The House That Horror Built by Christina Henry #bookreview #horror #gothic #thriller

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Title: The House That Horror Built

Author:  Christina Henry

Publisher: Berkley

Publication Date: May 14, 2024

Page Count:  334

My rating: 3 1/2 stars

About the book:

A single mother working in the gothic mansion of a reclusive horror director stumbles upon terrifying secrets in the captivating new novel from the national bestselling author of Good Girls Don’t Die and Horseman.

Harry Adams has always loved horror movies, so it’s not a total coincidence that she took the job cleaning house for movie director Javier Castillo. His forbidding graystone Chicago mansion, Bright Horses, is filled from top to bottom with terrifying props and costumes, as well as glittering awards from his career making films that thrilled audiences—until family tragedy and scandal forced him to vanish from the industry.
 
Javier values discretion, and Harry has always tried to clean the house immaculately, keep her head down, and keep her job safe—she needs the money to support her son. But then she starts hearing noises from behind a locked door. Noises that sound remarkably like a human voice calling for help, even though Javier lives alone and never has visitors. Harry knows that not asking questions is a vital part of working for Javier, but she soon finds that the sinister house may be home to secrets she can’t ignore.

The House That Horror Built by Christina Henry is a gothic paranormal horror story with an edge of mystery behind it. I would warn for those that want nothing to do with pandemic books that this one is set in the time of the pandemic but that plays only a small part of the set up of the story.

Harry Adams grew up with a horror movie obsession and now as an adult still appreciates the genre the most. After losing her job due to the pandemic Harry applies to work for the famous horror-movie director Javier Castillo cleaning his home where Javier has pretty much isolated himself since his wife and son’s disappearance.

With a boss like Javier who values nothing more than his own privacy Harry keeps to herself and does her work quietly and efficiently until the day she thinks she hears a voice from one of Javier’s rooms. After that moment each time Harry comes to clean something feels more and more off in the lonely old mansion but Harry tells herself it’s just the old creepy movie memorabilia and nothing more.

The House That Horror Built isn’t the first book I’ve read from author Christina Henry so I went in knowing her brand of horror before picking this up. When finished with this one I think it probably is my least favorite I’ve read so far though which was unfortunate. Still a solid horror novel that flew right by I was just left with wanting a bit more to it especially since the “twist” to the story seemed extremely obvious to me early on. Overall I rated this one at three and a half stars, totally solid rating for some but low for this particular author for me.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:

Christina Henry is a horror and dark fantasy author whose works include Horseman, Near the Bone, The Ghost Tree, Looking Glass, The Girl in Red, The Mermaid, Lost Boy, Alice, Red Queen, and the seven-book urban fantasy Black Wings series.

She enjoys running long distances, reading anything she can get her hands on, and watching movies with samurai, zombies, and/or subtitles in her spare time. She lives in Chicago with her husband and son.