Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
More of my review can be found in my February Wrap up video

I felt this book started out promising, but didn't quite deliver...

Haunted house story, sign me up! This was an anticipated read of mine, so I was excited when I received this ARC. I loved the premise of this and the meaning behind the Spite House. I really liked Eric and both his daughters, but wish I had more time to connect with them. There were way too many additional POVs for me. I felt they could've been left out or told within our main characters POV. This made things a bit confusing and threw me off from fully getting connected to Eric and his daughters.

From the start, I became invested in finding out what Eric is running from and the house. There was so much history behind the reputation of the Spite House and suspense surrounding the two (the hour and Eric's story). I really like the concept of the Spite House, however I felt it was just creepy and not scary. As a fan of horror, I wanted more time in the house. I wanted to fully experience this scary house that everyone is scared of and runs away from, but unfortunately I didn't quite get that. As for the plot, several were brought up in the story, but they really had no impact or resolution. I also was left confused by the ambiguous ending and so many questions were left unanswered.

All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good haunted house story with a twist. However, if you're a diehard horror fan (like me), then this might not be the scare you're looking for. Needless to say, I would definitely read something else from this author, as this was an impressive debut.

There’s just nothing like a good haunted house story to keep you up reading late into the night, jumping at every little nighttime noise. But there’s more than just a little haunting for the family hired to live with the ghosts of a long-haunted home in The Spite House by Johnny Compton.

Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com and aired on Shelf Discovery.

A masterful debut. Gothic horror that kept me turning the pages from start to finish. Well written and evenly paced, spine tingling and suspenseful. The action gets going from page 1. A father on the run with his two children, a haunted house story turned on its head. This novel was a good time and I can't wait to see what the author delivers next.

A truly delightful haunted house novel. It takes all the way expected elements of this kind of story and spins them around a bit to make it all something new and novel feeling. Once I got into this book, it was genuinely impossible for me to properly put it down until I finished it!

Eric Ross and his two daughters Dess and Stacey are on the run from people who could cause irreparable harm to their family and now they are quickly running out of money. When Eric happens upon a strange employment advertisement that sounds too good to be true but he calls and sets up an immediate interview. The owner of The Masson house in Degener, Texas is looking for a caretaker (of sorts) to live in the most haunted house in Texas so they can document any and all paranormal activity within the house and when the owner is satisfied the payout will be enough for Eric's family to stop running and settle down since the girls have been emotionally suffering although they never voice their negative thoughts out loud. Apparently the house is so haunted that none of the people who were hired previously lasted more than a few days before they left except for the last couple who were supposed to be paranormal investigators who stayed for a couple of weeks but something horrible happened to them. The wife seemed to lose her mind and had to be hospitalized and the husband didn't fare too much better and they were never able to tell about their experiences so now it's time for Eric to take over this haunted horror known as "The Spite House". Will this be the lifesaving venture that will save Eric's family or will this become the worst mistake of their lives and doom the family forever?

This book had all the makings of a great horror story although it just didn't really work for me. There were many spooky elements which sounded very good but when they came together there were too many pieces of the puzzle missing and I was left with so many questions that were never answered and that was a major disappointment for me. There was wonderful atmospheric and many creepy stories surrounding the house which really had all the makings for a good haunting maybe too many scares promised and not enough frights delivered. There were several multilayered stories in the background which sounded great but they never followed all the way through. I loved the characters of Dess and Stacey but I didn't care for most of the others even the father (Eric). I appreciated how much Eric loved his daughters but I felt he was impulsive and immature and put his children at risk especially with this house. There was a major story about Stacey that was good and very creepy but when I finally found out the backstory there was never any resolution to what, why and how her story came to pass and I felt very let down. Although this book didn't work for me I would still encourage readers to give it a try since I noticed many people really enjoyed this book.

I want to thank the publisher "Macmillan Tor/Forge" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this digital copy and any thoughts or opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I have given this horror book a rating of 2 1/2 QUESTIONABLE PLOT 🌟🌟🌠 STARS!!

Started out quite promising, but didn't quite deliver.

Billed as a haunted house Souther gothic, The Spite House didn't hit either note. Yes, there's a haunted house, but the haunting hardly has a chance to build up the atmosphere before all hell breaks loose. It's a bit too, I don't know, on the nose? I wanted to be spooked and never really got there. There's also not much here in the way of a gothic atmosphere - there's a curse, and it's set in the South, yes, but when I think of Southern gothic I think of creeping dread with languishing heat under a sheen of small-town hospitality and while that's there in theory I didn't feel it.

We're not told the nature of the job Eric takes on because he never bothers to really ask before, y'know, moving his family into a violently haunted house with a history of tormenting its inhabitants. Lazy writing and poor communication are my biggest pet peeves when it comes to storytelling pitfalls, and unfortunately this is it here. If Eric had just bothered to figure out what his responsibility was beyond "keep a journal" we wouldn't be in this mess and we wouldn't have a story, and I think a story built on a lack of communication is weak. We're also not really told the nature of the Houghton family curse except that "it kills people" but Eunice is well into her 80s and, well, she's made it this far, it doesn't make much sense for her to be terrified of the curse since she's had, y'know, a pretty long life.

The whole 'people coming back from the dead' angle is just superfluous and doesn't add anything to the story. It would have been interesting to explore that aspect more in depth, but as it stands it felt unnecessary.

I'd recommend it for hardcore haunted house/horror fans as the writing is good and it's a quick and fairly entertaining read. I just wished the novel was more streamlined and, well, spookier.

This novel is definitely an original one, leaving the reader perpetually unsettled about a) what's happening now and b) what will happen next?! The mystery starts from the get-go, when we meet Eric Ross and his two daughters, Odessa "Dessa" who's 18, and Stacy, who is several years younger, in a run-down motel. They've been on the run for several months now- but from what is not clear. Eric's been taking shady, cash-only jobs as they migrate across the country, keeping as far under the radar as possible. When he finds an advertisement for a high-paying caretaker job for a place called "The Spite House" in Degener, Texas, it looks like the answer to their prayers...but the reality is far beyond what any of them could imagine.

A disturbing novel, exploring the lengths people will go to for those they love. Definitely not for YA or sensitive readers, but an engrossing mystery for adults who enjoy gothic or horror.

Johnny Compton crafts a solid haunted house story for his debut novel, but doesn't flesh out the more unique elements he brings to the table here as much as I would have hoped for.

Eric and his daughters, Dess and Stacy, are on the run. He's taking whatever work he can get, including agreeing to stay inside a haunted house for a billionaire hoping to discover the secrets of the afterlife. Offered an impossibly nice sum of money, Eric has no choice but to agree to move his family into the spite house, an architectural monstrosity built atop a hill overlooking Degener, TX. Deliberately crafted to be an eyesore by a distant relative of ultra-wealthy Eunice whose heart was filled with pure hate, the Masson House was built solely to spite those who live in the town beneath it. Over generations, it's built up quite a legacy -- dead children roam its halls, and those who go inside disappear entirely or leave permanently changed by the experience. But, the money Eunice is offering is just too good to pass up, and it's the sort of life-changing opportunity that could really turn things around for Eric and his girls. He'd be a fool to say no... Right?

The Spite House offers up some tantalizing promises that I wish Compton had more fully explored. Eric has an obsession with ghosts and during a phone interview with Eunice in the book's opening chapter describes his theory that "sometimes the past has sort of an echo that catches up to the present." It's an intriguing concept and once that I wish Compton had developed more fully beyond the typical haunts and scares of this particular horror sub-genre. Maybe I just had my expectations set too high, but once Eric's theory was laid out I was tantalized with promises of temporal anomalies and multi-dimensional gateways. We do get some of that via the dreams cum flashbacks Eric experiences once in the spite house, but it's never quite as intriguing or next-level as I had hoped for.

I was also disappointed that we didn't get a more direct through-line into Eric's experiences within the spite house. Instead, Compton gives us a shorthand look at what Eric is going through by couching it all under the experiences others have had within the spite house. Eunice had previously hired a husband-and-wife ghost-hunting team, but they largely feel extraneous to much of the larger happenings here, despite charging us into the book's climax when one of Eric's daughters is abducted. We get told a lot about what Eric should be experiencing, but we never really see it directly until very late in the book and through some subtle bits of self-reflection.

For as much as the spite house itself is built up to be this grand and frightening monolith of horrors, we never get to see enough of it to really buy into its fabled multi-generational legacy. Compton tells us a lot about its past, and while the Masson house is certainly rich in history, I really wanted to see more of its manipulations and damage wrought in the present. I wanted to see Eric and his daughters dealing with the confounding and inexplicable nature of the spite house, but we never get quite enough to truly satisfy.

The Spite House does have some intriguing angles to it, particularly the mystery of why Eric and his children are on the run. Compton serves up a truly wicked explanation that took me completely by surprise. Unfortunately, it's another element that is never really given a satisfactory explanation. It offers up some neat background but, given that we're ultimately expected to just go along with it, it also comes as a pretty big ask without more information to ground it.

Therein lies my biggest issues with The Spite House. Compton has some really terrific ideas, but they never really come together as fully as they should, nor are they mined deeply enough to exploit their fullest potential. If Compton had explored some of these ideas more attentively, the book would have been stronger for it. That said, I'm certainly curious to see what Compton does for his next book based solely on the promise he shows in this debut and the tantalizing ideas he brought forth here.

Eric Ross and his daughters Dess and Stacy are running from a troubled past. The details about their situation are murky, but their fear is palpable. As much as they need money to survive, they need answers to help them confront the secrets they carry with them; both of these needs lead them to the spite house. To receive generous compensation, they only need to live in the house and report on their paranormal experiences. But the home's eccentric owner, Eunice, is keeping secrets of her own--secrets that endanger everyone connected with the house and its unearthly residents.

I've seen this classified as horror, which feels misleading. Yes, it is creepy, but at no point did it cross into the realm of terrifying. I mostly struggled with the explanation of why the mother is excluded from the story (without spoiling it, it just wasn't believable or justifiable). There were also a few leaps the author asked me to make to connect events I couldn't 100% believe in. Finally, it was difficult for me to understand how Eric suddenly switched to knowingly putting his kids in harm's way on multiple occasions after going to such lengths to keep them safe.

Overall though, an enjoyable mystery/thriller with enough twists and character development to keep me reading. I would recommend this to readers who like ghost stories with a modern bent.

This is a fantastic ghost story by Johnny Compton.

Eric Ross is on the run with his two daughters, Des and Stacy. They have left everything behind, Eric's high paying job, their nice house, and his ex-wife. They live hand to mouth, Eric taking any job that will make a few bucks.
He sees an ad in a local paper asking for someone to stay in a notorious haunted house for a six-plus figure salary.
Thinking it all has to be BS, he applies and gets the job. It barely takes a night for the spirits to make themselves known.

There are some seriously spooking going-ons in this tale.
Compton does an excellent job of not only keeping me interested. but makes me care deeply for Eric Ross and his children.
I want them safe. I want a happy ending. I want it all to be just a crazy old woman's imagination. Well, you know what they say about wishes...

Highly recommended if you are looking for a convincing ghost story with some real spine-chilling moments.
Thanks to @netgalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

I have a weakness for haunted house stories – especially atmospheric Gothic ones. When I was sent the NetGalley widget for this novel, I immediately downloaded it.

Unemployed Eric Ross and his daughters, eighteen-year-old Dess and seven-year-old Stacy, are on the run. For the past year, they’ve lived in cheap hotels and moved around every few days. Eric picks up odd jobs here and there where no one asks any questions. Looking over their shoulder and being paranoid are now habits. Even young Stacy has been trained on an escape plan. When Eric receives an offer to stay in the Masson House, supposedly one of the most haunted places in the state, and keep a record of paranormal activity, he accepts the job. The money is almost too good to be true and will relieve their financial stress. Now he and his family just have to survive.

I didn’t get a strong Gothic vibe from this story, but it sure provides unnerving, atmospheric scenes. Shadows in corners, disembodied voices, possible spirit possessions, creepy ghost children, doors opening and closing on their own – all good things for horror/paranormal fans. Even though Eric is frightened, he puts his family first and is determined to stick it out and earn the small fortune promised if he completes the job. He’s a pretty stubborn guy and very protective of his daughters. Stacy’s ability to see and communicate with some of the spirits will send tingles down your spine.

While reading, I kept wondering what happened to send this family on the run, and when the reason is casually mentioned in a sentence, I immediately halted and said “Wait – what?????” It’s a shocker, folks. I’d also never heard of a spite house, but it’s a building constructed or modified solely to annoy the neighbors. I did a Google search, and there are several across the country.

This is an impressive debut, and an author to watch for horror/paranormal fans. I’m excited to see what Compton does next.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

THE SPITE HOUSE by Johnny Compton

Release Date: February 7th, 2023
General Genre: Adult Horror, Paranormal
Subgenre/Themes: Gothic, Historical Fiction, Haunted House, Human Monsters, Mind-Bender, Mystery, Strong Women
Writing Style: Brisk & Slow pacing, Multiple POVs

What You Need to Know: Early expectations, the comps from the publisher are: The Babadook meets A Head Full of Ghosts and I think those both miss the mark. This is more in step with Shirley Jackson's, The Haunting of Hill House.
This story has a lot going on in 272 pages. Multiple POVs with character names as chapter titles and the reader is asked to keep tabs on several storylines almost like the show LOST in the way that there is a *huge* cast of characters, they all have backstories and a connection to the main, present-day narrative and there are a lot of meandering threads that introduce new topics of interest but don't really get answered until much, much later. That's all I think readers need to know going into this one: a slow-burn setup typical of the Gothic style that eases into a classic trope: MC accepts the invitation to stay in a haunted house and report back to the owner.

My Reading Experience: I tell people all the time that I am the kind of reader that does not see the plot twists or big reveals coming. It's not that I'm not clever or intuitive, I am, it's just that my brain is busy trusting the author's storytelling as it is being told to me and I don't concern myself with what might be happening between the lines.
This one *really* stumped me. I had no idea what was going on for the duration of this novel. There is a very large cast of characters and they are not just stand-in people you don't need to concern yourself with, they have their own POV chapters! I struggled to keep track of everyone and remember who they were in relation to the present-day situation and their connection to the MCs. The MCs are Eric (father) and his two daughters (Stacy & Dess). I wish the story was contained to those three POVs. I felt like widening the circle to include POVs from literally everyone was too much, splintering the tone and atmosphere.
Here's what I did like: Johnny Compton has a strong storytelling voice that instantly feels unique to him. It's authoritative in sections of exposition and infused with emotions during scenes of dialogue. I liked that the chapters were short, these helped me stay invested and kept the pace moving along *after* the 30% mark. Prior to that, the pace was slow, and difficult for me to stay interested.
I liked the two young daughters, Dess and Stacy. Later, I enjoyed chapters with Eunice and Lafonda. So, I found Compton's understanding of how to write women of all ages pretty satisfying. I just didn't like the MC, Eric that much. As a dad with very clear and often communicated goals of protecting his daughters at all costs, he made some pretty counterintuitive decisions, but maybe I was missing something that factors in later.
Overall, the things I enjoyed evenly balanced out with the things I didn't enjoy landing The Spite House smack dab in the middle of the road for me.

Final Recommendation: I recommend this to competent readers who are quick to absorb details and find it easy to navigate through a complex, multi-layered story with a lot of POVs. Fans of alternative, unexpected twists on classic tropes, haunted house tales, father/daughter relationships, and historical elements will eat this right up.

Comps: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, film: The Conjuring, and the structure/format of the TV show, LOST.

Well, this was a disappointment. What could have been a GREAT haunted house/ghost story turned out to be more of a YA puzzle/mystery that wanted to be a horror novel, the bad part was: what started out good had no horror what so ever.

Author Johnny Compton's creation of that creepy, skinny and scary house on the edge of the hill could have become such a huge part of the story, instead he made it all about the youngest daughter of Eric, Stacy. When you first read of Des's night time 'runs' you think what is this girl doing? Why are the townspeople so afraid for Eric and his two girls after they accept a 'ghost hunters' offer and move into the 'Spite House'? I could not get into the ebook, so when this came available this week on Scribd Audio I listened to it. Still was not impressed. The 'Reveal' I had already figured out. Cannot recommend this unless you are new to 'wannabe' spooky books.
Skip it.
2.5 ehs

The Spite House follows a man and his 2 daughters as they are on the run from something. Eric (the father) takes a high paying job that involves living in the Spite House and documenting any paranormal experiences that may occur.
While this synopsis drew me in, I found I was really bored throughout this book. It became evident at the start that this book was going to fixate on race but in this case it was just too much. Eric and his daughters don’t even arrive at the Spite House until almost 30% into the book. By this time I had already lost interest and had to force myself to continue. This book just wasn’t for me in the end.

Received e-arc courtesy of netgalley for honest review

The Spite House Review!!

Thank you so much Tor Publishing Group and Netgalley for this gift e-read, in exchange for an honest review! The Spite House is out now!

I’m a sucker for a good haunted house story, so I requested this one immediately! The Spite House was a 3/5 ⭐️ for me! I wouldn’t necessarily say that this one was scary, but it definitely had an eerie feel to it! This one was a slow burn for sure. To me, this one read more like a YA horror and it felt a bit choppy at times. The paranormal twist left me somewhat confused and the ending left me wanting more as well. Overall , eerie, with some very unique and likeable characters, just very slow and more on the YA side!

Synopsis: On the run and short on cash, Eric and his two daughters are desperate for an income. Eric finds an ad online for a caretaker and paranormal investigator of sorts for a famous Spite House. All he needs to do is stay in the house and record any odd things that happen. Eric is shocked at the sum of money they are offering, so he gladly takes the job. Soon he realizes though, that the past caretakers have had a nightmare of a time in the house and he is about to find out why.

A very high 3 stars!! This was a fast paced haunted house story with several twists and turns. I was engaged the entire time, however, the ending left me a little unsatisfied. While I thought the split of Eric’s body and soul was a unique ending, I wanted to see the closure with his wife (and her reaction!!). This was the first time I had ever heard of a Spite House and I thought it was a great concept, I would pick up the next book this author releases.

So good! Loved the twist on the traditional haunted house story. Felt so much deeper! It’s spooky, characters were unique and it covered some heavy hitting topics!

Dread is a hard emotion to spark within a book. But The Spite House does it intensely throughout.

Eric Ross is a father to two girls: 18-year-old Dess and 7-year-old Stacy. They are on the run from an unnamed tragedy when he sees an intriguing help wanted ad in rural Texas. A rich old woman wants someone to stay in her family’s house and prove unequivocally that it is haunted. She is willing to pay in the high six figures for what may be a short-term job with free room and board. Eric agrees. He knows his family has a “curse” but feels it won’t bother his ability to complete the job. However, he doesn’t know that young Stacy has psychic abilities.

The Spite House is old fashioned horror at its best. It reminded me of old Stephen King and, of course, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. However, it has a modern day setting in addition to its many flashbacks to the characters’, and the house’s, past. There are only two reasons why the book didn’t quite rate a 5 star review. In the middle, there are a whole lot of point of views that didn’t seem to be relevant (though some eventually were later in the book). And the ending…well the ending was unexpected.

Overall, the book is a solid 4 star that promises a bright future for its author.

Thanks to Tor Nightfire and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book.

This was an effective and surprising horror - once it got started. The beginning is not just slow, but a little hamfisted - I almost put it down before reaching the halfway point, and I'd have been sad to miss a really effective second half.

In a small town in Texas, a weirdly shaped house stands. It’s called a Spite House because it was built originally to spite someone with it’s location. A wandering family is looking for a job and believe they might have found one that is up their alley. An eccentric woman is looking for someone to live in the spite house and and record the happenings in the haunted house, to see if it’s really haunted but what is the hidden reason for finding more and more caretakers for this house?

The original premise made this story sound so creepy. And to be honest it’s a multilayered story, with connections through different characters. And while the story itself was very spine tingling with gothic vibes, the ending, while wrapping it up, also gave me more questions than before. Come for the haunted house story, but be warned if you don’t like loose ends.