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The House on Buzzards Bay
“Gothic chill wafts like ocean mist throughout this tale of college friends reuniting at an old house one them has inherited.”
—Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air
When a group of old college friends reunites for a summer vacation at a beach house in coastal Massachusetts, a sudden disappearance and the arrival of a seductive stranger threaten to unearth the darkest secrets of their relationships.
As they hurtle into midlife, Jim and his closest college friends get together to rekindle the bonds of their friendship in his family’s beautiful, generations-old vacation home along Buzzards Bay, the demands of work and family having caused them to drift apart over recent years. But what begins as a quiet and restorative seaside escape takes a darker turn when Bruce, an aloof but successful writer, disappears from the house without a trace, sending the group into an uneasy tension.
Meanwhile, a series of mysterious break-ins besets the town, which is the site of an old Spiritualist campground turned idyllic fishing village. After a series of uncanny disturbances at the house, Jim can’t help but feel that someone—or something—is watching them from the other side of the marsh. And with the arrival of a strange, seductive guest at their home, the group begins to question the very nature of their experiences—along with their already precarious ties with one other.
In The House on Buzzards Bay, Dwyer Murphy returns with a chilling, atmospheric page-turner that explores the bonds of friendship, the growing accumulation of life's responsibilities, and whether our youthful dreams can endure the complexities of adulthood.
—Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air
When a group of old college friends reunites for a summer vacation at a beach house in coastal Massachusetts, a sudden disappearance and the arrival of a seductive stranger threaten to unearth the darkest secrets of their relationships.
As they hurtle into midlife, Jim and his closest college friends get together to rekindle the bonds of their friendship in his family’s beautiful, generations-old vacation home along Buzzards Bay, the demands of work and family having caused them to drift apart over recent years. But what begins as a quiet and restorative seaside escape takes a darker turn when Bruce, an aloof but successful writer, disappears from the house without a trace, sending the group into an uneasy tension.
Meanwhile, a series of mysterious break-ins besets the town, which is the site of an old Spiritualist campground turned idyllic fishing village. After a series of uncanny disturbances at the house, Jim can’t help but feel that someone—or something—is watching them from the other side of the marsh. And with the arrival of a strange, seductive guest at their home, the group begins to question the very nature of their experiences—along with their already precarious ties with one other.
In The House on Buzzards Bay, Dwyer Murphy returns with a chilling, atmospheric page-turner that explores the bonds of friendship, the growing accumulation of life's responsibilities, and whether our youthful dreams can endure the complexities of adulthood.
283 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 24, 2025
272 people are currently reading
9292 people want to read
About the author
Dwyer Murphy
4 books104 followersDwyer Murphy is the author of An Honest Living and The Stolen Coast, both of which were New York Times Editors' Choice selections. He is the editor in chief of Literary Hub's CrimeReads vertical, the world’s most popular destination for thriller readers, and was previously an Emerging Writer Fellow at the Center for Fiction.
source: Amazon
source: Amazon
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 254 reviews
July 3, 2025
Truly terrible. No one talks like this, no one acts like this. There’s no suspense because you don’t care about a single character. The ending is abrupt and utterly unsatisfying. Characters with supposedly mysterious backstories are introduced, only to vanish or go nowhere — we learn nothing, and nothing happens. I’m honestly baffled that the author had the audacity to charge money for this, or that anyone thought it deserved publication. At best, it reads like a jumble of clichés and half-formed plot ideas that might just about scrape through as a first draft. Woeful.
August 6, 2025
It’s so hard to describe The House on Buzzards Bay. It wasn’t quite a locked-room mystery or hair-raising thriller. There was a feeling that it was a family drama in addition to its creepy haunted house vibe, but neither of those really took center stage either. You see, it was more of a deft combination of a little of all of the above. At the same time, it was eerily atmospheric and evocative in the extreme, which gave it a definite literary fiction feel by the end. Perhaps due to that, I ended up being mesmerized by the words and found myself starting and finishing this one in a single captivated sitting.
The characters, though, were what kept me fully engaged in this short read. Compelling, complex, and with some deep group dynamics, they had realistic flaws that pulled me in deep. What made this book utterly captivating, though? Well, the lyrical language that made pictures out of words topped my list for sure. That being said, it was a bit dry for my liking. Perhaps due to the inclusion of unnecessary details, I had to fight at times to keep my head in the game. This was especially true during the plodding first half as the plot was a slow-burning ride that lacked, at times, any hard-hitting chills, thrills, or even much suspense.
All said and done, though, from the creepy small-town setting to the strange potentially supernatural events, I was fully invested from beginning to end. Was I easily distracted until about halfway through? Well…yes. But once the mysterious visitor arrived on the scene, all I wanted was to learn the whos, whats, and whys. So if you love slow-boiling plots filled with palpable paranoia, uneasy foreboding, and a house that almost feels like a character, you need to add this book to your TBR ASAP. After all, it was ultimately much more sinister than I had expected. Rating of 3.5 stars (upgraded).
SYNOPSIS:
As they hurtle into midlife, Jim and his closest college friends get together to rekindle the bonds of their friendship in his family’s beautiful, generations-old vacation home along Buzzards Bay, the demands of work and family having caused them to drift apart over recent years. But what begins as a quiet and restorative seaside escape takes a darker turn when Bruce, an aloof but successful writer, disappears from the house without a trace, sending the group into an uneasy tension.
Meanwhile, a series of mysterious break-ins besets the town, which is the site of an old Spiritualist campground turned idyllic fishing village. After a series of uncanny disturbances at the house, Jim can’t help but feel that someone—or something—is watching them from the other side of the marsh. And with the arrival of a strange, seductive guest at their home, the group begins to question the very nature of their experiences—along with their already precarious ties with one other.
Thank you to Dwyer Murphy and Viking Books for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
PUB DATE: June 24, 2025
Content warning: missing person, death of a parent, pregnancy, alcohol use, sexual content
The characters, though, were what kept me fully engaged in this short read. Compelling, complex, and with some deep group dynamics, they had realistic flaws that pulled me in deep. What made this book utterly captivating, though? Well, the lyrical language that made pictures out of words topped my list for sure. That being said, it was a bit dry for my liking. Perhaps due to the inclusion of unnecessary details, I had to fight at times to keep my head in the game. This was especially true during the plodding first half as the plot was a slow-burning ride that lacked, at times, any hard-hitting chills, thrills, or even much suspense.
All said and done, though, from the creepy small-town setting to the strange potentially supernatural events, I was fully invested from beginning to end. Was I easily distracted until about halfway through? Well…yes. But once the mysterious visitor arrived on the scene, all I wanted was to learn the whos, whats, and whys. So if you love slow-boiling plots filled with palpable paranoia, uneasy foreboding, and a house that almost feels like a character, you need to add this book to your TBR ASAP. After all, it was ultimately much more sinister than I had expected. Rating of 3.5 stars (upgraded).
SYNOPSIS:
As they hurtle into midlife, Jim and his closest college friends get together to rekindle the bonds of their friendship in his family’s beautiful, generations-old vacation home along Buzzards Bay, the demands of work and family having caused them to drift apart over recent years. But what begins as a quiet and restorative seaside escape takes a darker turn when Bruce, an aloof but successful writer, disappears from the house without a trace, sending the group into an uneasy tension.
Meanwhile, a series of mysterious break-ins besets the town, which is the site of an old Spiritualist campground turned idyllic fishing village. After a series of uncanny disturbances at the house, Jim can’t help but feel that someone—or something—is watching them from the other side of the marsh. And with the arrival of a strange, seductive guest at their home, the group begins to question the very nature of their experiences—along with their already precarious ties with one other.
Thank you to Dwyer Murphy and Viking Books for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
PUB DATE: June 24, 2025
Content warning: missing person, death of a parent, pregnancy, alcohol use, sexual content
June 28, 2025
What a weird book! I was interested enough to finish it, but not really invested enough in the characters to really care about any of them. And the ending was really abrupt and not very satisfying. It felt like the writer had written himself into a maze that he couldn’t figure how to get out of so just said to hell with it and pulled the plug in the drain. I know, mixing my metaphors! But don’t want to give away the ending for anyone else who actually makes it to the final sentence.
July 7, 2025
brand new entry to the Have I Mentioned That My Wife Is Hot canon
July 31, 2025
The book description is infinitely better than the book itself.
March 16, 2025
2.5 stars.
My review for this book was published in March 2025 by Library Journal:
In the latest from CrimeReads editor in chief Murphy (The Stolen Coast), six longtime friends reunite at a Massachusetts beach house, which seems to be haunted. Jim was bequeathed the house shortly after graduating college. He uses it as a lure to keep the friendships intact, going so far as to make part of the property collectively owned. But when Jim, his wife Valentina, and their children arrive to find their house is one of several broken into during the off-season, it is the first sign that this gathering will be different. The friends (which also include Rami, a diplomat who spends most of his time abroad, and married couple Shannon and Maya) begin to experience sinister premonitions about the house and each other. After Bruce, a successful spy novelist who is the last to arrive, gets into an ugly fight with Jim, he disappears the following morning. In his place, unannounced and with seeming familiarity with the house and its guests, enters Camille, a French-speaking maybe-friend of Bruce’s. VERDICT Murphy establishes a palpable sense of foreboding as these unexplainable mysteries begin to accrue. He is less successful, or less interested, in resolving them, however, and the book’s final impact is dulled as a result.
Copyright ©2025 Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
My review for this book was published in March 2025 by Library Journal:
In the latest from CrimeReads editor in chief Murphy (The Stolen Coast), six longtime friends reunite at a Massachusetts beach house, which seems to be haunted. Jim was bequeathed the house shortly after graduating college. He uses it as a lure to keep the friendships intact, going so far as to make part of the property collectively owned. But when Jim, his wife Valentina, and their children arrive to find their house is one of several broken into during the off-season, it is the first sign that this gathering will be different. The friends (which also include Rami, a diplomat who spends most of his time abroad, and married couple Shannon and Maya) begin to experience sinister premonitions about the house and each other. After Bruce, a successful spy novelist who is the last to arrive, gets into an ugly fight with Jim, he disappears the following morning. In his place, unannounced and with seeming familiarity with the house and its guests, enters Camille, a French-speaking maybe-friend of Bruce’s. VERDICT Murphy establishes a palpable sense of foreboding as these unexplainable mysteries begin to accrue. He is less successful, or less interested, in resolving them, however, and the book’s final impact is dulled as a result.
Copyright ©2025 Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. Reprinted with permission.
July 12, 2025
Disappointed ultimately. Good foreboding, spooky moments. But no showing of character’s motivations or explanation of behavior. I want to know WHY they all act so oddly. Near the end I got excited that maybe Jim had been alone the entire time & that everyone around him were ghosts (a la The Sixth Sense), but alas the end was far more disappointing than that idea.
And the thing that haunted me throughout is WHY ARE THERE CHILDREN IN THIS STORY? They serve no purpose, never invade the adult’s actions. They disappear all day long & their parents have no idea where they are, nor do they worry the slightest bit. Why do those unnecessary characters even exist?
And the thing that haunted me throughout is WHY ARE THERE CHILDREN IN THIS STORY? They serve no purpose, never invade the adult’s actions. They disappear all day long & their parents have no idea where they are, nor do they worry the slightest bit. Why do those unnecessary characters even exist?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 16, 2025
Honestly what
July 19, 2025
DNF@ 25%
This was so boring and the building friend drama wasn’t at all compelling enough to keep me curious about what might be coming next.
This was so boring and the building friend drama wasn’t at all compelling enough to keep me curious about what might be coming next.
September 3, 2025
I don't know. This was atmospheric and unnerving...but then it also also felt like that was mostly all it was...Maybe I'm objecting to the dreamlike quality of the writing, but it felt like everything was sort of flat and low-stakes...or, that's not quite right. Everyone was maybe just a little too affectless? Like, it seemed like there was something rotting under the surface, or disaster was about to strike, but also, everything also felt very...normal and kind of...boring? Man, I'm using a lot of ellipses, even for me.
It sort of felt like being on the outside of an inside joke that isn't all that funny in the end. Like, you suspect there's something else, something that everyone else understands and you can't quite grasp, but...maybe there's not a lot of there there. Or maybe I just didn't get it?
Is Camille a ghost? Or is she drawn to the bad vibes of the house? Why wouldn't he tell people about his parents' death? Why could no one ever tell if they were awake or not? Why did no one care about infidelity? Why was there phantom arson? What was the point of the seance? What was the point of his fight with Bruce? Why was Bruce asking about collective guilt or whatever?
There were so many questions that he had no interest in answering that by the time we get to the big reveal , it just...didn't feel like it mattered. The motivation was so opaque and the consequences so...inconsequential, that it all just felt like, meh, okay. Go ahead and have fun!
Am I just too unsophisticated for literary horror? Maybe!
It sort of felt like being on the outside of an inside joke that isn't all that funny in the end. Like, you suspect there's something else, something that everyone else understands and you can't quite grasp, but...maybe there's not a lot of there there. Or maybe I just didn't get it?
Is Camille a ghost? Or is she drawn to the bad vibes of the house? Why wouldn't he tell people about his parents' death? Why could no one ever tell if they were awake or not? Why did no one care about infidelity? Why was there phantom arson? What was the point of the seance? What was the point of his fight with Bruce? Why was Bruce asking about collective guilt or whatever?
There were so many questions that he had no interest in answering that by the time we get to the big reveal , it just...didn't feel like it mattered. The motivation was so opaque and the consequences so...inconsequential, that it all just felt like, meh, okay. Go ahead and have fun!
Am I just too unsophisticated for literary horror? Maybe!
May 30, 2025
Dwyer Murphy is a great chronicler of nostalgia. In his eerie, atmospheric third novel, we’re transported to a small beach town in Massachusetts. You can practically taste the salt air and hear the deck of cards being dealt at night. It’s an engrossing ride, one that makes you think about old friends and the people you thought you could be with them. Couldn’t put it down.
August 14, 2025
Umm it’s got the Cape Cod vibe down but literally nothing worthwhile happens in this book.
August 3, 2025
3 stars--I liked the book, but I seem to be in the minority.
The marketing for this book describes it as "a chilling, atmospheric page-turner." None of that is true. This is a slightly quirky novella where nothing happens and nothing is explained. I enjoyed the weird dialogue and characters, but if you want things wrapped up neatly or clearly, you should avoid. It was almost whimsical.
The marketing for this book describes it as "a chilling, atmospheric page-turner." None of that is true. This is a slightly quirky novella where nothing happens and nothing is explained. I enjoyed the weird dialogue and characters, but if you want things wrapped up neatly or clearly, you should avoid. It was almost whimsical.
June 28, 2025
The ending is a let down (and frustrating) but until then, the creepy/mysterious atmosphere is compelling.
August 19, 2025
Despite a strong beginning, the story waddles around with no discernable purpose. Too far in, it appears to shift gears into a ghost story (spare me), but even that lead fizzled out and nothing really happened. Disappointed.
October 17, 2025
sometimes you can just tell a book was written by a man. so many things so poorly done.
July 5, 2025
Need more information on what happened in this book
This book was very disappointing and left too many questions unanswered. Who was Camille and what is her relationship to Billy? Who was lighting fires on the beach and why? Is it all about blackmail? If so, the book is curiously unfinished. There is no closure in this disturbing book.
This book was very disappointing and left too many questions unanswered. Who was Camille and what is her relationship to Billy? Who was lighting fires on the beach and why? Is it all about blackmail? If so, the book is curiously unfinished. There is no closure in this disturbing book.
May 30, 2025
I’m not sure what to make of this novel. It isn’t really a whodunit, nor a haunted house story. It isn’t a “friends with a secret reunite” book, or a “town where everyone is hiding something.” I guess it’s neither, or all of them at once. It is a very slow-burner, very descriptive and atmospheric, and full of dialogues that should be pointless but are really fascinating. Jim and his closest friends return together to their beach house for the first time in many years. They’ve drifted apart, but still have that closeness that we only feel with friends who are like family. One of them disappears, but it’s not clear if he left or if something happened. There is a medium and a seance, a mysterious French girl who suddenly shows up to stay, and a lot of summer activities. The one thing I kept thinking throughout is that Jim could be the modern American version of Meursault from The Stranger, or a middle-aged Holden Caulfield. He is just as apathetic as them. Don’t get me wrong, both are amongst my favorite books ever, so I was really engrossed by Jim’s narrative. The rest of the characters are believable, in that they all have their virtues and flaws. The plot is not suspenseful because not much really happens, but I was completely engrossed by the story. This is one of those books that I should have hated but I truly enjoyed. Must be the writing.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Viking.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Viking.
July 29, 2025
This was an intriguing read, though it was definitely mislabeled as a thriller. At its core, it’s more of a literary fiction novel about a group of friends, with a light mystery threaded through. The mystery unfolds around the disappearance of the main character’s friend and the arrival of a strange woman with unclear motives. It drives the plot, but not in the way a traditional thriller would.
There’s a haziness to the narrative that keeps you questioning whether something supernatural is happening beneath the surface. I’d also argue that none of the characters have much depth, but that might be intentional. Everything is kept at a distance and presented in a deliberately oblique way. I also found the ending a bit vague and confusing. While we get a few answers, I was still left with questions. Overall, this is not a thriller, but it does have some intriguing elements. I just wish the spiritualist aspects had been explored more.
There’s a haziness to the narrative that keeps you questioning whether something supernatural is happening beneath the surface. I’d also argue that none of the characters have much depth, but that might be intentional. Everything is kept at a distance and presented in a deliberately oblique way. I also found the ending a bit vague and confusing. While we get a few answers, I was still left with questions. Overall, this is not a thriller, but it does have some intriguing elements. I just wish the spiritualist aspects had been explored more.
August 18, 2025
what?
I still don’t really know what this book was about. Lots of dialogue and a lot of description, not a lot of action. And a very confusing plot that was all over the place. Lots of innuendos about ghost and a haunted house but nothing concrete was ever clarified. I’m one of those people that once I started a book. I have to finish it. So I just wasted several hours of my life reading this book.
I still don’t really know what this book was about. Lots of dialogue and a lot of description, not a lot of action. And a very confusing plot that was all over the place. Lots of innuendos about ghost and a haunted house but nothing concrete was ever clarified. I’m one of those people that once I started a book. I have to finish it. So I just wasted several hours of my life reading this book.
August 21, 2025
This book is puzzling. There are a lot of elements -- a pretentious and distant narrator, his nameless kids, his equally pretentious friends, an eerie house in a gloomy town, a harpoon, green shorts, bathroom artwork, references to the Nuremberg trials, dead parents, a DA cousin who pops up out of nowhere -- but very little action. More of a weird fever dream than a thriller or murder mystery.
November 4, 2025
Man, this one is such a slow burn that I almost didn’t feel it! I wanted to really love this one, but it just didn’t work for me. Murphy does an excellent job of creating mood and atmosphere and there’s plenty of tension but the payoff comes very late in the novel and is extremely lackluster.
September 4, 2025
Usually, I abandon a book by page 75 if it's not grabbing me. Because it was a relatively short book, I continued reading hoping that something would change. But, as I turned the last page, I was still unsatisfied and disappointed with this story. I couldn't quite figure out the point to this book and nothing about the characters made me care for them. I'm thankful that I wasted only 3 days reading this book.
July 9, 2025
A lot of people complaining about this book and they’re wrong. Clearly haven’t read a haunted house 🏚️ novel before. Anger over pace and lack of answers, completely disregarding the eerie, atmospheric, psychological vibe fest that is Murphy’s third novel.
I don’t know if I fully understand what happened (or if you’re supposed to) but it left me feeling the same way “The Haunting of Hill House” and “We Used to Live Here” did. I actually think I prefer THOBB over both of them, but mainly because I’m a sucker for a New England coastal mystery.
But yes, I was pleasantly surprised to find this wasn’t some corny, locked-room mystery like the 10,000,000 others out there right now. It’s creepy! And weird! And kinda sexy at times?
Don’t listen to the stink head turds with their 2-star fart fest reviews. If you love a haunted house, psychological mystery set in the picturesque Cape Cod, then come on in, the water’s wEiRd.
I don’t know if I fully understand what happened (or if you’re supposed to) but it left me feeling the same way “The Haunting of Hill House” and “We Used to Live Here” did. I actually think I prefer THOBB over both of them, but mainly because I’m a sucker for a New England coastal mystery.
But yes, I was pleasantly surprised to find this wasn’t some corny, locked-room mystery like the 10,000,000 others out there right now. It’s creepy! And weird! And kinda sexy at times?
Don’t listen to the stink head turds with their 2-star fart fest reviews. If you love a haunted house, psychological mystery set in the picturesque Cape Cod, then come on in, the water’s wEiRd.
July 5, 2025
This one just totally missed the mark for me. The first 200 pages were basically just weird people hanging around a beach house in New England, doing a whole lot of nothing. I didn’t get any of the “haunted house” vibes I was expecting, and the actual plot didn’t kick in until the last 80 pages.
The writing style felt very "Nantucket summer" read, which just didn’t work for the type of suspense I was hoping for. The pacing was so slow, and honestly, I was just bored.
Not for me, unfortunately.
The writing style felt very "Nantucket summer" read, which just didn’t work for the type of suspense I was hoping for. The pacing was so slow, and honestly, I was just bored.
Not for me, unfortunately.
August 1, 2025
c'était le pire livre que j'ai lu de ma vie, une énorme chiasse sur un tas de merde
October 7, 2025
Kind of anticlimactic… but I still honestly loved it. The characters were really well written. Paranormal murder mystery that will keep you guessing. Plus, I started reading it while vacationing on cape cod… the location of the novel really added to the mystery for me.
October 13, 2025
I found myself saying, "Surely something will happen soon," right up until the last page. it could've been my expectations, this book was pitched to be as a thriller but the only thrill was arriving at the end.
October 7, 2025
Not for me. Dialogue sounded false, no real mystery. I wasn’t thrilled or kept in suspense. Just a dud.
July 12, 2025
I won this books as part of a Goodreads Giveaway. This book is challenging to review. College friends who have went their different ways as adults coming back together again with unique personalities and perspectives, including resentment. It was a slow burn, lengthy plot setting until it started to get really intriguing. A mystery and maybe even a thriller? However, the ending is what made it two stars for me. This book could have went in many different directions but it’s as if several parallel plot twists were explored but left them open ended. Not a bad read but more of missed opportunity to be a fantastic read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 254 reviews