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The Spite House

A Novel

Audiobook
4 of 4 copies available
4 of 4 copies available

"The plotting is intricate, following the points of view of many characters from the past and present, all of whom are expertly performed by Adam Lazarre-White." - Library Journal
"Adam Lazarre-White narrates this terrifying debut novel with a Southern drawl that puts the gothic into this gothic thriller."- AudioFile
A terrifying Gothic thriller about grief and death and the depths of a father's love, Johnny Compton's The Spite House is a stunning debut by a horror master in the making—The Babadook meets A Head Full of Ghosts in Texas Hill Country.
Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters in tow. Having left his wife, his house, his whole life behind in Maryland, he's desperate for money—it's not easy to find steady, safe work when you can't provide references, you can't stay in one place for long, and you're paranoid that your past is creeping back up on you.
When he comes across the strange ad for the Masson House in Degener, Texas, Eric thinks they may have finally caught a lucky break. The Masson property, notorious for being one of the most haunted places in Texas, needs a caretaker of sorts. The owner is looking for proof of paranormal activity. All they need to do is stay in the house and keep a detailed record of everything that happens there. Provided the house's horrors don't drive them all mad, like the caretakers before them.
The job calls to Eric, not just because there's a huge payout if they can make it through, but because he wants to explore the secrets of the spite house. If it is indeed haunted, maybe it'll help him understand the uncanny power that clings to his family, driving them from town to town, making them afraid to stop running.
A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Nightfire.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from December 5, 2022
      Compton’s chilling debut is horror with heart that puts a refreshingly modern spin on the haunted house story. On the run and in hiding from a mysterious family curse, Eric Ross and his daughters, Dess and Stacy, are desperate to find ways to make ends meet. Eunice Houghton, a wealthy eccentric, is willing to pay a substantial sum for anyone willing to stay in the Masson House, one of Texas’s most haunted buildings, and record their encounters with the supernatural. Eager to provide a better life for his daughters, Eric takes the job and is determined to see it through to the massive payday at the end. But as staying in Masson House becomes increasingly dangerous, Eric realizes that no one is telling him the entire truth about the house and its history. By changing perspectives between Eric, Dess, Stacy, and Eunice, this tense work of gothic horror provides a complex and multidimensional look at how anger, grief, and trauma can strengthen bonds of familial love. The tale’s simmering tension builds to an inevitable but thoroughly satisfying conclusion that, like the ghosts of the spite house, lingers. Even the most jaded horror fans will be wowed.

    • Library Journal

      March 1, 2023

      Eric Ross, who has two daughters and secrets of his own, can solve many of his family's problems with the money he'll make by documenting his stay in the famously haunted Masson House. But the quiet house and seemingly accepting town of Degener, TX, aren't what they appear to be--both are stained by past horrors. Compton's debut hits every satisfying haunted-house trope, but his own tweaks on ghost lore add unsettling layers to the story. The plotting is intricate, following the points of view of many characters from the past and present, all of whom are expertly performed by Adam Lazarre-White. He captures the clash of genteel, small-town Texas facades with Ross's skilled navigation of prejudice and classism. As with any horror audiobook, the narration is an integral part of its success. Lazarre-White deftly demonstrates that multiple narrators are not necessary to skillfully perform a large cast of the living and the dead. In particular, the Ross family is instilled with such strength from their love, desperation, and determination that it is impossible not to root for them. VERDICT A deliciously chilling novel with notes of The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and The Shining by Stephen King.--Matthew Galloway

      Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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