3.5 stars, rounded up.

A gothic horror slow burn set in 2010 in Afghanistan. It took me a bit to get into as it definitely was a slow burn, but once I got into it, I was into it. I'm not huge on books set in the military, however I did enjoy this one. If horror and military are your thing, then this is the book for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The year is 2010, and Corporal Alex Loyette and his crew of Marines have just arrived in Kajaki, Afghanistan, to finish up their deployment on a new base. When they arrive, they immediately notice the blocky, abandoned barracks off-base: a Soviet-era militia house that the British soldiers they are there to relieve tell them has a dark history, and is rumored to be haunted. Eager for a break from their monotonous duties (loading and unloading cargo from helicopters), Loyette and his crew decide to sneak off-base and explore the militia house.

What should be an exciting mid-day diversion from their dull responsibilities turns into something much more unsettling, because after returning from their jaunt to the militia house, Loyette and his men begin experiencing strange events: nightmares, hallucinations, a mounting sense of unease they can't escape. Loyette tries to write it all off as the stress of active duty, but he can't shake the feeling that the militia house isn't done with them yet.

John Milas draws on his lived experiences as a Marine who served in Afghanistan to immerse the reader in the life of a soldier: the monotony and tedium, the psychological and emotional toll, the sense of isolation and the lack of autonomy. He spends the first two-thirds of the book exploring the drudgery of an active-duty soldier's days, letting us get to know Loyette intimately. We learn about his past, his struggles both in his private life and during his time with the Marines, the events and people that have made him into the hardened, hopeless, seemingly unfeeling man he is. The Militia House reads like Loyette's diary -- meaning that parts of it are a bit boring, but also that it is a fascinating, deeply psychological character study.

The last third of the book is absolutely stellar, as the horror that has been quietly and subtly building the entire time is unleashed in a conclusion that I am still thinking about, more than a week after I finished reading the book. It's ambiguous and bleak and so perfectly exemplifies the futility, trauma, and brutality of modern warfare and its effects on those who serve.

Military fiction is not typically a genre that interests me. I picked this up because it sounded like a haunted house story, and I love those. And well, it is a story about ghosts, and about being haunted -- just not the kind I expected. The Militia House may not be a typical ghost story, but it will haunt me all the same. 3.5 stars rounded up.

The Militia House grabbed me right from the beginning, with it's lyrical prose, and its almost Gothic style. I enjoyed this book, and how a place can become part of the subconscious, staying with you long after you are gone. The characters were easy to engage with, and the book really played up the juxtaposition of high anxiety/stress, and the near constant boredom that the Marines feel while they are on active duty. When they aren't engaging in some high stress activity, they are bored out of their minds in their quarters.

While I loved most of this story, and the ins an outs of the war, and the supernatural "character" of the militia house, the ending of this story really disappointed me. I wanted a stronger ending, and was expecting one, since the rest of the book had been so engaging. This book really ended with a whisper, not a shout (as I was expecting.)

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The author brings the boredom and challenges of being on duty in Afghanistan during war to life. The risk of death is very real even in the routine task of taking a delivery from a helicopter at a forward operating base. The disconnect from reality for a enlisted man is made tangible

Added to the mix of “reality” is an abandoned building just outside the base with a ghost story attached. Our main character has to take a visit and things go downhill from there quickly. His visit to the building reminded me of the video from “Blair witch Project“ in the abandoned house. What was there and wasn’t there was never really clear. Same here.

The sense of dread is palpable throughout the remainder of the book.

Worth a read!

The Militia House by John Milas was pretty freaking good. It was clingy, and eerie, atmospheric, and just plain creepy.
Afghanistan 2010, Corporal Loyette and his marine unit are fighting off boredom and the heat and decide to sneak off base to the deserted and rumored haunted Militia House that sits just a few hundred yards outside of base. The Militia House is a former Soviet barracks that supposedly witnessed a horrible massacre right at the end of the Soviet invasion. While at the Militia House the crew lose all sense of time, smell phantom smells, find and lose whole stairwells, and find tons of porcupine quills. After leaving, the unit soon finds that the Militia House isn’t done with them. Sleepwalking, a journal that won’t stay burned, crazy dreams and those darn porcupine quills.
I wasn’t crazy about the ending, but this one had so much good
about it that I still give it a solid
4.5 ⭐️
Thanks NetGalley for the arc!

This debut novel grabbed me immediately with haunting images of being in a place where people and animals need help but you can’t help them. Set in Afghanistan, soldiers on duty do the mundane task of unloading cargo. They see and smell and hear things from the Russian occupation from a previous war while exploring a militia house where it’s hard to know what’s real, what’s trauma, what’s “foreign”, and what’s unreal. I found it uncomfortable but in a way that was interesting as a reader to be on this journey with Loyette as he toggles between war and boredom and home and family. A really strong debut. Bravo! Thanks to Henry Holt and Co for the advanced copy. Wow.

Corporal Loyette is deployed in Afghanistan, 2010. While life as a marine oscillates between boring and literal hell, Loyette and the rest of the guys decide to explore an abandoned militia house. After visiting, Loyette begins to lose his grip on reality.

I truly can't believe this is a debut novel. Milas did such an amazing job at presenting a psychological horror through the lens of a veteran suffering from PTSD. As a vet himself, Milas gained an MFA once returning from Afghanistan, and it shows. The level of detail of daily life is captivating but certainly not for everyone.

The last third follows Loyette as he is sent back home on leave. I thought this was the strongest part of the book, but perhaps that is because it was a recognizable setting. I don't often read war books, but I'm a huge horror fan and I really liked this. Tim O'Brien is an apt comparison, both in content and beautiful writing. Cannot recommend enough.

I loved the unsettling/uneasy vibe of this book, as well as the loneliness. Milas does such a great job inhabiting his character's mindset for most of this novel. I was frustrated by the ending, which insists on going for a "literary ambiguous" ending mixed with "is anything even real anymore??" psychological horror ending. If the book had just committed a little harder to some kind of interpretation or statement (and still left room for ambiguity!), this would have been a masterpiece.

A VERY solid 4/5.

The Militia House is a gothic horror set in 2010 in remote Afghanistan. Corporal Alex Loyette is a marine stationed at a Landing Zone in the desert. He and his officers visit a long abandoned militia house, where atrocities are rumored to have happened. After that strange things start happening. The laws of reality start to warp and paranoia sets in. I liked the progression of the novel, but it wasn't really my cup of tea as I don't often read war stories or horror. I wanted more, more connection to the characters and more to happen in the story.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

I'm glad I was able to read this book, but it was not my "cup of tea". There was a few really good scenes that gave a spooky feeling that I really enjoyed. I am not a military woman and I do not have any personal experience with it either. Maybe that is why I had trouble connecting with any of the characters. I have a few people in mind that I know would love this book though! I will be recommending it to them! I would definitely read another book by this author.

I really ended up liking this! It took awhile for me to get into it, but once they visit the titular house it ramps up pretty quickly and because a twisty horror book in a similar vein to some of the elements in House of Leaves. Definitely worth a read for a fan of horror. Fans of Stephen King will connect with this as well.

I'll preface this review with this: I am not a horror fan. I can do without the spooky feelings that some books can give me. That said, there are a few that I have read and enjoyed more than I ever thought possible. This is one of those books. The story itself is haunting, not graphically horrific, which made it easier for me to read, but the writing is what captivated me. Milas is an elegant storyteller, and I didn't want to put this down. *Advance copy provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Published by Henry Holt and Co. on July 11, 2023

The Militia House combines the story of a Marine deployed to Afghanistan with a horror story. War is horror even without a supernatural element, which might be the story’s point.

The novel begins as a conventional story of a soldier in Afghanistan. It has the uncertain feel of many debut war novels told by veterans who want to write about their military experience but aren’t sure what they want to say.

Alex Loyette is a corporal who leads three other Marines in the routine tasks associated with establishing landing zones for helicopters. Alex joined the Marines because he was failing in college. He wanted to make people think he was doing something important, but he didn’t care about military service. His brother was the war hero, someone who died after stepping on an IED, whose sacrifice meant more to others than to Alex. Alex knows he will never be a hero, will never be perceived in the same light as his brother.

Alex has given up on everything. He doesn’t want to try to live up to a potential that he can’t recognize. He doesn’t want to do good things or be a good person or please people who cared about him. He just wants to be left alone. He comes to realize that by joining the Marines, he ran away from one lost cause to join another.

The novel’s hook is a building just outside the wire called the Militia House. British soldiers claim that the Militia House is haunted. It was at one point occupied as barracks by Soviet soldiers who fought their last battle against the Taliban in its confines. Bullet holes riddle the interior walls.

Creepy events occur before Alex visits the Militia House. He sees a dog with porcupine quills stuck in its nose. Quills eventually turn up at other locations. Drawings pinned to the walls seem to change, as if they are being redrawn. A notebook in which Alex scribbles his thoughts reappears every time he burns it. One of Alex’s men talks in his sleep and appears to be sleepwalking.

The creepiest events occur in the Militia House, where time is distorted and a stairway to a basement appears and disappears. Alex should know better than to return to a haunted house, but when one of his team disappears, he leads the rest on a rescue mission. It doesn’t end well.

The novel captures the frustration of miliary life. John Milas establishes Alex’s backstory and insecurities effectively. Unfortunately, there isn’t much else to the novel. Perhaps Alex is under the influence of the supernatural. Perhaps he’s gone off his nut. Whether the supernatural threats are meant to be taken seriously or are the product of Alex’s disturbed mind is never clear, although the reader sees little to suggest that Alex has any reason to be haunted by war. For that reason, the story feels insubstantial, even a bit pointless, despite some vivid images.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

The Militia house is a slow burn. It focuses on Corporal Loyette and his unit. The story emphasizes how monotonous being deployed really is. Day in and day out loading cargo or some other menial task. I think that added to creep factor of the abandoned barracks from the Soviets. The description of what they find inside truly sticks with you after reading.
If reading about the military and horror are your thing, this is definitely the book for you.

The Militia House is the perfect quiet, creeping horror to fill your long summer days. It is John Milas’ debut horror novel and is set in Kajaki, Afghanistan in 2010 during the war. I listened to the audiobook version of The Militia House and absolutely devoured it–this is sure to be a book that I will continue to think about and possibly re-read for many years.

We follow Corporel Loyette as he and his unit are moved to a new base in Afghanistan where a British unit has already been stationed. Loyette is unsettled by a few odd occurrences he notices around base, but thinks nothing of it outside of his mind playing tricks on him. However, Loyette and his unit are soon informed by the British unit of an abandoned militia house nearby that was the site of a violence battle and is now believed to be haunted.

Since Loyette and his unit are sufficiently bored on base, they manage to plan a visit to the site, where they have a deeply unnerving experience that they op to ignore and not talk about with anyone else once they make it safely back to base. Unfortunately, things don’t go right back to normal as each individual person seems to begin having uniquely odd experiences that begin to put strains on the group as they attempt to maintain an existence in this war-torn area where all they have is themselves and one another.

Milas does an excellent job at conveying the monotonous reality of living on base in Afghanistan and the many different ways in which it can begin to affect each person’s mental wellbeing. At the same time, Milas also does an excellent job at exploring the psychological aspects of being at war, including PTSD, difficulties adapting to civilian life, and how the aforementioned monotony can create varying levels of uncertainty among a unit.

While The Militia House is military horror and there are many war experiences mentioned, there is not much of an emphasis on military action itself in the present, which for me worked well on keeping the attention focused on Loyette and some of the more psychological components of the story. I really appreciated Milas’ exploration of war and introspection concerning the moral and ethics surrounding war and the soldiers’ experiences.

The Militia House is not a horror story that really throws things in your face and focuses on gore and shock value, but rather one that focuses on the slow burn build up of unease and a sense of haunting that slowly builds into a crescendo that truly echoes long after the last page is closed. It is incredibly disquieting is the type of book that is full of images and ideas that are sure to stick around in your head for far longer than you’d like them to.

Milas has a writing style that is both simple and complex in how he crafts his ideas and subsequently conveys them in ways that left me riveted to every word. There is a perfect blend of detail and description mixed in with just enough left unsaid to really impart a sense of terror at the unknown. I will also warn you that this is a story that falls into more of the open ending territory, and I think this was the perfect choice for Milas to end his story with. It probably won't be for everyone–in fact, I'm sure some people will probably end up quite frustrated–but I thought it was the perfect ending to match this atmospheric tale of creeping horror.

Overall, I’ve given The Militia House five stars! This is a stunningly written work of military horror that filled me with dread until the very last page (and honestly still does) and I genuinely cannot wait to see what’s next from Milas.

Corporal Alex Loiyet is stationed in a little abandoned village in Afghanistan. They not only have nothing to do but they’re in the middle of the desert with nothing to look at except for the militia house. It is an abandoned building that the Royal Marines claimed an atrocity happened in One night while guarding the back gate him and his fellow marine see a dog with humongous porcupine quills coming out of its face and it is a sight he will not soon forget. Especially because every time he turns around he seems to see the dog or find porcupine quills. One day due to boredom Lamont inquire if they can sneak over to go inside the militia house and although the corporal is curious about it he plays it cool but eventually gives his consent. he gets the two British Marines who told him about the tragedy in the militia house to bring them and they tell the guys not to stay long. The corporal says those stay 15 minutes but it seems time gets away from them before they know it they’ve been in there almost an hour strange things happen but this is just the beginning. The narrative is spooky from the beginning but at the same time it is almost a slow burn we learn about the things that hold the corporal who’s your earning to be a good Marine and his missing brother Bryce I think this book is a bit extreme and had a lot of military jargon. it took me a while to get into it. I will say starting the book off with a dog with humongous quills in its face was a good idea because that horrible image stuck in my head for days after finishing the book. I enjoyed the book but think if you like books about the military and horror then you’ll love the book it may have seemed like a lot of military talk because I really know nothing about the military. Having said all that however I do recommend this book as it is a good horror and sci-fi read. I listen to the audio and read some of it in Kindle and enjoyed both. Please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review I want to think the publisher and Net Galley for my Ark copy. is one of

Ever read one of those books when you, later, look at other reviews and think maybe you all read a different book? This is one of those. Maybe because it's about a soldier in Afghanistan, which invokes strong feelings in people since it's recent, it causes readers to try to retell an author's story themselves. Or that's just how people are now (see Game of Thrones).

This novel was fan-freaking-tastic. It was marketed as Stephen King meets Tim O'Brien. I definitely see the Tim O'Brien comparison. Not just because it's about war but also because the narrator tells a story in a way that's very reminiscent of Tim O'Brien. It's realistic and dreary and oftentimes monotonous but it definitely gives you a sense of what a person experiencing military service may go through (in this case, Alex is basically doing nothing but tracking deliveries via helicopter in the middle of nowhere on a NATO base so it's not what he anticipated when enlisting).

In terms of the horror, this reminded me a lot more of House of Leaves than Stephen King. The titular militia house was very similar to the house in House in Leaves with its ability to lead people into madness. It also had some Blair Witch Project (the original) vibes in the slow burn nature where things are unnerving and feel off but nothing is jumping out at you.

It's a very visceral novel, and while there certainly is some discussion of possibly PTSD, I'm not sure that this was a metaphor. I think it was what it was. The ending worked exceptionally well for me, but I love ambiguity in my horror. I often find horror is too straightforward, too simplistic, or too desperate to be sensible and easy for people that it loses some of what horror should do. And that's to make you feel unsettled. This book absolutely does that.

Alex is also not remotely irritating - I loved him. I could feel his frustration, and I bet his mindset and thought process are not rare for soldiers. I think people reading him as whiny or negative maybe don't like to dwell on those thoughts. Of course, I love Holden Caulfield and he reminded me a bit of Holden (if Holden went to war) so if you don't like Holden or Catcher in the Rye, maybe skip this one.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. I love Tim O'Brien, ambiguous and literary horror, and Holden Caulfield. And I pretty much found this to be the perfect combination of those things, so what's not to like?

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.

The Militia House is a debut novel by John Milas, a veteran who studied creative writing under Roxane Gay. A horror novel set in war-torn Afghanistan, The Militia House follows Corporal Loyette, whose day-to-day is a boring stream of mundane tasks without any larger context. Desperate for stimulation, he and his unit are drawn to a nearby building called The Militia House, which is purported to be the haunted sight of a last stand between rival factions that resulted in some men being skinned alive. After visiting The Militia House, Loyette and his unit begin to have strange, unsettling experiences they can't explain - strange dreams, phantom sensations, finding porcupine quills. They begin to be unable to trust even their own memory. The Militia House is a clever representation of the horrors of war and PTSD through a horror set at war and a propulsive read. While I wish that more of an explanation had been given at the end for the experiences had by the characters throughout this book, the lack of explanation made the book even more unsettling and paralleled well with the trauma of shooting and killing and not fully knowing why. A fabulous debut - I highly recommend it!

✅ Debut Novel
✅ Written by a Veteran
✅ Horror
✅ Military Fiction

Thanks so much to John Milas and Henry Holt & Company for this ARC through NetGalley. The Militia House will be available for purchase July 11th, 2023!

I was not prepared! Whoa… I think I’m in a little bit of shock! This is not typically the type of book I pick up but a friend of mines nephew wrote this and the synopsis was intriguing so I requested an ARC and I was graciously given a chance to read “The Militia House” before it’s official release and it was nothing like I expected!
I’ve never read a book where the author had such a tremendous ability to make puffs of air frightening and make me question what I was actually reading!
I’m not sure how I feel about the ending; definitely a love/hate but all in all, I am so glad I read it! An absolutely singular and truly unique read!

Truly unsettling look at the impact of the military on our psyche. It was dense with lingo, but to me, that just built the world. I was genuinely scared. I know it might be frustrating to some people, but it really worked for me.