"The House That Horror Built": An Unexpectedly Enjoyable Gothic Mystery

I enjoyed Christina Henry’s 2020 novel The Ghost Tree and its classic take on small town horror. Her latest published novel, The House That Horror Built was one of my most anticipated books of 2024. The premise of a housekeeper working for a famous horror director sounded like a treat for fans of the genre.

Harry Adams loves horror movies so it makes sense she’d take up a job as cleaner for renowned director Javier Castillo who lives alone in a Chicago mansion. The house is filled with horror memorabilia and awards of his acclaimed career which ended after a family scandal. When Harry hears noises from behind a locked door, she’s curious. But she’s not supposed to ask questions even if the house is hiding secrets she can’t ignore.

I was surprised I liked The House That Horror Built because it was initially underwhelming. As a haunted house story, I was expecting more spookiness and scares. However, once I realized this book was more of a gothic family drama and grew invested in the characters, I enjoyed it.

While I assumed the novel would be a more plot-driven story with flatter characters, Henry did a decent job fleshing out her cast and keeping the story’s focus on their relationships. She also includes flashbacks to provide deeper insights into Harry and Javier’s past.

Harry is a likable character. With a past of homelessness and poverty, she’s resourceful and resilient. She’s also a loving mother who will do anything to provide for her son, Gabe — a sweet and intelligent fourteen-year-old.

It’s fitting Harry is a horror fan and cinephile. I liked how her love of the genre gave her a sense of empowerment to break away from her religious family and live her own life.

“As she entered high school and she got a job of her own — making ice cream cones and sundaes at Dairy Queen after school — she had more time and money to do what she liked, to stop and buy those copies of Fangoria on the way home and ferret them away between her mattress and box spring, taking them out only when everyone else in the house was asleep and scanning the pages, flashlight in hand, seeing hints of worlds where she still wasn’t permitted to travel — places where regular people were flesh-eating cannibals, or writers accidentally opened portals to terrible universes, or alien creatures stalked a prison world.” — Christina Henry, “The House That Horror Built”

Her love of horror brings her to Javier Castillo. More than being a famous horror director, he’s a fascinating and morally ambiguous character. He’s a recluse who moved to Chicago after the troubles with his family, especially his wife and son mysterious disappeared. Now surrounded by movie props, hiring Harry and meeting her son Gabe gives him a reprieve from his loneliness.

The setting is also another strong point even though I wished Henry developed more of its history. Nonetheless, Bright Horses is a fitting mansion for a gothic with its haunted house vibes and all its rooms full of horror memorabilia.

“Other than the oddly sized windows there were no particular architectural flourishes save two. At the northeast corner of the roof a sculpture protruded like a Notre Dame gargoyle — a horse’s head and neck carved in stone, the horse’s lips pulled back, its eyes wild. All around the horse, stone flames rose, waiting to burn. Harry thought she’d grimace, too, if she was trapped in fire for all eternity. In addition to the frantic stallion, there was a name carved in an arc above the door — Bright Horses.” — Christina Henry, “The House That Horror Built

As far as plot, it’s kind of uneventful. The mystery behind the haunting is more in the background for most of the story. As someone who enjoys character-driven books and slow-burn horror, I didn’t mind even though I expect haunted house books to have more otherworldly and spooky happenings.

Instead, the suspense comes from the real life horror of Harry needing to find another job and apartment at the risk of being homeless. In contrast, the spirits trying to communicate with Harry had their moments, but they were too few and felt disconnected from one another. However, the paranormal elements all made sense in the ending.

While the conclusion was a bit predictable, it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book. However, I wished there was a final scene to show what became of Harry and Gabe.

Overall, The House That Horror Built isn’t going to be on my list of favorite books of 2024. However, it was an entertaining read, especially as a horror fan. If you go into the book with the expectations of a gothic family drama rather than a terrifying haunted house story, you’ll probably enjoy this novel.

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Originally published on Medium