The House That Eats the Dead

by Max Doty

A family moves into their dream home—only to discover that it hides an insatiable hunger—in this dread-laced and darkly outrageous domestic horror novel.

The new house is a fresh start for Claire and her family. It's a move away from the cityscape of a declining San Francisco and towards the quiet suburban life she has craved since her turbulent childhood; a step up the corporate ladder for her husband, Tom; and a safe haven for their two children.

Yet as they unpack their boxes, she senses something is wrong. Fresh flowers dry up, store-bought eggs are inexplicably hollow, and her daughter's favorite toy disappears. Claire soon confronts a series of impossible The house is hungry. It's devouring anything that was once alive. And only Claire and Tom, the owners of the house, will remember that this "food" ever existed.

When Claire exploits the house's power in a moment of weakness, she and the house forge a fragile bond. But as its hunger intensifies and Claire loses control, she fears who else might be drawn to her home—and what sinister appetites they’ll bring.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Haunted House, Adult, Dark, Horror Thriller

336 pages, Paperback

Expected publication August 18, 2026

About the author

Max Doty is a veteran game-writer who served as the Head of Content for Choices: Stories You Play and Surviving High School for which he also wrote two spin-off novels. His screenplay “Almost Kings” won Netflix’s inaugural “Find Your Voice” award and was made into a feature film.

Max regularly contributes to reddit’s NoSleep forum as scarymaxx, where his works often appear at the top of the charts.

He holds a BA and an MA from Stanford University as well as an MFA from Arizona State University.

His debut horror novel The House that Eats the Dead will be published by Tor Nightfire in the UK and by Bantam in the US in August 2026.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Claire and her family leave their urban condo life in San Francisco for a quieter life in the suburbs when they find a steal (of course, in the Bay Area, a “steal” still comes with a $4.5 million price tag) on a large, older home that seems perfect.
Everyone will have more space with a yard for her daughter to play in and a basement that her teenage son can use as a game room.

Shortly after moving in, the family realizes that things seem off.
Food and boxes disappear, food that was just prepared tastes spoiled, and the house is always immaculately clean, without a crumb or speck of dust anywhere.

I will admit that I don’t read a ton of horror, but this really didn’t feel like horror to me.
There were no gory details or scenes that may make one consider going to sleep with the lights on.
In fact, a couple of scenes kind of reminded me of the Netflix series The Santa Clarita Diet (if you’ve seen that show, you know that despite being categorized as horror, it isn’t scary at all).
So if horror isn’t typically your thing, don’t let that deter you from this one.

This book almost feels like it should be in its own category.
Not quite horror in the traditional sense, and despite a suspenseful ending, I wouldn’t call it a thriller either.
What I would call it is a very unique and fun read!
There was no part of this book where I was getting bored, or felt like things slowed down.
The pace was perfect from beginning to end.

It was interesting to see the personality and human qualities in something that is typically known to be an inanimate object.

The book also poses an ethical dilemma:
If you could kill someone, and with absolute certainty know that your house would destroy the evidence and erase the memory from everyone else’s minds (i.e., you’d definitely get away with it), would it alter your moral compass?
And would you use it for personal gain, as a way to help others, or neither?

I thoroughly enjoyed this and hope that Max Doty continues to write books like this!

Thanks to Ballentine Books for providing me with an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Pub Date: August 18, 2026

[Stay Fetters · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Can we at least open some wine?” he asked. “Well, yeah,” I said. “I’m not a monster.”

This book fell into my lap at a weird moment. I’m currently in the process of buying a property and now this is all I can think about. Maybe it’s haunted or likes to eat flesh. There’s no way to really tell until you move in…

I’m a little surprised something like this hasn’t been released before, so I was shocked when I started reading this and the most bizarre scenarios kept popping up. Parts were very creepy, while other parts were totally bizarre and it made this a really good read. You never knew what was around the corner, all you knew was that it was going to be good and maybe a little weird. Weird is always better in my book.

[Lady MacDeath 🌒🌕🌘 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was bizarre, creepy, addictive, and a helluva lot of fun.

Claire, Tom, and their two kids, Derek and Grace, move into a house, which has basically “chosen” them. A big, beautiful house, which has simply fallen into their laps, with a price tag, too good to be true. Things soon start disappearing…food brought that day, is getting gobbled up, and any drink or food left on a glass or plate, or fallen crumbs on the floor immediately start to disappear before their very eyes…it’s as though the house is hungry!!! Things eventually take a sinister turn, and the family start to change, becoming shadows of their former selves.

I really enjoyed this and would have finished it a lot sooner, but life gets busy and got in the way. I love the relationship between the “house” and Claire, who tries to train the house to suit her needs, and eventually forms a close bond. It all sounds crazy written down, but you will understand more, when you start reading it. It’s an unusual haunted house story, because the house really wants to look after it’s family, and receive the same in return. This is quite a difficult book to review, compared to others, but I loved the house, though I wouldn’t have gone as far as Claire and Tom to satisfy its hunger!!

4 ⭐️

Thanks to Max Doty, Bantam, and NetGalley, for providing me with this free ARC, with which I leave a voluntary review.

Available: 18 August 2026

[Liana Gold]

A dream home with insatiable hunger.
As you can probably tell by my recent reads, I'm in my era of domestic horror.


Many thanks to NetGalley, Ballentine and the author, Max Doty for an early ARC.

Publication date: August 18, 2026

[Rebecca]

thanks to Bantam & NetGalley for access to this ARC

[BookishKB]

🩸🕯️ The House That Eats the Dead by Max Doty 🕯️🩸

📖 Bookish Thoughts
I’ll be sharing my full review closer to publication date.

✨What to Expect
• Haunted house
• Suburban horror
• Family unraveling
• Psychological tension
• Morally gray MCs
• Disappearing memories
_ _ _ _
📅 Pub Date: August 18, 2026
📝 Thank you to Ballantine and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

[Justinstaysreading · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohhh myyyyyy gawdd. The title and description of the book made me instantly request this novel. It was multi layered, and such a dark story. I absolutely love all of the morality questions this book poses such as “if you could erase the pain to save someone and yet they forget the memories, is it worth it? I had shivers down my body and this reminded me of the september house by carissa orlando. I couldnt stop reading this batshit story.

I was floored by the end and truly felt so seen by chaos claire.

This was spectacular, 5 ⭐️

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, out next week!

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come upon release

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

The House That Eats the Dead by Max Doty was a fantastic read and one of the more refreshing haunted house novels I've come across in quite some time. Haunted house stories can sometimes start to feel familiar after you've read enough of them, but Doty manages to take the trope in a direction that feels genuinely original while still delivering the eerie atmosphere you'd expect from the genre.

What impressed me most was how unique the central concept was. The supernatural elements are certainly strange, but they never feel random or thrown in simply for shock value. Instead, the story establishes its own rules early on and remains remarkably consistent with them. No matter how bizarre things become, everything feels grounded within the reality Doty has created. That internal logic made it easy to suspend disbelief and become fully immersed in the story.

The writing is another major strength. Doty has a style that is both engaging and confident, making it easy to settle into the world while maintaining a constant sense of unease. The pacing kept me turning the pages, and the tension built naturally without relying on cheap scares or unnecessary twists.

The characters were equally well done. They felt like real people rather than simply vehicles to move the plot from one creepy encounter to the next. I found myself invested in what happened to them, which only made the horror elements more effective. A haunted house story is always stronger when you care about the people trapped inside it, and Doty succeeds on that front.

I also appreciated that the novel embraces its weirdness without ever losing sight of the story it's trying to tell. There are plenty of unsettling and imaginative moments, but they always feel purposeful. Even when the narrative ventures into the truly strange, it remains believable because the world has been so carefully constructed. That's not an easy balance to strike, but Doty pulls it off exceptionally well.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ballantine | Bantam, and Max Doty for granting me access to a digital ARC of this title.

[Lia's Haunted Library]

DNF

I really wanted to like this one because the concept is genuinely interesting, a house driven by hunger is such a strong and unsettling idea. But the pacing completely lost me.

It felt uneven in a way that made it hard to stay engaged. Some parts rushed through moments that should have mattered, while others dragged to the point where I found myself bored and disconnected. I never fully got invested in the characters or the story, and that made it difficult to keep going.

I can see the potential in the premise, but the execution just didn’t work for me.

[Jess Reads Horror · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Ballentine for the eARC.

After some disheartening experiences in the city, Claire and Tom manage to snag a beautiful suburban home in the suburbs, perfect for them and their two kids. Things start out normal enough, but as soon as they move in, even before they’re unpacked, strange things happen. Food disappears. Food rots immediately. Claire notices, but is she the only one seeing this? Soon enough, both Claire and Tom realize their house is not like other houses, literally. Not only that, the house… changes people.

The story is literally the title of the book. It’s a house that eats anything that is not alive, anything deemed edible. That’s terrifying of course. But at the very least the living don’t have to worry, right? Wrong, of course. Every family member begins to change in one way or another, ranging from the mild changes to the more serious ones, like Tom. The house can help you clean up, so why not take advantage of it? Feed it… say, your problems?

While the premise is super interesting and is a fresh take on haunted houses, I could not connect with the characters. My favorite character was the son, who at least seemed careful and thoughtful. He was sensible. Claire and Tom, despite being the adults, were just completely reckless and kind of insufferable. Tom especially. The way they coddle their children really stressed me out. Their dog died and they think erasing his existence is better? Okay.

I finished it but there were times where I had to put it down because I was just annoyed. Either way, glad I read it!

[Erin Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

✨✨I’m going to be thinking about this one for a bit!!!!!!!!!!!!✨✨

I really enjoyed The House That Eats the Dead!!! I was surprised this one was almost like an adult Goosebumps book in a way. In the best way! It wasn’t scary or too gory or anything like that. I think it could be appealing even to people who aren’t usually into horror. For me it has more of an off putting, unsettling, and psychological tension type of vibe. It has a very classic haunted house feel, with a twist!

Honestly there were a few parts in the middle that did drag a bit for me, but it picked back up pretty quickly. Oh and I absolutely LOVE the ending!!! I really enjoyed this one!!! This is definitely a read that brings up some interesting questions too and makes you think about it long after you’ve finished it!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free ebook copy in exchange for an honest review. This book is expected to be released August 18, 2026 .

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for inviting me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This one is an interesting one for me to rate! At first, I was kind of struggling to get through it. Not that it was poorly written or anything, I just was having a hard time connecting to the characters and the story.

As the book went on, around the 60% mark, I was suddenly really getting into it and I just couldn’t put it down. Even now, writing this review a few days later, the book is still popping up in my mind.

So despite my 3 star rating, I do think that this one is worth picking up!

The concept was very unique. At first I was kind of upset at the way the plot was going. Slight spoilers here, but I thought there would be more of a mystery to the house, but pretty quickly I could tell that wasn’t the case. I wasn’t expecting Claire to befriend the house right away and work with it the whole time. But I ended up really liking that she had a connection to the house. I didn’t love what the house was doing and how she was helping feed it, but I thought it was cool that the house liked Claire just as much as she liked it.

It is a pretty disturbing book, but not super scary in my opinion.

Part of why I had a hard time connecting to the book at first is because the main characters were terrible people. Both Claire and Tom. What they were doing was really evil to me. Which I know this isn’t a happy-go-lucky book, but I at least want there to be characters I can sympathize with.

Spoilers here: Justice for Matt. I felt so bad for him. I don’t know why that hit me as hard as it did. Maybe because he seemed like such a nice guy. The rest of the people who died didn’t deserve it either, but we didn’t know them as well. And Matt was so young. What really got me mad is why does something always have to happen to the dog in horror novels and movies. Why can’t the dog just survive? That broke my heart. And feeding it to the house like that was sick. I know that was the nature of this novel, but still.

This would be a good book to read during spooky season! The ending was jammed packed. I was curious where it was all going to go!

It is a very quick read, so it is worth it to give it a try!

[Emily Poche · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Bantam for providing this ARC for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The House that Eats the Dead by Max Doty is a fresh take on the haunted house genre. Claire and her family are financially successful and decide to make a move to the suburbs after their experience as city dwellers turns sour. Their beautiful (and cheaply priced) mansion turns out to have a mind of its own, and an appetite for dead things that goes beyond the steaks in the refrigerator. When Claire and Tom realize that things consumed by the house disappear from memory, the situation becomes even more complicated as they are confronted with the consequences of this new power.

Personally, I loved that this was a new take on the haunted house genre of horror. Usually these stories take two avenues; a horrible event binds spirits to a house, or demons. This version of the house presents a morally grey version of ‘haunting.’ The house is its own entity, aware but not necessarily malevolent. The house is ravenously hungry and therefore dangerous, but not inherently evil. Plus I loved the detail that the house was clean rather than cobweb covered and dilapidated as it consumed skin cells and loose hairs.

The story has surprising depth and asks the reader to consult several complicated themes. If you knew that you could commit murder and get away with it 100%, would you do it for your own advantage? How far is too far in trying to advance a family. Is it better to endure the painful memories that come with loss, or to erase anything that causes distress? I think that these questions really add a lot of weight to the story and make it quite substantive.

The thing that keeps this book from being a 5-star rating for me is somewhat inconsistent pacing. The beginning is somewhat abrupt, and it feels like we jump into the haunting before we have any emotional connection to the characters. The family dynamic is pretty important to the plot, but it feels like it takes a long time for it to fully unfurl.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to people who are horror lovers looking for a new spin on a somewhat homogenous genre. 4/5 stars!

[Dee Hancocks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much! It is the exact kind of haunted house horror that masterfully tricks you into thinking everything happening is totally normal, only for you to look back a moment later and think, what on earth did I just read? Rather than relying on cheap jump scares, it plays out more like a psychological thriller, relying on immense tension, a brilliant slow-burn buildup, and highly complex character relationships. While it absolutely features some gore, the horror is presented in such an acceptably normalized way that it seamlessly fits into the fabric of the story. Beyond the scares, it is a deeply profound read that digs into heavy themes of fresh starts, grief, guilt, and the complex ethical questions of what we are willing to do to manage our trauma. I couldn’t look away! Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

[Mariah · Rating 2 out of 5]

A narrative that promised a refreshing haunting house tale that delivered little satisfaction. The narrative grabs you initially but gets redundant in the lack of scene setting. I felt like I was simply reading pages without really going anywhere. The descriptions of the haunted house were okay at first. The dog death was not the worst part, but it was unexpected. It felt like shock value without build up. This was a do not finish for me.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review to come but as far as a fun concept and a truly fun read, this book ticked all the boxes. Definitely recommended for anyone who loves a good haunted house, isn’t triggered by the loss of a pet or people, and generally has ever thought “I wish they’d just disappear.” Despite the trigger warning the book is truly a fun fast read. Just don’t expect to sleep until you finish it. It’s compulsively fantastic!

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️
Format: ebook

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to love this book as much as I did, and there were a few moments when I cringed, thinking “this might not be for me,” but I ended up finding myself reading at midnight, skipping ahead a few pages, needing time to know what happens next.

Highlights:
⭐️ The plot. Super interesting and different! I decided to read this book solely because of the premise of the plot.
⭐️ The family - Claire, Tom, Derek, & Grace. We love a good horror novel with a normal everyday family!
⭐️ Tying the house’s background with our protagonist’s background. You see Claire’s history/trauma unfold and affect her decisions as a person but also how that builds a connection with the house.
⭐️ The ending! I had my suspicions of how the book was going to wrap up, but I was completely shocked.

Pitfalls:
❌None!

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an ARC of this book for my honest opinion and review!

[Alanna Metz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down the best book I’ve read so far this year. The House That Eats the Dead is about a house that eats and is always hungry. Claire and her family move in and discover that not only does it eat, but the owners are the only ones who can remember what it ate. I won’t go in to further details as this book is truly best experienced with very little knowledge going in.

This book was utterly gripping. I could barely put it down to attend to my real life as I needed to know what was happening and why. You learn more and more about the house as Claire does, but some questions are still left unanswered by the end. I feel that truly good books leave you with some thoughts to chew on, and this book absolutely did. This book is a must read and would be perfect for taking on vacation so you don’t have to put it down much. You definitely won’t want to!


I was given an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[erica utti-hodge ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

thank you to NetGalley for this eARC!

The House That Eats the Dead is one part Rosemary’s Baby, one part haunted house, and one part commentary on class politics. that’s to say… i clearly highly enjoyed this book!!

claire seems believable, tom is insufferable (intentionally) and the kids are surprisingly not creepy. the house is unique and interesting, and i love how claire tests its limits and becomes its friend. it was hard to see plainly where tom’s character was going from the beginning, though. this is a common trope in this genre, and i understand why (it parallels most straight women’s experience of married life) but its hard to not want to grab claire by the shoulders and shake.

surprisingly, i found the ending to be extremely satisfying, which is rare for me in this genre. i’d definitely recommend this to anyone who is looking for their next haunted house book!

[Yvette · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

I was really pulled at the thought of a family moving into a home that needs to be fed and the secrecy that surrounds the house. The house acted as a reset button, whenever it was fed and there was no fall out.

While enjoyed the story, I think I was missing the history of how or why the house was created. What was the initial intent for the house? I wanted to know more about the house and how it came to be.

Overall, it was a quick and fun read. It definitely had its moments and I was surprised by the ending.

[Shae Bentley · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️ - RTC

[Rosemarie - Feeling Bookish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, Max Doty, and Ballantine/Bantam for giving me a digital ARC of “The House That Eats the Dead” in exchange for a review.

If you think you’ve read every haunted house story out there, think again. “The House That Eats the Dead” is one of the most original books I’ve picked up in a long time. It takes the classic idea of a family moving into their dream home and turns it into a total nightmare, but in the best way possible.

My favorite “character” is the house itself. In most horror stories, a house is just a place where ghosts live. Here, the house is its own character. It has a personality, emotions, and (most importantly) a stomach. Max Doty does an incredible job describing how the house "eats." It doesn’t just break things; it devours anything that was once alive. Seeing Claire realize that their fresh flowers are wilting instantly, eggs are turning up hollow, and even their wooden furniture is disappearing is genuinely unsettling.

From the moment Claire and her family move in, you can feel that something is off. The author uses simple but powerful language to make the rooms feel claustrophobic, like the walls are watching and waiting for their next meal. It’s not just scary; it’s also darkly funny in a weird way, especially when Claire tries form a friendship with her home by feeding it cow hearts to keep it happy.

The story moves fast and keeps you guessing. If you want a book that will make you look at your own walls a little differently at night, this is it.

[Helen Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

My immediate thought when I started The House That Eats the Dead was just how beautifully descriptive Max Doty’s writing is. Within pages, he had created such a vivid picture of this house in my head that I almost wanted to buy it myself. Although, given the title, I’m fairly certain that would be ill-advised 👀

Because this isn’t just a house. It’s a hungry house.

It consumes anything that was once alive and, even more disturbingly, once something has been eaten, all trace of it disappears. No evidence. No memories. Nothing. Only the people named on the deed remember it ever existed.

And I absolutely loved this concept.

A house that cleans itself sounds pretty bloody useful… perhaps just not quite to this level. 😂 The idea of a house that can make something disappear so completely is both terrifying and strangely fascinating, and I found myself thinking about all the implications of that power. What would you do with a house like this? What could you do? And, perhaps more importantly, what happens when that kind of power falls into the wrong hands?

As the story progressed, I became increasingly suspicious of some of the characters and their motivations. There was this underlying feeling that there was more going on than I was being told, and I loved questioning who I could trust and what people might be capable of when presented with something as extraordinary (and dangerous) as this house.

But underneath the murderous, hungry-house premise is also a domestic story, and Claire was a huge part of why this worked so well for me. I really enjoyed following her and watching her character develop as the novel progressed. There’s so much I want to say about her journey, but this is definitely one of those books where I think it’s better to know as little as possible and simply see where the house takes you.

And that ending! I won’t say a word about what happens, but for me it was exactly the ending this story needed. I finished the final pages thoroughly satisfied.

I picked up this ARC because I wanted to push myself outside of my usual genres, and I’m so glad I did. The House That Eats the Dead is strange, dark, clever and wonderfully outrageous. A murderous novel. A hungry house. The good, the bad and the plain evil, all wrapped up in a deliciously twisted domestic horror story.

Thank you so much to Tor Nightfire / Pan Macmillan for auto-approving me on NetGalley and providing me with an advance copy. This was a very successful venture outside my usual reading comfort zone!

And if you’re already thinking of buying a physical copy, I have to mention the Waterstones exclusive hardback edition because it is STUNNING. Those edges! And the naked hardback underneath! 😍 It’s a fantastic edition for any book collector’s shelves.

[exlibrisholly · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

First of all thank you to the team at @panmacmillan @bookbreakuk & @maxdoty1 for an early paperback copy of this, I am also going to remind you that this is out 18th of August 2026 and I absolutely think you should pick it up as soon as it’s available. This would be a perfect spooky season read without being TOO scary.

The Positives:
🥀I was intrigued by this book from the first few pages, the subtle hints to something being not quite right were so fun.
🥀The pacing was steady throughout, not too fast or too slow. I didn’t feel bored at ANY point and wanted to keep reading at all times.
🥀This book felt like the perfect blend of Horror & Thriller. There were eerie elements as well as some of the fun/jaw dropping reveals you’d get with a thriller. A great read for someone that wants to maybe dip their toe in to some horror themes without it being too full on.
🥀I think the morally grey main characters were interesting to read, exploring ethical dilemmas around whether what they did with the help of the house was right or wrong. It deffo gave me food for thought!
🥀The ending was really satisfying and not something I would have predicted. There were subtle hints throughout the book towards certain characters but I did not guess where the book was going at all which is a real win. My theories were all disproven!
🥀The concept/premise of this book felt truly unique, with the blend of genres and the interesting paranormal aspects it was unlike anything else I’ve read. WE LOVE UNIQUE READS.
🥀The house was a character in itself and I enjoyed seeing it’s development from unknown to what felt like an old but cunning friend.
🥀The writing was beautiful! The use of metaphors and similes throughout really added to the atmosphere and I deffo found myself pausing to re-read sentences I particularly enjoyed.

The Not-So Positives (IMO):
🏚️As a horror enthusiast, I would have loved to have had even more sinister/horror/gorey antics going on at points. Whilst I enjoyed the majority I wanted a teeny bit more shock factor!
🏚️We might have glossed over a few side plots a little too quickly for my liking but understand that these were not the main focus of the story, I still enjoyed how they impacted the main plot.

[Paulina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was certainly a unique take on a haunted house trope and while I enjoyed the innovative interpretation of such a popular trope, there were aspects that didn't fully work for me.

Claire and Tom think they found the perfect house when they move out of the city into the suburbs. But then things start getting weird. Fresh groceries disappear with only packaging left behind, a freshly delivered pizza that was hot just a moment ago is cold and looks at least a day old. The house is hungry and will eat anything to satisfy that hunger. Along with memories of anyone that isn't Claire and Tom. And is it even safe to stay in a house like that.

I thought the house was probably the best character in this book. It felt alive and I really enjoyed that there wasn't a moral value assigned to what the house was doing. The house was more like an animal. It does what it was made to do, and you can maybe train it a bit but at the end of the day it's still a creature with its own wild nature.

My struggle came mostly from the human characters. Tom ends up feeling pretty one dimensional and where you think his story will go is exactly where it does. Claire was unfortunately a little disappointing. Most of the time it's hard to understand why she's making decisions that she's making. You almost think she's got it right and then she ignores all her instincts. I'm not opposed to following unlikeable characters but they have to be interesting. I just didn't think Claire was. Her final decisions are just baffling in the face of everything that happened.

Still it's an interesting enough book for its concept and a quick read.

Thank you to Max Doty and Pan Macmillan for providing me with this ARC.

[Gabby Hurley · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5

Thank you NetGalley, Ballantine, and the author Max Doty for gifting me with this ARC to review!

Liked:

-house reminds me of the hungry hungry hippo game. The house pretty much consumes any and most everything that Claire and its previous owners bring into it. The house honestly gives off vibes of a teenager going through a growth spurt and trying to consume as many calories as they possibly can lol. Also gotta live a good murder basement where you can just toss dead bodies and you don’t have to worry about police, the clean up, or the disposal of said body. Honestly it’s kind of a perfect house…if you were planning a murdering a bunch of people of course 😅

-memory erasing powers. I enjoyed how the house also just erased an entire person’s existence once it consumed them. I don’t know how it knows of even does it (magic???) but it’s a nice little bonus feature. Listen some houses have attached garages and walk in closets, this one has mind altering properties which might be arguably cooler.

Disliked:

-Claire took way too long to grow a back bone and not just go along or do whatever Tom said. Every time Tom pushed something off to her or dismissed her she would just grumble about it in her head and then do what he says. Like no stand up for yourself and tell that man to get fucked!

-I wanted more origin/background story for the house. We get some little tidbits sprinkled throughout but I wish the author would’ve actually delved into how the house came to be and why it eats dead things.

[Maggie (EvermoreBooklore) · Rating 4 out of 5]

For sure a unique take on the classic haunted house trope and I absolutely loved it.

Claire, her husband and their two kids move into a gorgeous home that seems almost too perfect… especially for the price they paid. But in horror, nothing that looks this good ever comes without a catch.

The house is filled with secrets, scars and a hunger that is never fully satisfied. To keep her belongings, her food and most importantly her family safe, Claire must feed the house what it wants. But an unexpected bond and unlikely partnership make her realize that maybe this curse isn't entirely a bad thing. In fact, her hungry house might become her greatest advantage.

This definitely isn't a lighthearted read. Around the 20% mark, there is animal death that while important to the story and increasingly understandable as the plot unfolds, was still the hardest scene for me to get through. Thankfully only a chapter or two that don’t go into deep depth or explaining. There are also a few other trigger warnings worth checking before diving in if that's something you need.

[Jack Duggan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really really fun. Not exactly “scary”, but had a really 80’s horror film vibe to it that I loved, I could totally see a version of this by a coked-up Cronenberg.

The sentence-to-sentence writing sometimes isn’t great, there are a fee sentences where it sounds like the writer was trying to sound really profound or badass (the character nicknames especially, maybe it’s just because I’m English but “Chaos Claire” and “the Phantom Sisters” sound way more like nicknames people would try to coin for themselves than anything anyone else would ever come up with) but at a macro level it’s really well structured. Characters develop really nicely and the gradually transition each of them undergoes is done really well and very believably, all the mysteries keep lining up in a way that’s really tantalising, and I just wanted to keep reading long after I should have gone to bed.

[Karen Barber · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fresh start for Claire and her family. A move to a new family home, one they feel bonded to the moment they walk through the door. She’s not sure why, but the previous owner took a liking to Claire and accepts their offer.
At first the house seems to be everything they wanted. It makes Claire feel safe in a way she never has before. But she can’t explain the strange events that take place: the missing food, the lack of dust, the tendency of things to rot/die once inside. Through a series of increasingly odd experiments she learns the truth of the house.
There’s no doubt that fans of horror will enjoy elements of this. It does feel slightly odd with the pacing and the ending felt rather odd given what has taken place in the build-up.
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this prior to publication.