Haunted House stories are perhaps the most popular kinds of horror stories, many have been written, many will be written. So, when a new writer comes along and her debut novel is a haunted house story, one might shrug. One would be sorely mistaken when that book is The September House by Carissa Orlando. Because this story isn’t about somebody trying to escape their haunted house, our protagonist Margaret has embraced her haunted house. It was the dream house she and her husband Hal purchased and she is not giving it up.
A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.
When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.
Margaret is not most people.
Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.
Margaret and Hal have lived in the Victorian house for a few years, they purchased it after their daughter graduated college and started her career. They never had a house before, they moved around, but this house was a dream. Margaret adjusted to the ghosts like little Elias who likes to bite, the strangeness of birds continually flying into the house, but there was a beneficial ghost like Fredricka, the maid. But when September rolls around, the supernatural activity goes up a few levels. Noises from the basement increase and the walls bleed. Hal, unfortunately, could not deal with the increased supernatural activity and wanted out.
This is also about when their daughter Katherine calls, trying to speak to her father. But since he left…or rather disappeared, that isn’t possible. Much to Margaret’s dismay, Katherine decides to fly out to see her parents’ new home. I say dismay because Margaret and Hal had been trying to keep Katherine away from their haunted house.
Over the few years Margaret lived in the house, she developed a set of rules to protect herself. She knew not to get to close to Elias because of his biting tendencies. She also knew not to go into the basement, where the most malevolent of the ghosts resided. The basement door is always locked and has bible pages plastered all over the inside to keep that dark spirit away from Margaret and even the other ghosts (and there are quite a few more than just Elias and Fredricka) who are afraid of the basement dweller known as Master Vale. This ghosts aren’t just shimmering entities, they have a physical presence, I mentioned Elias likes to bite, but Fredricka prepares tea and meals for “ma’am” Margaret.
Margaret carries this story, she is a fascinating character and despite the frustration I felt with her sometimes, I wanted to believe in her. Orlanda made her a character with whom I (and I suspect many readers) could empathize and that really is the key to a story like this one. If the reader connects with the character(s), then the reader will follow them through to the end of the book and beyond.
The other primary characters we encounter, or rather with whom Margaret interacts, are her daughter Katherine and her neighbor Edie. Hal was a little unhappy with the friendship Margaret developed with Edie, but Edie is a great confidant for our protagonist. Katherine’s arrival changed up things quite a bit, she asked a lot of questions many readers had. She seemed much more inclined to try to find Hal than Margaret, but that’s largely because of the secrets Margaret has been keeping. I found Katharine extremely irritating, an annoyance. In that respect, she worked because she was breaking the bubble Margaret put around herself.
Of course, haunted house stories are always about more than just a dwelling being haunted. Margaret is the narrator of the story and Orlando all but begs the reader to question how reliable of a narrator she is. We know from her conversations with her daughter, Margaret is not sharing very much information. Margaret is haunted and the pacing at which Orlando reveals Margaret’s past is handled with measured precision. Details about her marriage to Hal come to light, which helps to give reason for Margaret’s actions.
As events and hauntings increased in intensity, Orlando built to an exciting peak. There was an incredible confrontation at that climax that came together masterfully. I was locked into the novel and couldn’t be pulled away from its pages.
Within the pages and walls of Margaret’s house, Orlando’s story is a incisive examination of abusive relationships and alcoholism. Those two dark elements of humanity have informed Margaret’s life and her ability to “survive anything” as the tagline on the cover suggests.
The September House is an enthralling, addictive read. Although it shares much in common with many haunted house stories/novels, it has a great deal of originality within its pages making for one of the freshest takes on the story trope I’ve come across. Carrissa Orlando has boldly stepped into the horror genre and I am excited to see future stories and novels this brilliant new voice has to tell.
This is likely going to end up as the best debut novel I’ve read in 2023.
Highly Recommended
© 2023 Rob H. Bedford
Trade Paperback | 352 pages
September 2023 | Published by Berkley
Review copy courtesy of the publisher
