What a debut! THE SPITE HOUSE is a totally uniquely spin on the haunted house trope and I loved every minute of it! Compton’s prose gives the best feeling of impending dread and I’m so happy the gothic horror renaissance is going strong!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge as well as the author for this ARC. It was perfect!
#NetGalley #TorNightfire #JohnnyCompton #TheSpiteHouse
The concept of a “spite” house is new and fascinating to me. How has this never been done?! A spite house is a building that is built out of spite. Usually as a result of a property dispute. Johnny Compton has written a book that is built around that concept. This is an absolutely perfect setting for a horror novel. This is a nearly flawless ghost story and I can’t say enough good things here. Eric Ross is running from something. He and his two daughters need money and anonymity so when Eric comes across a job posting that promises both, he jumps on it. The job is simple. Eric is to prove that this “spite house” is haunted. Masson House has a long and angry history. How can it not be haunted?
This book manages to be both very original and, simultaneously, doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel, as they say. This is the first time I’ve heard the term spite house and I’m fascinated. How could a house built just to be contentious not be haunted by both those who built it and those were its victims. This book is described as a “terrifying gothic thriller”. While these three words are music to my ears, they don’t begin to describe this ghost story. This is a haunting and gut-wrenching, gothic horror story that promises grief and ghosts and more than delivers. It’s beautifully written with atmospheric imagery that made me as much a part of the story as Eric, his daughters, and his employers. As this slow burn progresses, we are shown that, in addition to money and safety, Eric has other, more personal reasons, for wanting to delve into this haunting. This is how a slow burn is done. I will definitely keep my eye on this author.
There are a few things that can be improved upon. Firstly, the chapters that are written from the point of views of the minor characters could be edited out. They weren’t bad, just unnecessary and caused the sense of dread as well as the plot to slow down. Lastly, I would have liked to have a little more in the way of explanations for some of the plot points.
All in all, this book is wonderful and I highly recommend it.

This was pretty much a perfect book for me and I absolutely loved it! I thought the setting was eerie and very unsettling from the opening pages and the pacing was spot on to keep the tension high throughout without ever burning out. The relationship between Eric, Dess and Stacy was beautiful and I thought Johnny Compton did a fabulous job of showing the love of an older sister for her younger sibling. The writing was fantastic with several sentences stopping me in my tracks with how well they encompassed a particular mood or feeling. Best of all, this book was genuinely creepy throughout and actually pretty scary in places! Overall, I cannot overstate how blown away by this book I was and will be seeking out anything Johnny Compton writes from now on.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for a copy of the eArc of The Spite House by Johnny Compton. This book had everything I love about gothic horror. A creepy house, a town with a sinister past, a family fleeing something unknown. The prose was great, and the changing viewpoints (chapter-to-chapter) helped deliver the back story and the creepy scenes. Compton excelled at passing over writing some scenes allowing the reader to imagine what is happening, and leaving the true horror to detailed descriptions. 5/5 highly recommended.

This was a gothic, creepy book. I wasn’t familiar with what a spite house was so I found that to be an interesting premise. It was a bit slower for me but very well written.

This book was so good. I loved how well balanced all the mysteries were, and there were multiple mysteries going on. I kept wanting to read to find them all out and how all were connected. The horror elements were done well for me. There was also the touch of real life horrors that come from being a black person in America. Just unsettling enough and were paced well. I love a dark unexpected ending. Each character had a strong voice and motive so the multiple POV worked really well.

Now that's one heck of a ghost story!

Love that the theme of anger over generations and how that learned behavior affects yourself and those around you without you even realizing before it's to late. So much anger in this novel!! There was a lot of sub stories with all the characters involved but I thought it all came together well and Eric has a good head on his shoulders and didn't take any crap from anyone. Just the type of character needed to survive everything that had happened. Now with that said, I thought there were a lot of characters but I didn't think they all needed POV's in the book. Like the story coming out could've been achieved without coming directly from that character, ya know?

I read another review that said we now need a story about Eric, Des, and Stacy at the house in Odessa and I AGREE! PLEASE PUBLISH THAT!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Nightfire for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Spite House was a perfectly paced ghost story. The end left me wishing for a little bit more, but left room for the imagination.

A magical, extraordinary, unforgettable, debut novel! Already a favorite of my 2023 reading (and of 2023 releases). Resonating on themes Historical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, of bigotry reversed by compassion, rage overcoming demise, love overcoming death, devotion and determination: THE SPITE HOUSE is magical in many senses. All these characters (present and past) are rolling at 1000%, emotions, intent, and intellect wide open! So many layers of stories are wrapped up together and woven into one intense experience for the wide-eyed reader with imagination cranked to the max. Just perfect. Never forget.

Now can we please have a sequel in which Eric, Dess, and Stacy acquire Pa-PaFred's land/house in Odessa? And in which we learn more about Fred's life and secrets??

Gosh, this one had such a solid set up yet fell so flat in literally the last 25%. I genuinely enjoyed the first half of this book- the setting was super creepy, the mysteries were intriguing, and I had fun hypothesizing how it was all going to turn out. But the pacing of the second half leaves a lot to be desired. We spend so much time re-hashing the same moments out in different character POVs, and then all of the sudden it's a mad dash to get to the ending, where everything happens abruptly and very little is tied up.

My biggest gripe with this book was the truly excessive number of POVs we got throughout. Personally, I really enjoy a multi-POV book. But 10?? For why?? There are so many details and storylines weaved throughout this book, and while I do think that some were thoughtful and well-crafted, others were muddled and just plain confusing. Being left in the dark and trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together is a fun feeling in the beginning of a story, but when I've reached the last 10 pages of the book and I still don't understand wtf is going on, I start to get annoyed.

I feel like this book would have been a lot stronger if we focused on a few less storylines and really delved deeper into the anchoring ones. Either way, I wish I left this book with a better understanding of these characters and their motivations, because it's been almost a full day since I finished, and I'm still struggling to explain wtf even happened and why. Maybe this is a book better read and processed in 1 or 2 sittings, but ultimately I think this book bit off way more than it could chew, and it made for a really frustrating reading experience.

Eric Ross is on the run with his two daughters, Dess and Stacy. They've left their life in Maryland, including Eric's wife, and it's unclear what they're trying to escape. When Eric accepts a much-needed job to stay in a notorious Texas haunted house to observe and document paranormal activity, one's curiosity is piqued. And as the Ross family's secret comes to light, Eric and his daughters experience all the terror that the Masson Spite House has to throw at them.

This story is definitely creepy and has some scary, skin-crawling moments. The concept of a spite house is something I hadn't encountered, and to make it haunted seemed like the ultimate builder's revenge! The mystery of Eric's family history and the property owner's motives provided much of the suspense that kept me turning the pages.

If you're looking for a fast-paced, spine-tingling read, this will fit the bill. While it's not the most terrifying thing I've read, it has enough paranormal encounters to put you on edge and make for a satisfying scare.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of the Spite House.
For a debut novel, I felt like Compton did an excellent job creating dread in his scene building. He also kept me interested by deliberately not divulging what Eric and his family are running from.

I enjoyed the backstory of Eric's grandparents leading into a (possibly genetic ) paranormal situation.

I did feel like there was already quite a bit going on with Eric's storyline that including the Masson and Houghton drama as well as the previous tenants of the spite house caused reader fatigue. Plot wise I get it, but I felt like this could have been more streamlined.

Interesting concept with the house consuming its inhabitants spiritually, but would have loved to see this tie into the ability to return as Stacy did.

Eric Ross and his two daughters are running from their past, drifting from town to town, making their way to his ancestral home in West Texas. He’s had to live off the grid, taking questionable jobs to support his family. When he is offered the opportunity for a large payoff to stay in a haunted house and observe paranormal phenomena in a small town in Texas owned by a powerful scion, Eric cannot say no. For Eric, his past is a lot scarier than a haunted house, or so he thinks. The Spite House is hungry.

The Spite House is a contemporary novel with a Gothic feel. While it’s a ghost story, Compton carefully keeps the focus on the characters and not so much the strange happenings in the eponymous house. This novel is as much an exploration of human nature and what drives its characters to make choices, both desperate and deliberate, and the harm that results. Stories about characters who are African American and their part in the American story are still underrepresented and are highly appreciated. Eric is a protagonist that readers will feel invested in, along with his daughters, Dess and Stacy. While revelations abound and unfold as the novel progresses, there is still an element of mystery and unanswered questions that will leave the reader unsettled and wanting more. Johnny Compton writes with confidence, distinctively combining a beautiful eloquence with a down-to-earth narrative voice. Powerful imagery comes through in the writing, giving the novel a cinematic feel. Readers who want a straightforward ghost story won’t find that here, but instead it's a character exploration built on the framework of a haunted house story. Tense, unsettling, disturbing, atmospheric, and at the same time oddly hopeful in its portrayal of human nature, The Spite House will linger in the reader’s consciousness long after they finish this short, but effective novel.

Thanks again for the chance to review the book this one wasnt a favorite of mine.. I feel like it was just a miss for me in general.. I think the writing was easy to get through but there was just parts of the book that wasnt sitting right with me.. I do think that it is a book that would suit others.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I found the premise incredible intriguing, and I liked the introduction of multiple POVs. I think that having multiple POVs in a story like this can be very appealing to a reader, who is trying to unravel the mystery of what is going on in the house, and getting to see that through multiple characters' eyes is a great way to make that process intriguing and complex for the reader. However, I did end up DNF'ing this title as I had a hard time with the prose style. I also felt that the writing was sometimes difficult to follow in terms of who was speaking, where people were in the room, and other simple logistical issues. It made it very difficult for me to get lost in the story. If it was a purposeful disorientation, unfortunately for me it was too confusing to persist through. I'll be interested to read further reviews of this work.

The Spite House is an incredible take on family, and how far we will go to protect those we love. Johnny Compton breathes new life into the haunted house trope, and his characterization is off the charts good. Eric, Dess, and Stacy live on the page, and i would be happy to see them again in another book down the road. There's plenty of mystery to unravel, haunted history, and an ending that is inevitable but satisfying. Highly recommend!

The Spite House was an interesting book. I love haunted house stories and this one had a great concept though the execution faltered at times.

This isn’t my usual genre but I enjoyed it a lot. I liked the set up, the characters, almost all of whom are hiding things? Eric and his daughters are on the run, from what isn’t clear. There’s ghosts and curses and a lot of spooky happenings. I don’t know that I found it as scary as I expected but it was full of tension and I couldn’t stop reading. It had me hooked from the beginning.

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Omar

Even though humans tend to be good, to do good things, sometimes they also want to be mean. They are angry, and they are spiteful. But when all that energy is fed to an object or place, it can take over and grow.

The Spite House starts with Eric Ross looking for a job request where it’s asking for a group of people to live for a period of time on the Masson house a.k.a. the Spite house for $100,000. Given that Eric and his daughters are traveling through Texas, they need the income, and he applies for it.

The next day he and his daughters Dessa, 18 years old, and Stacy, 7 years old, make their way to the Masson House to interview the current owner, Eunice Houghton, who is a tech billionaire and owner of most of the town.

As soon as they set foot in the Masson house, all three of the Ross family feel something off. But the Ross are running away from something else, and they need the money. Eric will do all he can to make a future for his daughters, even if he must fight the entities that live in the Spite House.

The Spite House was a very interesting story, which I really liked. It was refreshing to read a horror/thriller ghost story with a side of mystery to understand the reason why things are happening in the world and to the Ross Family. All of the characters have a secret agenda, for most of them is to stay alive.

The Ross family is peculiar, Eric, Dessa, and Stacy. Each of them hides something from the other but does try to help and keep the rest of their family safe. Eric and Dessa are keeping a greater secret from Stacy, the reason why they are moving so much. Stacy being a young girl, has been having dreams where she can communicate with other people far away and see people that have died. Eric, while trying to provide for his daughters, makes the decision to live in the Masson House, but he has already seen something similar to what is happening in the house.

The Spite House has many characters, some of them alive and others dead. One character that I didn’t trust since first meeting her was Eunice Houghton, the current owner of the house. As we read the book, we learn about her reasons to have people living in the house and the lengths she will go to get the answers she wants. With Eunice’s work other women, Dana and Lafonda, who are starting to wonder if the intentions of an 80-year-old woman are the best and if something evil is really happening in the house. Meeting the Ross family is the last straw, and they will try to save them if they can.

The spite house itself has many things going on. The description of it being a four-story tall house but with a small width makes it hard to imagine someone living there, and even more for a family of three. One part I couldn’t imagine was the bulbuls outside the corridor that it mentions. Just given the summary of the book, the reader knows this is a ghost story and the spite house has a ghost. Specifically, the ghost of the owner who built the house, Pete Masson who himself lived and died twice, and his niece and nephew that disappeared in the house.

One of the things that I liked most of this story was the description of the cold temperature people feel near spirits.

“Well, the second thing to happen, immediately following her heart attack, was that the temperature dropped. This was not a cold spot. It was not a chill. This was like the sun had retreated…”

“How deep is the cold they carry with them? I’ll tell you. Imagine your bones turning to ice so fast you don’t have time to scream. Imagine a cold so deep it makes the day grayer without a cloud in the sky. Hard to imagine, isn’t it…”

“No, actually. It was cold as hell. Cold as I’ve ever been, and I’ve lived up north, as I told you. I’ve been through some ugly winters, but that room in West Texas, of all places, in the summer, was the coldest place I’ve ever been in. It was like being on the dark side of the moon or something…”

The Spite House was a wild ride and if you like ghost/horror stories, then I recommend it to you.

Sometimes the only thing we can do is be spiteful.

3.5 rounding up. This had a really great premise and some creepy moments. However, I felt like the ending didn't quite come together and I was a bit lost (could be a me problem). Overall, I enjoyed the characters and the story, including the historical elements that made me think.