Title: The House that Horror Built
Author: Christina Henry
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: May 14, 2024
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Thriller
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

A single mother working in the gothic mansion of a reclusive horror director stumbles upon terrifying secrets.

Harry Adams loves horror movies, so it’s no coincidence that she accepted a job cleaning house for horror-movie director Javier Castillo. His forbidding gray-stone Chicago mansion, Bright Horses, is filled from top to bottom with terrifying props and costumes as well as glittering awards from his career making movies that thrilled audiences—until family tragedy and scandal forced him to vanish from the industry.

Javier values discretion, and Harry always tries to keep the house immaculate, her head down, and her job safe. Then she hears noises from behind a locked door, noises that sound remarkably like a human voice calling for help. Harry knows not asking questions is a vital part of keeping her job, but she soon discovers that the house may be home to secrets she can’t ignore.

The House that Horror Built is a clever haunted house story, set in a post-COVID world in which the odds seem stacked against single mother Harry and her son Gabe.

The world is just reemerging from lockdown. 14-year-old Gabe’s school is open for in-person learning three days per week. After losing her previous restaurant work when everything shut down, Harry has finally found a decent job again, which means — if she’s frugal — she can still pay her bills and put food on the table for her son. Years earlier as a teen, Harry lived on the streets and in shelters, and she knows just how close to losing it all she and Gabe are — especially once she receives an eviction notice from her heartless landlord.

Fortunately, Harry’s part-time job pays very, very well. She works as a housecleaner for Javier Castillo, a world-renowned, Oscar-winning director who now lives as a recluse behind the gates of Bright Horses, his Chicago mansion. A life-long horror fan herself, Harry can truly appreciate Javier’s artistry and loves his movies, but even she is somewhat shaken by the replicas and original props that fill his house, especially the masks and costumes from one of his creepiest movies. It’s Harry’s job to keep all of these spotless, no matter how uneasy they make her.

Javier seems to take an interest in Harry and Gabe, and when he starts inviting them for meals at his home, it’s hard to say no, even though Harry isn’t comfortable blurring the lines between professional and personal. Still, Gabe is over the moon at being invited into such an icon’s home, and he develops an instant rapport with Javier. But Harry has heard and seen unexplainable things in the house, and when a dinner with two of Javier’s leading film stars ends in tragedy, Harry knows that something is very, very wrong. Yet with eviction looming, she may have no choice but to move into Javier’s home with Gabe… and there’s definitely danger waiting for them there.

The House that Horror Built is a slow-burn horror story. The terror is more of the psychological variety — no guts and gore spilling out of the shadows, and no buckets of blood. Instead, there’s a sense of menace pervading Bright Horses — the feeling that something is moving when Harry’s head is turned, unexplained noises from behind locked doors, glaring eyes from inanimate objects. It’s creepy, and Harry knows it’s creepy, so why does she bring her son into this place?

Here’s where I feel the book has such an interesting hook: We may scream at horror movie characters to walk away, don’t open that door, don’t go into the haunted house… but in reality, people don’t always have options. Harry and Gabe literally have nowhere to go. The building where they’ve lived for ten years has been sold and is slated for demolition. There aren’t any affordable apartments available, and anyway, with such little notice, Harry has no money saved for a down-payment, much less moving expenses. She knows she’s lucky to have gotten the job with Javier. If she loses it, she and Gabe will be on the streets, and while she survived her earlier experiences of homelessness, she’s determined to avoid that for her son by any means necessary.

So yes, Harry moves Gabe into Javier’s home, knowing full well that the place may very well be haunted, and that something malevolent lurks in the corners and very probably wants to hurt her. But at Bright Horses, Gabe has a room, plenty of food, and a safe way to get to school. Author Christina Henry does a superb job showing the choices and sacrifices a mother will make to care for her child.

In terms of the horror story, it’s somewhat of a mixed bag. There’s a creepiness to the book, and we know from the start that something seems off about Javier. We learn that he became a recluse after a family tragedy, and after the most recent scandal in Chicago, he’s once again being hounded by paparazzi. Javier seems determined to help Harry and Gabe, even when she clearly doesn’t want him in their lives. And then there are the noises and the inexplicable events in the house — how much is Javier aware of?

The secrets of the house aren’t revealed until close to the end, and although I’d guessed what was going on, there were still elements that surprised me. I did feel that the ending was too abrupt. We’re left with answers about Bright Horses and Javier, and the immediate situation is resolved, but we don’t actually get any big-picture resolution for Harry and Gabe. After investing so much in their struggles, it feels unfinished to not get an epilogue that lets us know what happens next for them (and, hopefully, to let us know that they’re doing well!).

Overall, I enjoyed The House that Horror Built. Christina Henry’s books are always intensely gripping, and this one is no exception. Once I started I couldn’t put it down. Apart from not feeling fully satisfied by the ending, I enjoyed the building tension of the story as well as having such an interesting, unusual lead character as Harry. Recommended for fans of haunted house stories and horror movie buffs!