3.5 rounded up.

When I first began this story, I was thinking haunted house....I got that and more. The setting and backstory were well written. This one has many elements that were explained and made the story really come to life. There were a few parts that I wish were answered a bit more, but it didn't take away from the actual story. This one would be a definite recommendation for the Halloween season.

Thank you Tor and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. My review will be based on the physical ARC I read (if I qualify)

, 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 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. 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.

Spite - a desire to hurt, annoy, or offend someone. I love titles that grab my attention and The Spite House did so not only with the title but also with the cover art. It's the perfect season for this highly readable novel, though anytime the mood strikes for a folksy creepy story, this will do.

Eric is on the run with his two daughters. All we know is that he has left everything behind, is strapped for cash, and has a fascination with his family's past. A story of his grandfather appears in flashbacks and feeds his monologues during the long journey to Texas for the first quarter of the novel.

An add in the paper might be the opportunity that can give Eric a break and cash out big. All he'd have to do is move his girls to the grounds of Sprite House and investigate some paranormal occurrences.
When he gets the job, he goes in blind, however. The owner of the home has withheld information, and things begin to be creepy in places shortly after.

The Spite House is infused with a dark history. It has spread through the town over generations and left a mark. While the owner has previously hired many different folks to investigate the strange occurrences in the home, the locals have despised any new visitors and the strangeness of it all and the new neighbors are less than welcome.

Eric's findings become entangled with his own history and the safety/past of his own family. Was he really the man he gave out to be or did he too have secrets?

This pageturner is told in multiple pov's, a strength of the novel as it keeps the reader guessing. However, it fell a little flat in terms of letting situations linger. It felt very told vs shown and lost a bit of that eerie sense that should have crept in at times from a story with such wicked historical twists.

Overall it has its moments and commences in unexpected ways.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher. All opinions are my own. Thank you!

Of all the reasons to build a house, spite probably isn’t the best of them. The house might come out…angry, hungry, flat-out mean.
But there is such a house in this book. A lean thing built on a hill by a man scorned. A house that terrifies its current owner who, looking to undo some generational damage, is looking for proof of the house’s nightmarish nature.
Enter Eric Ross and his two daughters. Eric is a man on the lam, desperate enough to take a job no matter the dangers if the pay if right. And so, he gets to stay at the place and tango with the nightmares of it.
This was an interesting and original take on a haunted house genre. So kudos for that. The eponymous place was brought to life nicely - creepily and vividly. The writing was strong throughout, including the character writing. Even the kids.
The things that didn’t quite work were minor. Some of it might just be debut novel jitters. The plot eventually got busy in a dizzying way, overcomplicating the story. The author tried to put so much in under 300 pages that he had to resort to exhaustive span of perspectives that shifted constantly. It got especially convoluted toward the end with explanations of the house’s evil nature. Also, some of the pacing dragged in some places.
But overall, it was solid enough of a read and showed a lot of potential, so I’m going to round up my rating. Plus, what a great cover. Thanks Netgalley.

I loved the structure of the novel, being able to read scenes from different characters points of view was very cool because they had different information. I would call this horror-lite because it was a good story but it wasn't exactly scary.

Black horror with a haunted house premise? Sign m up! Eric and his daughters are on the road, They are running from a mysterious past. They are in dire need of cash and some place stable to live. Enter The Spite House and Eunice. She is desperate to prove it's haunted. Really well written story with some creepy vibes. What I found most compelling is one of the daughters, you'll know when you read it ;)

I was excited to read a horror novel during this time of year. This however, didn't offer any real scares and there was just about one small part thats a little creepy. At times I felt like I was reading a young adult novel between some of the dialogue and lack of descriptive writing. Not once could I fully picture any of the characters or the spite house itself. While the idea of this was good, the story in itself just fell flat with no solid conclusion or explanation. I hate leaving negative reviews so I will leave it at that. Two Stars for the concept.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/ Forge for this ARC.

I'd like to thank Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me a chance at reading this book.

This book with its title, the creepy cover, and the summary sounds like the perfect arc to read prior to the spooky season (the book comes out in Feb of next year). So I dove right in to get my list of spooky reads for 2022 going.

After 15% into this book, I think it's that nothing creepy has actually happened yet and it is taking too much time to set something up. I have gotten that he house is haunted or paranormal things are happening but I haven't seen what paranormal things. I did get one of the girls having a 'dreamwake' and that was a little odd because it didn't make sense and it was written as if we would understand it or that it has happened before.

Others have had a better time with the book. I think I'm expecting too much from it and the horror I'm looking for is not going to be the horror I'm expecting.

It is important to note that the majority of the themes explored in this book deal with sensitive subject matters. My review, therefore, touches on these topics as well. Many people might find the subject matters of the book as well as those detailed in my review overwhelming. I would suggest you steer clear of both if this is the case. Please note that from this point forward I will be writing about matters which contain reflections on financial insecurity, kidnapping, psychological distress, bigotry, racism, child endangerment, the death of a child, suicide, violence against an animal, & others.

In a small town within the State of Texas flows the poisonous gas known to the residents as the smell of crisp new dollar bills. Under the watchful eye of a woman playing the part of a jolly Saruman—one who gifts her money to all those who will adopt her every whim & fancy—the Spite House lies solitary & daunting within the woods. Eunice Houghton is the last remaining member of the Houghton family. In a bid to not be met with the ghosts of victims her ancestors hung to death, Eunice decides that standing on the doorstep of the Crypt Keeper’s layer is as good a time as any to endeavour a paranormal investigation so that she may be free of what haunts her. Truly what better reason is there to do good in the world than because you want to maintain a facade to save face?

If it wasn’t clear, that last sentence was written sarcastically. Rather alike are my feelings towards this story & the things it asks the readers to feel when meandering through the plot—ridiculous. First & foremost, this book is done a huge disservice by being presented as Adult Fiction. The dialogue alone is incredibly juvenile & might be better suited for a matured Middle Grade or Young Adult Fiction audience. There are rather few, if any, aspects of this book that lead it to thrive within the Adult Fiction genre. Should the author & editors rework certain aspects to encourage the flow that is already present within this story, I believe that the piece in question will see many eager young readers devour what might be their first introduction to Horror.

Unfortunately, because this book was received in my eager hands at the ripe old age of adulthood & presented to me as one such book that an adult would devour & which would insight dread, fear, turmoil, & terror into the hearts & minds of matured homo sapiens, I am left rather disappointed in what resulted in being an incredibly corny story that truly blew past its ideal audience in a plight to present itself along Titans of the genre.

This style of Horror is dramatic, mawkish, & filled with elements of a teetering fantasy that require the reader to abandon their inhibitions to be able to move through the novel swiftly & without muscle cramps to their cerebellum. That said, I think that Compton had a clear idea of the world he wanted to present & the characters he wanted to see flourish within this plot. Though there were certainly far too many chapters granted to an array of characters—we do not need to hear everyone’s take on everything, this is incredibly tedious & amputates the thrill the author is attempting to build—I acknowledge that the voices of each character were clear. Compton presented emotions & motivations in concise ways that fit within the world he crafted.

This approach to Horror truly requires the patient reader or, more realistically, the reader who is easily spooked. For those such as myself, this long-drawn-out approach to a mysterious occurrence that turns out to be not so mysterious after all feels like a cheat & had me rolling my eyes. I return to my original points here when saying that this story would prosper in the hands of younger readers who have perhaps not been acclimated with the graphically morbid genre that is Adult Horror Fiction. Stories like this are important because everyone deserves to have the opportunity to dip their toes into a vast array of genres.

In that same breath, one is not crafting a substantial Horror when one is littering the story with pitiful characters, all of whom make ridiculously stupid decisions & are troubled to their core, rendering them unreliable narrators. Again, seasoned readers will easily piece together where this plot is going & the ways in which it will approach arriving at its final conclusion. These same casually joyful readers might not be left wondering how a body that was buried in a locked coffin might escape in that same body without markers of decomposition. Or, perhaps, they might not wonder how a body that was practically desecrated in a bomb blast made its way to recuperating its limbs.

I understand that the subject matter in this story is otherworldly—it’s not supposed to make sense to the logical world in which we live. However, it does have to make sense in terms of the writer's world. What faults this premise is the author’s lack of substantial explanations. Certainly many cultures of people are familiar with the folklore of the Changeling. I just read a Goosebumps book—“Let’s Get Invisible” (1993)—that presented some of the aspects of this lore alongside the beliefs associated with mirrors. This leads me to wonder why this Adult Fiction’s details simply state that a Devil-like entity was responsible for the Changeling occurrences.

Where did this entity come from & how long has it been chasing random souls to reincarnate them in a bid to gain their spiritual matter for its own? What is the purpose behind reincarnating people such as Frederick Emerson when the demon could go after people who would truly do damage? To what goal is this endeavour succeeding? Did the demon want to see the underdog have a win against Uncle Sam? What is the point? I’m aware that not everything has a necessity for meaning but in this case presenting a life-altering demonic entity that casually resides in a random house in a random township in Texas makes me feel confused, not afraid.

There were so many arbitrary occurrences in this book that I didn’t have time to care about any of them. We follow Eric for too long in his ramblings of his grandfather perhaps being a reincarnated Changeling for me to care when we finally got to the end & the demonic entity got its stage time. Frederick was an exceedingly aggressive man who assaulted a dog because it was protecting its home & owners, just to say to Dess that one has to act so one is not acted upon. The gratuitous reliance on threats of violence was exceedingly high throughout this book & within circumstances that did not necessitate it.

Was it right for Eric to accuse Emily (“Millie”) of being racist against Black folks because she wrote an article questioning the totalitarian practices of a Millionaire in rural Texas? No. Was he valid in questioning the motives of everyone in the town given they were only acting kindly due to the promise of money? Yes. Much of what transpires in this story could have been cut to the quick if Eric had acted in any semblance of reason. It’s bizarre to me that he would take his two (2) children through the American South where they hadn’t been treated with dignity only to jump at the first instance where an entire town is flamboyant in their ‘acceptance’. Perhaps he had yet to see “Get Out” (2017)

I make note of Eric’s behaviour because I could not rationalize his actions. I appreciate what it is to live in financial insecurity—having little opportunity to cherry-pick your endeavours. However, this whole scenario read as bashfully ignorant, especially because Eric was involving his children. There was no forethought in his mind as to how this would impact them & I can certainly appreciate that the forward moving of the plot is thanks to his shocking inability to ask questions, of any kind. Regardless, I was frustrated with his character. I didn’t want to see Dess have to act older than her years because she felt the need—-responsibility—to care for her parent whom she deemed catatonic in life.

I felt horribly for both the children & also for those who met their demise & were left to haunt the house that they were killed within. I cannot even begin to list my questions with regard to this because, again, it makes no sense. Why would the children become evil after death? I suppose one might regard this in terms of its hidden meaning; our intentions do not dictate whether what we are doing is truly being taken in the ways in which we desire.

The children who died within the house received no reprieve & were transformed into little devils roaming the corridors in search of a sacrifice for the demonic entity that killed them. Why he did that, I cannot begin to know. If a demon can roam the earth reincarnating dead matter, why stay in a house in the middle of the woods that could easily be burned down? The reliance on a building that is of no substance, given that it was built purely out of spite by Peter Masson, is bizarre & illogical. Lest we take into account the natural progression of nature to overtake the abandoned building. I digress.

This leads me to my next point; how long had Eunice been attempting to prove there were ghosts in the Masson House? Why was the house in her possession & not a descendant of Peter Masson? Why would she keep this house in her possession given the curse that plagued her family was around prior to its construction? What did proving there were ghosts bring to her fear of dying? This woman is well into her eighties, long gone is the time to confront a demonic being whom you suspect is waiting for you. The whole thing just felt so boring to me.

Where am I meant to gather the empathy to feel bad for a woman who manipulated society into performing her every whim because her financial situation permitted it? The reliance on the hangings being the reason her family was cursed simply disconnected me from the story; I do not care that you are being haunted by people whom your family killed at whim. It feels weird that these same spirits are written as grovelling morons waiting like mosquitoes for a piece of flesh to appear. You would think they would want to rest with the rest of their deceased family members & not spend their time antagonizing a child—Stacy—into feeding Eunice to them.

As is evidenced in this review, I did not enjoy this story. I was hoping that this would be a story of haunting occurrences & utter terror. Rather, this was a story that fore-fronted the grief & banality of decisions made under duress. Eric’s course of action was absurd & truly those made by a man who was withheld by bereavement. I would have appreciated it if he questioned one of the events transpiring. It might have added some level of depth to his character to wonder why a random elderly lady was giving away six-figure salaries to people who would stay in a house on the hill.

Alongside my qualms with the plot, there was a substantial level of edits that had been overlooked. I acknowledge that at the time I am writing this review the book has not yet been published & therefore these errors may have been resolved by the date of publication. Primarily among these errors was the misspelling of character names which made it difficult to track who a character was. For example, Peter Masson was often called “Pete” by both himself & other people. Another instance of this is Lukas Masson being referred to interchangeably as “Luke”. As well, when Peter is in France, the French portion of the story should be edited to reflect the correct spelling of numbers. We do not say “dix-neuf cent dix-neuf” this would be a direct translation from English. Rather, 1919 is written as “mille neuf cent dix-neuf”.

When all is said & done, this was not a book that had me as the target audience. I know that none of my friends or family would have recommended me this book, but I know some of them might enjoy it because it is not written as being a distinctly horrific Horror story. The haunting of the Masson House plays second fiddle to the roaming of Eric & the enumerable point of view chapters that clutter the book. The raving paranoia experienced by a multitude of the characters was sad but never left me to feel any levels of empathy as the flow of the story & the way in which it was written was like boogie boarding on Tsunami sickened seas.

I have confidence that this book will be appreciated & adored by people who are easily scared. Those that can walk the dark halls at night & imagine The King of the Dead & the Dead Men of Dunharrow roaming in the periphery waiting to combat the oath that sent them into the hills all those years ago as the demon in the house watches them in throbbing anticipation.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, & Johnny Compton for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

When we meet Eric Ross we learn he is on the run. He and his two daughters are desperate for money but it is difficult for him to find employment due to their itinerant lifestyle. When he reads about the Masson House challenge, he jumps at the opportunity. All he has to do is stay in the house and detail any supposed hauntings. As one of the most famously haunted homes in Texas, this may not be as easy as he thinks.
There are multiple points of view revealing more and more layers to the story. Be prepared for a quickly moving gothic thriller after the family moves in! If you like a scary story, gothic thrills and chills, or are ready for a debut author with a new take on the haunted house, The Spite House is for you!
#MacMillan #Tor #TorForge

So I just finished The Spite House by Johnny Compton. I must say, I was impressed. This was a well-crafted, creepy, atmospheric book. The characters were fleshed-out and believable, the plot was pretty solid. I really enjoyed reading this. I recommend it to any audience that likes a creepy book without a lot of gore.


Thank you to NetGalley, Johnny Compton and Tom Dougherty Associates Publishing for allowing me the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

(I received a copy of The Spite House from NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review)
The first time I saw the cover for the Spite House, I immediately knew it was the kind of book I would want to read. Then I looked for the meaning of “Spite House”, I had no idea the term existed, and my curiosity peaked even more.
(A Spite House is, according to Wikipedia, a building that is constructed or substantially modified to irritate neighbours or any party with land stakes).
So, we had a Spite House, which is haunted with dangerous ghosts, we have a family on the run with some secrets of their own, and we have a curse for which the above-mentioned family has to stay in the spite house and uncover the mystery. Let’s just say it: If books were carnivorous plants, this is how they would get me.
The book is separated into different point of views, something that made the rhythm continuously changing, something that, in turn, made the story to unfold in a very satisfying, ‘page-turnery’ way. I loved Johnny Compton’s writing style, you could really differentiate whether little Stacy was your eyes or it was Eric, or Donna, and there are truly scary passages that made me nod along the pages, because this is how you create the atmosphere for a truly authentic haunted house.
There were some questions left unanswered towards the end, a couple of them vital to me, and that made me feel a little dissatisfied, but as the days went on, and I was preparing to write this review, I wondered whether they were as necessary as I initially thought them to be or I was just trying to know it all and make sense of everything in a story where ghosts are real.
Finally, I have to say that all the characters were well built, I usually am extremely critic when it comes to characters that are just there, along for the ride, but I don’t think there are any in the Spite House. Some have more importance and more action than others, but they all ‘deserve’ to be there. (Not sure whether deserve is the best word for it, by the way, bearing in mind the things that happen to them, but anyway). I think Dess was my favourite and Eric was the one that made me suffer the most.
To sum up, I think The Spite House by Johnny Compton will be a delight for all fans of haunted houses and old curses, and I would really like to know what people think of the ending, because I think it’s going to be one of those ‘I love it, I hate it’ situation.

I received a copy of The Spite House from NetGalley and Tor Publish Group in exchange for an honest review.

I’m pleasantly surprised to say that I did not see some of the twists and turns that this book will take. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to make of the book at first but let me put into words what the book was about first.

Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters. We know nothing about what happened, only that his grandfather had a violent streak, and his wife is no longer in the picture for one reason or another. He takes odd jobs where people often try to take advantage of him or that end up being shady. His older daughter has started to do shady work behind his back when she notices that money is getting tight, and they live out of hotels and move from place to place though Eric wants to move back to Texas.

One day he finds an ad in the paper asking someone to stay in a supposedly haunted house, not just stay, but be paid a large sum of money to do so. The money is too good to pass up, so he makes the call and sets up an interview. Of course, the owner has her own agenda and hiring someone desperate and hard up might just be what she needs to get the “proof” she needs and break a “family curse” that’s been haunting her since she was born.

The story starts fairly slowly, it took a quarter of the book for Eric and the girls to get to the house because the book is told from almost every character’s point of view at one point. Honestly, this is what made the book more of a 4-star review for me than a 5-star. I prefer as few points of view as possible or I start getting confused as to what is going on. I felt like I could figure out some of the motivation of some of the characters without going into their heads and simply following already established characters, or that by introducing this character, while they might become relevant later, they weren’t important enough to care about see their point of view.

That said, the story of the house is fascinating. I almost wish there’d been more time in dreams and reflections about them. That was one of the times I thought that the change of point of view not only really worked but was integral to the story and it had me hooked in and interested, and I really thought that with more focus I could play with some of the ideas of revenge, ownership, violence, and trauma within the story and work it in context of what happened.

Overall, I’d suggest giving this a read when it comes out in February, letting it sit, and then reading it again in Autumn. I think it has a real chance to speak to people and not just be another scary story, but maybe that’s just my takeaway. 😊

The Spite House is a great read for spooky season - or if you are a fan of ghost stories in any season. This book has a lot going on: a father on the run with his two daughters, a wealthy benefactor who is deeply afraid of a family curse, a small town with secrets, a super weird looking haunted house, a dilapidated and abandoned orphanage, paranormal researchers and skeptics, and some deeply intertwined spite and rage. Personally, I found the book to be more unsettling and mysterious than scary. There were several plot points that were teased for a long time before they were explained. The point of view shifted frequently and often overlapped a bit with the previous chapter. Definitely worth a read if the synopsis sounds like your kind of story.

This was a 3.5 for me, rounded up.

Thank you to NetGalley for early access to this spooky read.

A spite house is a building constructed or substantially modified to irritate neighbors or any party with land stakes. -Definition coming from Google.

I have seen Curb Your Enthusiasm and know that you can do all things through spite. I didn’t realize that Spite Houses were real. After learning the definition, I became to remember houses that had no purpose but to annoy the neighbors.

I was immediately drawn to The Spite House after reading the synopsis and seeing the cover. I love haunted houses and gothic stories so this was perfect for me.

Every ghost story is going to come with a balance of belief and disbelief. Compton does a great job of adding scary ghost stories while still doubting existence. I loved parts with characters sharing their personal experiences.

The story is told in different perspectives which allow the story, background and more without lengthy chapters. We are able to see the events from all angles.

The Spite House is a classic ghost story that sheds light on the loss of loved ones. If you grew up reading scary stories and scouring the internet for footage of real ghosts caught on film, this is for you.

Thank you NetGalley for providing a copy. I have written this review voluntarily.

Gothic horror is one of my favorite sub-genres, so I was really psyched for this. So psyched in fact that I skipped over many 2022 arcs to read this 2023 one. Plus I needed a Black Horror read for my Book’s in the Freezer challenge!

Now onto the book. I found the plot intriguing, the setting chillingly atmospheric, and it wasn’t as slowly paced as some other gothic horror books I’ve read. A small town, a generational curse, a family on the run with secrets, a father so desperate for money that he stays in a haunted house. So many good things going on! To compare, this was like the absolute opposite of The Haunting of Hill House, another GH that I gave the same rating to. Whereas that one captured a character’s slow descent into madness with more of a psychological angle than a pure ghost story (it’s different from the show y’all), this was 1000% about ghosts with a focus on grief and rage. Now, a book full of ghosts and grief is not at all a bad thing. Quite the contrary. I just found some of the writing to be clunky, there was way too many POVs, and I had some unanswered questions that I was really hoping to see resolved by the end. Overall, I thought it was a solid read! Not my favorite gothic horror but definitely not my least.

3.5 ⭐️

Thank you, Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire, for allowing me to read The Spite House early!

I liked and simultaneously disliked this novel. It was an interesting exploration of grief, but it lacked that je-ne-sais-quoi to make it a standout.

I love a good haunted house story, particularly a southern/Texas-centric haunted house story. This story was ok, though the writing was a bit clunky for my taste and made it hard for me to immerse myself in the world.

The Spite House by Johnny Compton was freaking phenomenal!
Where to start with this one. It was creepy, atmospheric, and amazingly written.
A brilliant gothic thriller that had me glued to my Kindle.
This book is extremely dark, creepy, and absorbing.
Compton does a great job of keeping the reader on edge for the entire book,
I read it entirely in one sitting, and loved all its strange twists and turns.
Absolutely loved this book and Johnny Compton's writing!

Tor Nightfire,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!