Book Review – The September House by Carissa Orlando

Pages: 352
Published: 5th September 2023
Genre: Horror
Content warnings: Strong gore/injury detail, references to domestic abuse and alcoholism

When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street – for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price – they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.

Margaret is not most people.

Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine – who knows nothing about the hauntings – arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.

This is a horror story that only delivers on the scare factor, it also contains a multi-layered plot that is executed to great success. There are ghosts galore in a haunted house that boasts its fair share of clever secrets and quirks, all seen through the eyes of a superbly drawn, unreliable narrator, while its many challenging themes are tackled in a nuanced, deeply thought-provoking way.

The author truly does pull out all the stops here to fill your mind with terrifying imagery that will keep you awake at night. Just to imagine the flies from the basement of the house is enough to make you shudder, and the ghosts themselves are permanently held at the moment the dying blow was struck; a mess of fatal wounds and partially severed limbs. And then there is all the blood, especially towards the end. If you are squeamish, then you might want to think twice before picking up this book.

It is not just physical horror though – so much of it is psychological too, and that is where Margaret comes in. Her perspective is outstandingly written and definitely ranks as the main highlight of the story. She is extremely philosophical and the murky subject of domestic violence is used as a skilful metaphor for her experience with the ghosts. The passages where she talks about surviving and adapting to the things going on around her are both deeply compelling and, in a way, quite moving.

The atmosphere is all-consuming, with Margaret telling most of the story in the present day with some occasional flashbacks to when she in Hal moved into the house and discovered its eerie occupants. Even in these sections, you can sense Margaret’s loneliness and sense of detachment, and how she has come to accept the reality of her surroundings.

But then, you are never entirely convinced that what she sees is reality at all. As the plot intensifies it fully confronts the question of whether the ghosts are all in her head, if she is senile and simply imagining things. Her interactions with Katherine and the police further complicate matters and are absolutely beguiling to read, with her apparent lack of concern for Hal’s whereabouts adding more fuel to the growing suspicion.

The plot begins in an intriguing manner by introducing you to the ghosts and making you aware of Hal’s disappearance, with the promised tension of Katherine’s impending visit to the house. From there, the various strands neatly take shape and there is a serious intensity about it that builds to a real crescendo towards the end, with excellent pacing. If there is one minor criticism, then the history of the house and how the ghosts came to be there could have been developed slightly more.

Whereas Margaret is more passive in a very deliberate and considered way, a lot of the urgency in this story comes from Katherine. Admittedly, she does grate on your nerves sometimes with her bolshiness and unbalanced personality, but her presence adds a lot to the narrative. She is given a backstory to ensure she is not just a two-dimensional character, but generally she is the embodiment of someone who struggles when she is not in control of a situation.

As for the ghosts themselves, they are delightfully unique. Though referred to as tricksters for their almost involuntary little pranks, most of them are quite endearing and the relationship Margaret strikes up with Fredricka in particular is entertaining to read. The book is set in the present day and the ghosts encounter some of the modern technology such as smartphones, but this juxtaposition is subtly handled and house feels suspended in time.

Ultimately, it could be said that Hal’s fate is a tad predictable, but it is quite some journey getting there. In any case, the more pressing question is how much Margaret knows and what is actually real or not real. You are made to feel very close to the action, as the author digs an atmosphere that transports you right into the midst of the house and its terrors during each sitting.

What we see throughout is extremely versatile writing. The tone is perpetually gloomy but to give the sense that reality is slipping away from Margaret while advancing the plot is no mean feat. As well as creating a setting that is genuinely scary, it never loses sight of the human side as the characters – including the ghosts – are all very well defined.

Overall, it is a book that sets its stall out to be dark and not for the faint hearted, but all the horror on show is impressively nuanced and never at all gratuitous. The magnificent use of narrative underpins its success, with Margaret one of the most interesting characters you will ever come across in this genre, and the plot rarely ceases to hold your attention. The month of September has just got a whole new meaning.

Carissa Orlando obtained a doctorate in clinical and community psychology and specialises in working with children and teenagers. She also studied creative writing and is an avid fan of horror, putting those two together by writing The September House, which is her debut novel.

A very strong debut novel. I do not read horror very often, but I was convinced to read this one and I was glad that I did. Intriguing to start with, then thrilling towards the end, I was totally absorbed by Margaret’s first person perspective and the individual quirks of the ghosts.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐