What is it about haunted houses that captures our imagination? Taylor examines this phenomenon through the lens of houses in popular media.

This was a really fascinating examination into what turns a home into a haunted house, from interior and exterior architecture, to landscape context, to the decay from lack of upkeep.

While it was really interesting reading descriptions of these houses, with photographs, I did find myself wishing that more time was spent on the real life examples that inspired stories rather than recounting the plot of the movie or tv show.

Basically, this is an excellent starting point for anyone getting interested in learning more about haunted houses.

Thanks to NetGalley and Repeater Books for this arc.

This book has some interesting arguments and conclusions. However, the vast majority of it is simply retelling the entire plot of dozens of movies. This format got boring really fast, which is why I gave it a low score.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

A fantastic read for the horror-obsessed, architecturally-inclined, or information sponges among us!

I greatly enjoyed Leila Taylor's exploration of the various kinds of "sick houses" we consider haunted in one way or another, from film favorites to real-life examples of the economic, social, and political horrors exacted upon marginalized communities through architecture, segregation, and seclusion. Including chapters on the archetype of the witch house (which I expected) to something as seemingly obscure as the dollhouse (which I didn't expect but found so rich and thoughtful), there's so much to explore and unpack here. Taylor weaves a bit of her personal narrative throughout each chapter, which I really liked.

Taylor's previous release, Darkly, has been on my TBR for quite a while, and I'm now quite eager to read that as well.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Repeater Books for the e-ARC.

I have been a fan of horror films for years so it was very interesting to explore haunted houses in this way that focuses on the architecture and different haunted houses.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to this early. Review has been posted on Waterstones and Amazon.

I was very excited about the premise of this book, as haunted houses (and the people within them) are as much my cup of tea as it gets. For the most part, Leila Taylor delivers. She covered most of the general topics I was anticipating while also expanding and covering topics I wouldn't have thought of. This is a good one for the movie buffs, but back cover claims of covering haunted literature were overpromised and under delivered.

Some of the negative reviews seem to have missed the point of Taylor's book. This isn't a book on the mechanics of spirits or "true" haunted houses, but an exploration of how humans project and respond to horror that occurs within buildings used as or replicating homes. While true crime is covered (one of the happy surprises), most of what Taylor discusses is how haunted homes operate in fiction. The synopsis and back cover make that pretty clear, so I'm confused why bad reviews seem to blame Taylor for their own misinterpretation.

I was left wanting a more satisfying conclusion, but what is there really to be concluded about the function of a huanted house? Taylor shows us how different types represent different fears and human ills, but there isn't a single answer for anything. And certainly no single answer regarding the existence of ghosts.

To my personal tastes, more literature would have been a big pro and likely earned a higher rating, but that's preference. I found this an entertaining, informative, and worthwhile read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Repeater books, and Leila Taylor for the advanced reader ebook.

A riveting nonfiction read for horror movie buffs, architecture aficionados, and haunted house enthusiasts. What renders Sick Houses so compelling is its insight and spine-tingling storytelling.

I liked this read a lot! Taylor makes a lot of really interesting thoughts & observations. Sick Houses balances both information & an interrogation of into the human condition in a way that made it a very rewarding read. A lot of other reviews touch on this, but this book's biggest fault is that some sections are much more thorough than others. The introduction is about the first third of the book, and it takes way too long to get to any actual "houses". The information was great and added a lot to the rest of what Taylor was talking about, but I think Sick Houses would've been better served if it could have been woven throughout instead of dumped up top. It got to the point where I felt that what Taylor really wanted to talk about were the politics of homeowning and the ways that that affects the American view of a "home", and that it would be better served in an essay format instead of a book like this. Once we got past that, however, I was able to appreciate the ways that the preface sets the reader up for the later sections; again, it just felt weird while reading. Despite that, this is well worth the read, and I definitely recommend if you're interested in haunted houses or horror at home.

Another 5 Star read for 2025! Gosh this was so well done! I really am becoming such a non-fic girlie.

I am very thankful to Leila Taylor, Repeater Books, and NetGalley for granting me advanced digital access before this spooky ooky baby hits shelves on February 11, 2025.

Sick Houses is written from such a cool angle, comparing homes portrayed in real life and in pop culture/literary instances to how dread resides over architecture in an impactful way! Made complete with photo references, Taylor takes readers on a journey through time and media to circumnavigate how haunted houses, uncanny spaces, and rooms subvert and corrupt the sanctity of home.

Hats off to this one!

I'm not 100% sure what I expected from this one, but it kind of missed for me. Despite being short I found some sections really repetitive, almost as if this were a dissertation that was cut down and revamped for consumers. I didn't feel terribly engaged when that happened, almost wondering if I somehow hit back on my kindle instead of forward.

I LOVE a haunted house story, be it on film, a novel...whatever and it was fun to read about some of my favorites in here from a different perspective. And while finding new stories to explore, there were also spoilers, so I foudn myself trying to skim parts, but still keep up.

Overall, I'm glad I found this one, but I felt like maybe it would have been better as a blog perhaps?

Thanks to Netgalley and the author for the ARC.

Taylor pulls examples of “sick houses” from pop culture, history, and true crime. This makes the book interesting, although if you haven’t watched the movies she talks about she goes into the plot so you might want to skip out on those sections.

The greatest detriment to this book is including "Haunted Homes" in the tagline. While Sick Houses does feature haunted houses, those expecting a thorough analysis of the haunted home to be the primary focus will be disappointed. "The Architecture of Dread," however, perfectly encapsulates Taylor's scope, and this is particularly evident in the chapter on Brutal Houses.

Brutal Houses, while not typically considered haunted, especially due to the lack of history normally entrenched in them, can certainly evoke dread. Conceptually, this was a masterful chapter. However, it is also illustrates one of my biggest issues with Sick Houses: spending too much time covering tangentially related real history and not enough on analysis.

When Taylor engages with film and literary analysis, it's compelling. She's skilled at drawing concise conclusions and making obvious the symbolism behind every motif. Her style as a writer, when she gets to really go in on it, is one that I love. But there are points in this that lost me. At times, I felt more like I was reading a list of real-life examples related to the current category of sick house than literary analysis. I certainly did not need the level of detail into a person's history and family that I received to discuss their house, and in these scenarios often found myself struggling to keep the "characters" straight or remember what kind of sick house they had, or how it would connect to the larger plot of the work. Some of the chapters are less connected to the larger idea of Sick Houses and the architecture of dread than I would like them to be, and there was a lot of room for critical analysis to tie them back in. It was still interesting, but at points my reaction was much more "okay, cool story?" than how I typically react to well-written literary criticism.

If you want a critical framework for haunted house stories and what makes them compelling, Taylor does exemplary work on this in her introduction. The introduction alone is worth a read for her ideas about why the haunted house trope is one that is endured since the origin of horror, and her likening of haunted houses to the demon-possessed body. "American Houses," too, is an excellent unravelling of this idea, particularly as it relates to the modern haunted house. "Little Houses" is one I think haunted house enjoyers and horror movie fans will also really enjoy, and was one of my favourite criticism sections. "Mad Houses" is another that readers drawn by the tagline should appreciate. "Forever Houses" I enjoyed a lot more than I expected to based on the title, and "My House" was an excellent way to end this novel. However, "Witch Houses" and "Brutal Houses" could benefit from focused editing to get to the meat of the matter.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

Haunted houses, the homes of notorious series killers, those places you pass and just wonder about because they're a little odd -- that's what this book is about. And I LOVED it. The author delves into well known properties, both fictional and real, and also several that I'd never heard of. I came away from it with a fairly long list of movies I want to watch (surprising, because I love haunted house movies and have watched so many) and some new insight into movies I'd already watched. There are plenty of spoilers in the detailed plot discissions, but I don't really mind because I probably wouldn't have watched them if I hadn't read about them here. A few, I'll watch anyway. Another I'll go out of my way to avoid. The book sent me down quite a few interesting rabbit trails and I'm glad I picked it up.

DNF at 25%
A lot more film plot focused than I expected. I was hoping for more exploration of real life places and buildings but a lot of the focus was on retelling film plots and loosely connecting the location of those films to architecture. I also hadn’t seen some of the films so it felt very spoiler-y which I wanted to avoid. I also wish there were more pictures to have a full view of the buildings mentioned.

This book had a really intriguing concept that caught my eye at first, but I found that it didn't quite resonate with me as I had hoped. As someone who loves horror novels and haunted houses, I thought it would be right up my alley. Unfortunately, it seemed to lean more towards the architectural side of the homes and the idea of “what makes a house a home,” which wasn’t what I expected.

The content felt a bit like an extended listicle about famous haunted places, and a lot of it summarized plot points from other horror films and literature—definitely a few spoilers for those who haven’t seen them yet! Overall, it seemed like the author might have needed a deeper dive into the subject matter. A more thorough research approach and analysis, rather than just summarizing, could have really elevated the quality of the book.

**My thanks to Repeater Books for providing me with an advanced review copy via NetGalley**

5 stars

Leila Taylor has produced a fascinating and highly readable examination of the role of architectural spaces in psychological horror (both real and fictional). Charting the ‘sick’ houses of American horror films, serial killers, and visual art, she questions what makes a house stand out as ‘bad’—haunted, witchy, or perverse—and how we respond to houses that have or are rumored to have contained some kind of rot. Throughout, she admits the slightly voyeuristic urge to peep inside these houses but treats them and their inhabitants with pure civility and grace; the section on Sarah Winchester’s famous house is a particularly affirming correction of the record.

I would highly recommend this title to anyone interested in horror media.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this! Before I begin, I love this cover it is so creative and colors come together so well. Now, this was a great read on the history of haunted houses was not something that I knew I needed in my life but I am so glad that I found it. In the past year I have truly been diving into horror literature and this felt like a great addition to the genre, it is new and not something people (myself included) really thought about. It felt wondering what is the background and history of things that re utulized in the genre of horror, I would honestly love a series of this! Gettingg into the context, I really appreciated the photos and references to movies to explain the topics she provided, it made me want me watch to watch every movie through the authors eyes.

Sick Houses: Haunted Homes and the Architecture of Dread is a non-fiction-work about one of my all-time favourite horror tropes. Unfortunately, it was quite different from what I was expecting, and left me disappointed by the end.

The back-flap summary mentions the word “Exploration/Explore” 4 times. That was exactly what I was hoping for; a exploration and a deeper look into what makes some of the world’s most famous haunted houses júst that. I was hoping for a deeper analysis. Like the title suggests: what element of the architecture come into play to evoke the haunting? What basal fears does this trope trigger in us?
Although there were a few passages like this, the rest of the book felt more like a listicle than anything else. We got summaries for famous movies and books, as well as real-life cases of supposed hauntings, but we never went beyond surface level. I missed an element of original thought and analysis by the author, beyond that.
This might just be a marketing-thing. Had this been sold as more of a coffee-table book, or an introductory piece into the genre, I would’ve entered with different expectations. Because of the back-flaps promises of “exploration” of the topic, I was left disappointed. This felt more so like sightseeing than exploration to me.

Overall, this might be an interesting reference-guide or introduction if you’re new to the trope of haunted-house-fiction and are looking for good places to start. It includes a wide scope, from cinema, to literature, to true crime. That scope immediately is its downfall too. It’s too wide to allow for any form of depth, leading to a text that’s wide as Victorian-style mansion, but deep as a single-floor bungalow.

Thanks to Repeater for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This is a wonderful nonfiction look at the houses and places that just feel wrong. Taylor has clearly done a ton of research, which creates an absolutely fascinating look at haunted places but also what makes a home and this country’s sometimes shameful past of who was allowed to be a homeowner.

I was really looking forward to this read. I tend to really enjoy nonfiction about horror and commentary on true crime. I was interested enough through this, but unfortunately found myself without much to take away here. For how short this book was, the author attempted to cover a lot of ground. There were sections on fictional houses, horror movie houses, apartments, witch houses, real serial killer homes, and more. The scope felt a little too large to get a cohesive point across. I wish it offered a deeper dive into a few of these topics instead.
I think this book would better suit someone newer to the genre unfamiliar with horror/film scholarship, as I was already familiar with a lot of the talking points. I enjoyed how accessible the writing was, something not too common in scholarship in general. Even though this helped make it an easy read, I did struggle to get through this.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.