterious and you have to wonder what dreadful secret they are hiding. The house is dark and unwelcoming, as befits it's name, I had forgotten what a spite house is, but the author was kind enough to remind us all. It's a small building meant to block a view or irritate others in some fashion. This place is a twisted mess that just keeps pilling onto Eric, the father and hero of the story. I enjoyed learning about Eric and his family as much as I loved the spooky happenings at the house. I highly recommend this book to any one who loves haunted house stories.

Spooky and spinetingling. i lovedit.
Many thanks toMacmillan-Tor/forge and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me an advance reader copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Whoa! I was not expecting such a thrilling book that would actually give me chills while reading! When a horror/ghost novel has that affect....you should read it now! Sometimes I feel more jaded towards "scary" books as I get older, but this one reminded me of reading Stephen King as a youngster on a stormy afternoon! It had that kind of lasting impact! Looking forward to more books by Johnny Compton!


Description
A terrifying Gothic thriller about grief and death and the depths of a father's love, Johnny Compton's The Spite House is a stunning debut by a horror master in the making—The Babadook meets A Head Full of Ghosts in Texas Hill Country.

Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters in tow. Having left his wife, his house, his whole life behind in Maryland, he's desperate for money—it's not easy to find steady, safe work when you can't provide references, you can't stay in one place for long, and you're paranoid that your past is creeping back up on you.

When he comes across the strange ad for the Masson House in Degener, Texas, Eric thinks they may have finally caught a lucky break. The Masson property, notorious for being one of the most haunted places in Texas, needs a caretaker of sorts. The owner is looking for proof of paranormal activity. All they need to do is stay in the house and keep a detailed record of everything that happens there. Provided the house’s horrors don’t drive them all mad, like the caretakers before them.

The job calls to Eric, not just because there's a huge payout if they can make it through, but because he wants to explore the secrets of the spite house. If it is indeed haunted, maybe it'll help him understand the uncanny power that clings to his family, driving them from town to town, making them afraid to stop running.

I liked this one, it was very well written and would be perfect for spooky season and all year round story about a familia who moves into a haunted house due to financial hardship. Well done for a debut novel and love, love, love the cover.

Alright, I LOVED this one! I wasn't sure what to expect, but it blew me away. I enjoyed all of our narrators--particularly Eric himself and his older daughter. The characters felt compelling, and I was VERY intrigued by the direction the story was taking. I guessed some things before the end, but I never felt like that spoiled the journey.

It was a very spooky, atmospheric book, laced with commentary on social issues. The history angle--and the story of why the spite house was built--was very well done, and very interesting.

There are some loose ends, at the close, if that's something that might put off readers, but it didn't bother me. I think it worked well with the narrative, and I frankly like to be left wondering sometimes.

Tragic, atmospheric, spooky, and character-driven--these are all things I enjoy in a horror novel. Highly recommended, and I'll be watching for more of Compton's writing.

Give me a haunted house story any day! I love something atmospheric and scary with a creeping sense of dread, and The Spite House delivers. There's also complex family relationships, mental/emotional struggle, and real world challenges that serve to anchor the supernatural components of the plot. I like that each character has distinct chapters, and that the characters are developed - it really helps to have someone(s) to care about as you are reading. Plot is great, but it can only take you so far. Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for allowing me to read this novel in advance. I did end up buying a physical copy, as well.