Welcome home . . . where horror awaits.
Get ready to shake, shiver, maybe even scream! Audio makes these evil houses all the more visceral, and with horror fiction on the rise, you’ll find plenty of options to keep you up at night.
“Horrorstör”
By Grady Hendrix. Read by Tai Sammons and Bronson Pinchot. Blackstone.
Something’s definitely off at Orsk, the Ikea-esque store, like building malfunctions, untraceable “help” texts, and poop on the furniture. Hoping for a transfer, Amy’s on her best(ish) behavior and can’t refuse her manager’s request to patrol showrooms overnight with coworker Ruth Anne. They’re unexpectedly joined by a duo with ghost-hunting reality show dreams. They are, of course, not alone. Sammons marvelously enlivens the shrinking crew while Pinchot cheerfully interrupts the vengeful gore with excerpts from Orsk’s aspirational catalog.
“How to Sell a Haunted House” [Dramatized Adaptation]
By Gracy Hendrix. Read by a full cast. GraphicAudio.
Meet estranged siblings Louise and Mark. They’ve just lost their parents in a car accident, sending Louise back home after avoiding her dysfunctional family for years. Mark—irresponsible, immature, antagonistic—has inherited their family home. His gloating doesn’t last long when the house reveals that their mother’s beloved puppets are all too alive, including one mounting another homicidal rampage. GraphicAudio’s “movie in your mind” will not disappoint.
“The Last House on Needless Street”
By Catriona Ward. Read by Christopher Ragland. Macmillan.
Veteran Ragland is immediately convincing as lonely Ted, who’s never really left his childhood home, his tantrum-prone shut-in daughter Lauren, and his Bible-reading cat, Olivia. Ted only goes out to see his pill-supplying therapist and the occasional date. New neighbor Dee is convinced Ted knows something about her missing sister. Ted’s house might be a fortress, but Dee won’t stop until she gets in.
“Manor of Dreams”
By Christina Li. Read by Catherine Ho. Simon & Schuster Audio.
So many women—both living and dead—inhabit Yin Manor, a California mansion that houses a standoff between two Chinese American families. Ho has the behemoth task of distinguishing them all. Oscar winner Vivian Yin died two weeks after bequeathing her estate to her former housekeeper and gardener’s daughter Elaine. Vivian’s jilted daughters, Lucille and Rennie, stubbornly request a week in the house. Over those seven days, Yin Manor reveals a legacy of death and destruction.
“My Mother’s House”
By Francesca Momplaisir. Read by a full cast. Books on Tape.
Dion Graham enthralls as La Kay, the torture-chamber of a home Lucien and Marie-Ange initially intended to house fellow Haitian immigrants. La Kay appoints itself witness, judge, and executor when it can bear Lucien’s depravity no more. Karen Chilton impresses as the narrator; Janina Edwards achingly haunts as Sol, the sole prisoner allowed narrative agency. Momplaisir’s already-unnerving nightmare-on-the-page morphs into aural terror.
“Reprieve”
By James Han Mattson. Read by JD Jackson. HarperAudio.
John Forrester began his house of frights with dollar-store junk. He eventually built his “lucrative vision”: a full-contact escape challenge with a hefty finishing prize that drew thrill-seekers from across the country. Now John—and others—stand trial: the bloodbath has turned real. Jackson chills and thrills, underscoring the slyly literary, intensifying the social commentary, enhancing the utterly gory.
“Strange Houses”
By Uketsu. Read by Andrew Grace. HarperAudio.
Japan’s enigmatic YouTuber Uketsu unnerves with a perplexing mystery. A horror writer’s friend considers buying a house with “a mysterious dead space.” Examinations of the home conjure an alarming scenario involving shut-in children and a murderous family, which soon proves shockingly plausible. The creep factor of sprawling layers of bizarre revelations about once-powerful multigenerational families, inheritance, sacrifice, loyalty are enhanced by Grace’s eerie calm.
“We Live Here Now”
By Sarah Pinborough. Read by a full cast. Macmillan Audio.
“I feel like I’m in a Brontë novel,” Emily (impressively controlled Helen Baxendale) intones to husband Freddie. They’re hoping to restart their lives in expansive Larkin Lodge, far from London. Freddie (agitated Jamie Glover) assumes “Jane Eyre,” but Emily means “Wuthering Heights” vibes. Since Emily’s awakening from a three-month coma, Freddie is desperate to quell a “constant fear of discovery.” Inexplicable events start plaguing Emily, until excuses can’t deny what’s really going on in that house. Pinborough, meanwhile, haunts as the eerie raven guarding his (dead) mate.
“We Used to Live Here”
By Marcus Kliewer. Read Jeremy Carlisle Parker and Corey Brill. Simon & Schuster Audio.
Parker effortlessly distinguishes the inhabitants of a remote Pacific Northwest house—present, past, and returned. One chilly Friday night, house-flippers Eve and Charlie greet a family of five on their doorstep seeking entry into what the father claims was his childhood home. That his card bears the name “Faust” should have been warning enough, but Eve ignores her inner voice whispering, “Once you let them in . . . they’ll never leave.” Brill skillfully interrupts Parker with message board-esque external voices that report and analyze what might have happened on Heritage Lane.
This article was originally published in Booklist Reader, the magazine for library patrons, from the American Library Association’s nationally distributed book review publication, Booklist.
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