Michelle Callaway falls in love at first sight with the dilapidated A-frame house in the New Hampshire woods.
Wanting a fresh start, she pours herself into making this house her perfect home. But someone – or something – already nests in that house.
Can Michelle force it to leave before she loses her sanctuary, her sanity, and her sense of self?
Early Praise for Molting! “A searing horror debut overflowing with incredible and haunting imagery. This one will make you think twice about your next house renovation.”— Gwendolyn Kiste, Four-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of THE HAUNTING OF VELKWOODand RELUCTANT IMMORTALS
“MOLTING is madness, a downward spiral in the most authentic way, unapologetic as it shreds your psyche.”—Nick Roberts, THE EXORCIST’S HOUSE and LYLA, IN THE FLESH
"Kathryn Tennison has written a book that truly hooked me. MOLTING is tense, leading, and ultimately, one of the most horrifyingly engaging stories that I've read this year. From start to finish, this is incredible storytelling!"—Somer Canon, author of YOU'RE MINE
“Gripping and intense, filled with emotional depth and vivid imagery, this story will linger within you long after the book is closed.” — Daemon Manx, author of The Ojanox series.
"Molting is suspenseful, shock-inducing body horror dug right out of a secret room in the basement of an abandoned house, reminiscent of T. Kingfisher's "The Twisted Ones," only ten times as spine-chilling. Kathryn Tennison is a unique voice in horror who is now permanently on my Want-To-Read list!"— Jill Girardi, Owner, Kandisha Press
“What a wicked spin on the haunted house story! MOLTING portrays a descent into madness in authentic and terrifying ways other books can only dream of. Tennison has crafted a pitch-black rumination on what it means to lose yourself and never lets the reader find their footing for a second.”—Brennan LaFaro, author of the SLATTERY FALLS trilogy.
Trigger warnings: Mental health issues, alcoholism, one animal death (briefly, but explicitly described) | Yes, the dog survives and is probably very happy.
- Creepy house in creepy forest ✅ - Mysterious old neighbour ✅ - Unreliable weird FMC ✅ - Cute fluffy dog friend ✅
Up, down, up, down, left, right, left, right.
^ The moment you will learn what that sentence means, you’ll get spine chills.
The plot and setting
The ‘Molting’ is a story about losing your identity, about losing yourself, about mental health issues and perhaps a questionable haunting. It’s a very, very sad novel tackling a sensitive topic that made my heart ache for the main character and her dog. For animal lovers out there this book will speak to your heart.
We have Michelle, a thirty something year old woman who used to be an architect, had a drinking problem and divorced her husband (Daniel) only to leave her entire life behind and go live alone with Monster, her dog, in a new house.
It’s very hard to tell what is real or not in the story because the MC does have many moments of clarity and even doubts her sanity, which, honestly, this sort of self-awareness doesn’t usually come to very sick people, hence the benefit of the doubt to the whole plot.
So, Michelle, has recently moved to New Hampshire after having bought an A-frame house in the woods. The house, although very old and not being used for decades, presents itself in a horrible state and needs lots of repairs, yet Michelle falls in love with it instantly when she sees it and is hell bent on investing time to fix it.
Throughout the novel, we will mainly witness Michelle trying to work on her house and meeting some new friends and trying to reconnect with her family and her sister, Chloe, with whom she had a very close relationship so far. Though this looks repetitive in structure, it certainly didn’t feel that way to me, it actually enhanced the illusion of keeping a routine in an attempt to hold onto oneself; it shows us a subtle descent into oblivion.
Evidently, there’s also the strange creepy old neighbour, Lester, who seems to know a lot about the house and had in fact a lot of history with the previous owners, but despite all that, he acts rather helpful towards Michelle.
The more she investigates the house to make a list of what to change and fix, the more she realises how mysterious her new home is. Like, a very particular bedroom is locked and chained with padlocks, and there are claw marks on the floor and stains of blood. Very soon the story turns eerily sinister and instantly pulls me in.
Page after page I could feel the strangeness of it all because Michelle is isolated there. The only good thing about it is that Monster is by her side at all times and wow, was I happy to see that. We all need our furry friends to keep us company, safe and sane.
As the story progresses with our MC trying to fix her house, it gets more intense when she finds some bones under the garage floor. A detective enters the scene, Forensics joins in, and a cold case suddenly gets reopened. The cold case apparently involved the family in that house but also two other missing children, one was Lester’s son, and the girl was someone related to this detective. Then she discovers a hidden padded room with strange words scribbled on the ceiling and a dirty bloodied mattress, hinting that something grim happened in that house.
What truly made me love this story wasn’t just the suspenseful and tense atmosphere of it, it wasn’t just the suffocating feeling of being alone in a decrepit house in the woods, but also Michelle’s character, because although she seems to perfectly fit the scene, you can immediately tell there’s something strange about her, but you can’t quite see it yet. She seems normal, she seems afraid, even lost sometimes (like any other person moving into a new town, into a new house, alone), but there’s certainly something off about her and we get only very subtle glimpses.
I was in love with Michelle’s relationship with Monster, her dog. I loved how she constantly talked to Monster no matter what she was doing. Like he was that best friend you have you always confide in and never judges you, only listens. This clearly helped her keep her head level, it helped her focus and get grounded. If I’m being honest, I’d say, Monster was her rock, and it was no coincidence that the moment he ran away, her entire life deteriorated. A furry friend can save a person from spiralling into solitude and depression.
Do you realize that you talk to your dog more than any actual person?
Nope, there is no such thing. Any animal lover knows this. You can never talk too much to your furry friend, haha.
And since we’re on this joyful topic (the only one in the book), that beautiful dog is the hero, helping her maintain some sort of order in an otherwise chaotic new home and a scrambled mind.
One other funny thing that made me grin like a child was how loving Chloe was towards Monster. When she said that Monster was her favorite nephew and Michelle asked her what about Aiden (their brother’s boy), Chloe replied with ‘I said what I said.’ Savage…and absolutely adorable, I would’ve said the same.
However, all these lovely things only make it much more painful when she starts to forget Monster in the car for almost one day and then has him hurt, then lost, then confused with a wild animal and refused to let him inside the house, it just broke my heart. It was gut wrenching.
In a way, the house that keeps breaking and her nightmares where the house collapses becomes so much more symbolic to her mind's state. She is crumbling, her memories shatter, and she keeps fixing the house in an attempt to keep her own mind from complete ruin.
The ending
This was 4.5 stars because of some missed details or the lack of exploring or offering a resolution to those things (mentioned below). I rounded it to 5 stars because I truly loved the plot, the setting and the characters.
Upon contacting a survivor from the family who lived in her house previously and she is told to seek psychological help, Michelle gives up on everything and surrenders to her fate. The book seems to show us that Michelle ended up in the worst possible moment of her life, which makes me wonder if she actually kept drinking or not, because dementia induced by substance abuse is not really progressive as other types unless one continues consuming the said substances.
There are some missing details/plot holes here and there, or things mentioned and then never again explained or explored further, like the detective’s cold case that was reopened, what was really going on with Lester, who hurt Monster while being locked in the room upstairs, why did he run away, etc. But this is a book that really makes you think and makes you ask questions and doubt even what appears to be 100% real, and personally I love these sorts of books (which is why I’m going to buy it in hardcopy for my library; it earned a spot).
Many, many thanks to Kathryn Tennison, RDS Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. This is a voluntary review, reflecting solely my opinion.
An alternative title for "Molting" might have been "Going Slowly Insane in New Hampshire," since it manages to portray in fine detail both the main character's loss of sanity and the place's backyard vibe, while flirting with the supernatural head on. The premise is charming and promises some brilliant moments of quiet horror: Michelle, divorced, former architect, struggling alcoholic, mother of Monster (a cute Bernese mountain dog), falls in love with an A-house in the woods of NH; the house has a bad history; and a creepy neighbor; and she herself keeps misplacing her things.
However, despite the numerous unsettling moments of creepiness and disquiet, the book is not quiet horror; it's a loud, disturbing, and deeply sad, first-person narrative of the total collapse of self-authority - Michelle finds herself permanently hovering between self-doubt and clear certainty, to the point that perhaps more than half the story has to be extracted out of other people's parallel narratives, and even then, one can't help feeling that something significant is still missing.
Tennison skillfully brings in a large cast (Michelle's family, her ex-husband, her old and new friends) into the plot, smartly allowing them to intrude at the most inconvienent of moments, and shatter any chance one might have had of making up their minds about Michelle. I had to backtrack several times, and reconsider the events from a different point of view; I often felt the story would go one way (haunted house, demon possession, evil creature) to have it fall apart right in front of my eyes. The experience was quite uncanny, and the ending only made it more intense and unnerving!
The book's brimming with mystery, ambiguity, and a strong sense of isolation; though it also captures quite well the sense of companionship between dog and dog owner. (At some point, this backfires, but rest assured, nothing bad happens to the dog.) The scenes of Michelle playing at sleuthing also resonated with me, as she was sort of bringing me along her investigations of the house's history, occasionally both woods and house reflecting her state of mind, other times revealing rather more of the story than I was comfortable with.
I highly recommend the book to horror readers who enjoy stories of loss of control told by unreliable narrators, stories that make you question reality chapter after chapter. Beware though of some heavily emotional scenes as you reach the ending: the palpable tension transforms into something far darker and suffocating, as you finally make sense of the book's title.
I think the best way for me to describe this book is Pet Semetary meets The Taking of Debra Logan. Being inside Michelle’s head as she was questioning her reality had me also questioning everything. There was so many times I hated her, but then felt bad for hating her because of everything she’s been through. Definitely some very difficult topics referenced, so I recommend making sure readers are in the right head space.
After her marriage ends, Michelle decides to move from Indiana to a small house in the woods of New Hampshire together with her dog companion “Monster”. The story starts out quite tame, focusing on the isolated setting and on Michelle finding new friends and settling in. This changes when, one day while renovating the garage, she discovers that the house has a disturbing past. From this point on, strange things begin to happen and the atmosphere becomes increasingly tense.
What really stood out to me was the moment when a major aspect about Michelle is revealed. From then on, I started to see the story in a completely different light, and earlier scenes suddenly took on a very different meaning, which I really appreciated. I have to say, this shift was handled extremely well. I don’t want to say too much, but I especially liked how this major aspect is also subtly reflected in the writing style which I found super cool.
All in all, I can recommend this story if you like psychological horror mixed with light body horror elements (never too prominent) and strong themes of isolation (aka cabin in the woods vibes).
Also do yourself a favor and google Great-Eared Nightjars.
This story reminded me of a combination of Shutter Island and Stephen Kings Misery- it took memory loss and character isolation to a whole new level- the FMC of Michelle was a woman starting over in a new town and fixing up a dilapidated house after leaving a toxic marriage and a troubled past behind her. However, what at first seemed like an idyllic place for a fresh start soon turns into a nightmare of gigantic and supernatural proportions with connotations of Edgar Allen Poe (in reference to the bird creature within the story and its symbolism to the creepy and run down house). The plot was very suspenseful and had me hooked from start to finish with a number of twists and turns and I found the writing of the FMC'S declining mental state to be very well written as well as being quite sad the deeper I got into the story. In terms of the setting this added well to the creepy forest atmosphere within the story with the hole reminding me of IT as Michelle ventured down towards it after hearing voices and sounds the deeper she ventured into the forest. A thrilling, creepy and hauntingly good read perfect for all horror lovers. Thankyou to Net galley and RDS Publishing for an arc of this book.
An amazing and atmopsheric psychological thriller where you can't trust your own mind and the creepy history of the place sends its regards.
The main character was realistic and relatable. I felt her every move and thought, worried and solved her mind's tricks, and shared her enthusiasm on the new life. The side characters were also memorable and interesting, although I wouldn't mind more development on their side. Monster [the dog] was incredibly adorable and fill everything with sunshine!
I loved how the story while being linear flows and jumps through consciousness and subconsciousness, reality and dreams, cozy and sinister.
And wow what an ending! I certainly didn't expect it all to end like that! I might need a second part that sorts through [some] things... although this isn't bad, I like its original formation!
- - - Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this free eARC in exchange for my honest review!
How good can a quiet horror be that might feel light on the scares? Well, I am writing this review today because this was the best book – not just horror book, but any kind of book - I’ve read all year. This is the thing: If you’ve ever had a loved one who suffered (or still suffers) from a disease like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Dementia or any number of others that are not as well known, this story will weave its way deep into your brain and make you feel the dread of what is happening. Did the ending surprise me? Not really – you know where it is heading. However, having lost both my parents to something like this, having seen how scared and lonely they felt in their lucid moments, never knowing if tomorrow will be the day I might become a stranger to them, watching and being unable to do anything about it… This story broke me. And it scared the living shit out of me. And in a way it is really perfect the way it is written.
When Michelle’s marriage dissolves, and she walks away from her architecture job, she seeks solace in New Hampshire. The old, dilapidated house she purchases is a fixer-upper that she can sink her teeth into. But not before the house gets under her skin first.
Michelle suffers from the early stages of alcohol related dementia, leaving gaping holes in her memory. This presents an interesting dilemma to determine what is real, what is missing, and if a dead bird named Simon has as much power as she thinks it does.
MOLTING is an experience! This story is a deep meditation on isolation, family, substance abuse, and mental deterioration. Tennison crafts a tense haunted house story that illustrates the power of the mind to overcome or succumb to forces that may be out of one’s control.
What’s real… and what absolutely isn’t? This book lives in that blurry space where trauma, addiction, and memory all start to peel apart.
Michelle, battling alcohol-induced dementia and desperate for a reset, buys a fixer-upper. But this house is just as broken as she is; every cracked wall and every rotten beam becomes a physical reflection of the pieces she’s trying to glue back together inside her own head. The cold woods are an amazing element pressing in around her, only amplifying that creeping sense of being trapped with yourself.
I loved the metaphor at play. The title itself says everything: Molting: To shed an old layer—feathers, skin, or armor—to grow something new.
First time reading Kathryn Tennison and enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the story/plot, the characters, and the pacing of the story. Will definitely read her again. #Molting #NetGalley