I really enjoyed this! Taylor takes the reader on an exploration of what makes a house a home, and the more sinister steps that can turn a home back onto a house. She references famous haunted houses, the homes of serial killers and what society has come to view as a “haunted house”. There are detailed descriptions of ghosts, murders, unfortunate accidents and everything that could lead to a structure becoming sinister all by itself. I particularly enjoyed the social commentary on these so called haunted houses, and how they often reflect societal norms at the time. There were so many incredible conversations and observations in this book and clearly so much time and research went into it. A really fantastic book.

This was a fantastic concept for this type of book, it had that element that I was looking for and was hooked from the description. I thought it was a great idea to discuss the architecture of haunted houses. I enjoyed the way Leila Taylor wrote this and am excited for more.

All the stars! LOVED this book which has gotten my 2025 reads off to a banging start! I devoured it in two sessions so I will be returning to it to fully savour the ideas and draw up lists of the horror books and films mentioned that I already knew but feel compelled to revisit, and those that I now want to read/watch for the first time. The bibliography will be my friend. I enjoyed googling further images and info as I went. I've just preordered a physical copy as this deserves a place on my shelves.

This book dives into what kinds of houses sends shivers down our spine, has us tip toeing down the halls, and peaking around corners, but it delves into the psychological “why” we do these things. Why does this type of house or the people who dwell within them give us the heebie jeebies? Is it because horror movies taught us to fear them, or because these houses drudge forth emotions, fears, hopes, and dreams that have been instilled Into us by our culture, economy, government, race, gender, religion and socioeconomic class .

Things that go bump in the night scare us because not only has it invaded a safe haven, our home, but we can’t see it and it can see us; a gross invasion of our privacy in our most sacred space. Are we really afraid of the old women in the ivy-covered Victorian houses, or do we fear the women who invoke a power they have been taught to repress. Of a woman that defies societal norms and does not keep a house for her husband and children, only herself. Since she does not want to bear children she must want to eat them, right?

This author does a great job at pitting these many issues against plots of horror movies to prove their point. It is not a subject I typically would’ve read about without the horror innuendos, but I ended up really enjoying in the long run. Thank you to NetGalley, Leila Taylor, and Repeater Books for an advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest review.

I am obsessed with houses. Some have good "vibes" and some have bad vibes. I find that I connect more with some houses too. I research historic homes in my community and that allows me to visit and tour all sorts of places.
I even threw a birthday party in the Browning Mansion.
So naturally I wanted to read this one. I loved it. I really loved it! I learned a lot. I might buy this for my friends for Galentines day.

This book is an incredibly well written, thoroughly researched, and fascinating read. As I said in my longer review, Taylor takes the concept of the haunted house and explores all its facets, making for such an in depth and interesting book with sections such as 'witch houses', 'mad houses', and 'brutal houses'. I especially appreciated that Taylor takes into account the wider sociological contexts that the 'haunted house' is often cemented within, particularly when it comes to women. The writing is intelligent and humorous and most of all clear and accessible. While it explores many subjects, it never felt overwhelming. I would have appreciated more depth in a few places, such as the one on the book Piranesi, but overall I absolutely loved this book and it has become one of my non fiction favourite books of all time!

"When a demon inhabits a body, it takes ownership of a person, a monster is temporarily housed inside of its victim, our body invaded, repossessed. The ghost does the same with s house: it breaks into it, takes possession of what is yours, and you can no longer trust the place you trusted the most. What’s more frightening than your own home turning against you?"

A look at the haunted house in both fiction and non-fiction, Sick Houses by Leila Taylor is an interesting exploration of what happens when the place that, by definition, we feel most at home in becomes something Other, something not quite right. Each chapter looks at a different kind of house, from houses of witchcraft (real or alleged) to houses in miniature, dollhouses or dioramas that reflect or influence their life-size counterparts.

First of all, I appreciated the parameters that the author put on her subject. She says in the introduction that “I’m not talking about plantation houses because 1) fuck them, and 2) I don’t consider slave quarters homes,” and she avoids prisons and hotels as well. By creating a clear focus on homes and not just houses/buildings, it creates an immediate connection with the reader — we will of course consider our own homes, the feeling of safety and comfort we feel in them, and we will contemplate the horror we would feel if that sense of safety was pulled out from under us.

I was also very interested in her discussion of the contradictory nature of the ideals of the American Dream: “Manifest destiny told us to ‘go west, young man,’ but this part of the American ideology is in direct contradiction with the long-term mortgage that locks you not only to a city or state but to a specific property for decades.” This contrast relates to a tension that often appears in horror films — a family moves into a dream home and is loath to leave it even when the going gets bad, or a family moves into a home that turns out to be haunted, but they don’t necessarily have any other option other than to try to see it through — and the tying of classic horror movie tropes to broader societal concepts is always interesting, especially when laid out well and backed by solid examples, as is seen in this book.

Some chapters are more thorough than others — the Witch Houses chapter has many more references than the chapter on Brutalism, for example — but overall there is a good amount of evidence and a good balance between real-life and fictional examples. The chapter on houses in miniature was particularly interesting. The author writes about the dioramas in Ari Aster’s Hereditary, and the way that the film’s sets were built to evoke the feeling that the actors, too, are moving (or, more accurately, being moved) within a diorama. On the real-life side of things, the discussion of the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, a diorama series of crime scenes used to improve forensic investigation, was fascinating.

I did have a few issues with the book. For one, the author spoils the ending of several films in instances where I don’t feel that it’s necessary to support her thesis. Obviously in some cases of books like this, you have to give away the major plot points of your examples in order for them to be relevant — if you’re discussing antagonistic father-son relationships you can’t really use Star Wars as an example unless you tell anyone in your audience who isn’t yet aware of the connection between Luke and Vader.

However, in this book, regarding films discussed like The Others and His House, I think that enough information about their plots could have been given to make the intended point while still leaving some mystery for those who haven’t seen them. I know that I often use this type of book as a way to add to my to-watch or to-read list, offering more examples of a trope I am interested in, so spoiling the endings of books or films I haven’t seen yet is frustrating.

It also felt in some places that more time was spent cataloguing the “contents” of the houses (i.e. the plots of the films set there or, in the case of the real life examples, the crimes committed there) than the houses themselves.

In particular, some of the examples focusing on true crime started to feel too tangental, straying away from the connection to the houses/homes and delving too much into the events themselves. For example, I understood what the author was going for in connecting the novel Room and the tragic real-life story of “feral child” Genie, but in the case of the latter there was little connection to the thesis of the book.

Furthermore, at the start of the book the authors understandably says she won’t include places like slave’s quarters because these were not “homes” to the enslaved people living there, but then it follows that surely a place of imprisonment for Genie (or, in fiction, for the kidnapped inhabitants of Room) was not a “home” to be discussed either.

From the second half of the subtitle, “the Architecture of Dread,” I was hoping for more on the design of houses themselves. While this aspect does certainly get coverage in some sections of the book, looking at architectural oddities on screen and in reality, the trope of architecture that is Not Quite Right — houses that are bigger on the inside, stairways that don’t lead where they’re supposed to — is one of my favorites and I would’ve liked a deeper dive into some of these given the supposed secondary premise of the book.

That said, the sections looking at strange and unusual architecture did have some good moments, most interestingly in dispelling myths about the Winchester Mystery House (no, Sarah Winchester wasn’t taking her orders from ghosts; she was just a hobby architect). On the fiction side of things, I enjoyed the brief foray into one of my favorite books of all time, Susannah Clarke’s Piranesi, as a particularly good example of both impossible architecture and a false home (although I found it odd that one of the other most well-known examples of these tropes, Mark Danielewski’s House of Leaves, did not get a mention).

"This book is a catalog of houses that have gone wrong and the ways our built environment can evoke terror and dread. But more so this is a book about the home, and the idea of home, and how horror perverts and manipulates one of the most personal and intimate experiences we have as human beings."

I think that Sick Houses will appeal mostly to readers who already have an interest in the topic. At points it feels as though the author has cornered you at a party and is explaining her research project to you. For me, that’s fine, as it’s a long-standing interest of mine as well. But it may not work as well for readers who aren’t already fascinated by architectural horror or the unheimlich feeling of a haunted house.

But if the above quote draws you in, then this is definitely one to keep an eye out for when it’s published in 2025.

I'm not really a non-fiction kind of reader, but the description really appealed to the horror lover in me, and I was not disappointed!

The book takes you on a journey through both fictional and real-life houses of horror and peculiarity, with some areas being more fully covered than others. I was really fascinated with the story behind the high-rise multiple occupancy homes both in reality and as portrayed in film. I also enjoyed that one of my favourite miniaturist content creators was referenced in the book as it was a nice personal easter egg for me. Some of the photography was also brilliant, and I found myself wanting more reference pictures and looking up a lot of images as I read.

My only complaint is it did spoil the ending of a book on my TBR, and I didn't think it really needed to be done to get across the point of the story. Although I guess it's on me for not reading faster!

Overall, if you're like me and you only read one or 2 non-fiction a year, I'd recommend this one!

I saw this on NetGalley at the end of the last year and thought it would be a perfect fit to start the 2025 Year of Horror.

A great little journey through the house as a centre for the weird and spooky, whether that is just a normal person expanding their house as they desire or the abode of some of the most terrifying human beings. There are also explorations of some of the creepiest film and book houses where things definitely go bump in the night.

Written in a very accessible form this was such an enjoyable read, though there are quite a few spoilers in here for horror books and films, so beware when you start reading about a book that it may be spoiled in here.

This has added more books and films to my want to see/read list though and that’s always a good thing.

I really enjoyed how it took in both the factual and fictional creepiness of houses and took in the personal experience of spookiness, as we have to agree with Leila that there are always houses around that we just wouldn’t want to walk into in your neighbourhood.

A well thought out and executed look into the domestic side of horror that could have been a much larger book in my view.

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a fascinating combination of personal experience, film criticism and social commentary! I thought this was such an interesting concept and it did not disappoint- the author’s conversational tone brings life to the analysis. I think I’d have liked to hear more on about houses in fiction but that’s just a personal preference for literary studies and doesn’t negate how interesting I found this, or how informative it was. I’ve spoken to people about this already so I’ll definitely be enthusiastically handselling on publication. Looking forward to reading the author’s other work on black southern horror!