11 Horror Novels About Eerie Homes
Your home is supposed to be a safe place. But what if it isn’t?
Haunted houses, creepy houses, places where things just don’t feel right.
There’s a difference between a house and a home.
We build a house from physical stuff, like bricks and wood and concrete and plaster. Then we furnish it with physical stuff, like sofas and beds and tables and chairs.
But maybe we also build a house from mental stuff and every person who ever steps foot in a house leaves a little piece of themselves behind. And the longer you stay, the more you imprint into the very fabric of that small piece of the universe.
At what point does a house become a home? When you feel safe, right?
The people in the following eleven horror novels thought they felt safe in their homes. But they were wrong.
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Table of Contents
1. The Haunted House from Hell (2021)
By Mark L’Estrange
“Before leaving the room, Catherine turned and took one last look to ensure that the last of her son’s scrapbook was destroyed before she shut the door and made her way to her own bedroom.”
When Catherine Porter murders her only son and takes her own life, no one can understand why. Vilified for her crimes, she becomes synonymous with everything evil amongst the locals, and parents begin using her name to scare their errant children into behaving.
Soon after her death, reports begin to circulate that her ghost has been seen inside her old house. Over the years, the sightings continue, sending most of the house’s occupants running from the property, screaming into the night, never to return.
When the Jefferson family moves in, they decide to hold a séance to rid the property of its unwanted guest. But in doing so, they unleash something even more terrifying: a malevolent force that will stop at nothing to take back its domain.
**This book contains graphic violence and is not suitable for readers under the age of 18.**
Average Star Rating out of 5
Average: 4.51 | Amazon: 4.40 | Goodreads: 4.14 | LibraryThing: 5.00
2. The Haunting of Porlock House (2022)
By B. J. Conroy
“Tom drove his car onto the driveway of his aunt’s house, parking close to the front door. The driveway extended to the back of the property, giving access to a garage made from sheets of corrugated steel. That reminded him that the police had taken charge of Aunt Gwen’s car after the accident, and at some point, he would need to collect it and arrange for its repair.”
Tom Osborne returns to the Australian country town of Corbin to arrange his aunt’s funeral. His last visit was twenty years ago when he was seven years old.
As Tom revisits the town, fragments of long-forgotten memories resurface in his mind. On that last trip, he and his friend, Lyn, explored the elegant residence of Porlock House. However, that can’t be true because the house has not existed for over one hundred years.
Tom’s curiosity is piqued, and he searches for answers to the mystery of Porlock House. However, delving into the house’s secrets reveals a sinister history, and discovering the truth will become a matter of life and death for Tom.
Average Star Rating out of 5
Average: 4.35 | Amazon: 4.30 | Goodreads: 4.39
3. Black House (2001)
By Stephen King and Peter Straub
This is the sequel to The Talisman.
Tom Lund looks down and reads: “‘As the police in French Landing fail to discover any leads to the identity of the fiendish double murderer and sex criminal this reporter has dubbed “the Fisherman,” the grim specters of fear, despair, and suspicion run increasingly rampant through the streets of that little town, and from there out into the farms and villages throughout French County, darkening by their touch every portion of the Coulee Country.'”
Twenty years ago, Jack Sawyer travelled to a parallel universe to save his mother. Now Jack is a retired homicide detective living in a small hamlet in Wisconsin. He doesn’t remember his childhood adventures and he left the police force when an odd event threatened to awaken those memories.
When a series of gruesome murders occurs in western Wisconsin, reminiscent of those committed several decades ago, the local chief of police begs Jack to help find him.
But are these new killings merely the work of a disturbed individual, or has a malignant force been unleashed in this quiet town? What’s causing Jack’s inexplicable waking dreams? It’s almost as if someone is trying to tell him something.
As the cryptic message becomes increasingly impossible to ignore, Jack is drawn back to his own hidden past, where he may find the strength to enter a terrifying house at the end of a deserted tract of forest, there to encounter the evils sheltered within it.
Average Star Rating out of 5
Average: 4.17 | Amazon: 4.70 | Goodreads: 4.02 | LibraryThing: 3.78
4. Thirteen Storeys (2020)
By Jonathan Sims
Also see: Book Review: Thirteen Storeys (2020)
“Five years on, it’s an all-too-familiar cliché that the only thing more interesting than the life of Tobias Fell was his death.”
A dinner party is held in the penthouse of a London apartment building. All the guests are strangers – even to their host, the billionaire owner of the building.
None of them understands why they were selected to receive his invitation. Whether privileged or impoverished, they share only one thing in common – they’ve all experienced a shocking disturbance within the building’s walls.
By the end of the night, their host is dead. His death has remained one of the biggest unsolved mysteries until now.
Average Star Rating out of 5
Average: 4.08 | Amazon: 4.50 | Goodreads: 3.94 | LibraryThing: 3.79
5. The Haunting of Hill House (1959)
By Shirley Jackson
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
Four people arrive at Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a haunting; Theodora, his assistant; Luke, the future heir of Hill House; and Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists.
At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.
Average Star Rating out of 5
Average: 4.02 | Amazon: 4.30 | Goodreads: 3.83 | LibraryThing: 3.92
6. Haunted (1988)
By James Herbert
This is the first book in the David Ash trilogy.
“A whispered name. The boy stirs in his sleep. A pale, vaporous moon lights the room. Shadows are deep. He twists his head, turning towards the window so that his face becomes a soft mask, unblemished, colourless. But the boy’s dream is troubled; beneath their lids, his eyes dart to and fro.”
Three nights of terror at the house called Edbrook.
Three nights in which David Ash, there to investigate a haunting, will be the victim of horrifying games.
Three nights in which he will face the blood-chilling enigma of his own past.
Three nights before Edbrook’s dreadful secret will be revealed, and the true nightmare will begin.
Average Star Rating out of 5
Average: 3.91 | Amazon: 4.50 | Goodreads: 3.79 | LibraryThing: 3.44
7. Haunted House (2021)
by Rick Wood
“If you were to look at our lavish, grand country home in the middle of endless fields that disappear far into the sunset, you would assume us to be rich. But that house has every penny that we have. We hardly had enough left for me to get my hair cut last week.”
It’s 23 March 2020 in the UK, and the prime minister has announced a country-wide lockdown.
Like everyone else in the UK, Lisa is forced to stay at home with her family.
Unlike everyone else in the UK, Lisa has just moved into a new house, and strange things keep happening.
Voices talking to her. Things moving. And a rage that is growing, poisoning her thoughts and creating an irrational hatred toward her family.
As the lockdown continues, she starts to wonder what’s the biggest threat: the disease, or the presence controlling her in her own home.
Average Star Rating out of 5
Average: 3.90 | Amazon: 4.10 | Goodreads: 3.69
8. The Amityville Horror (1977)
By Jay Anson
This book is supposedly based on a true story, however there’s controversy over just how truthful the story is.
In December 1975, the Lutz family moved into their new home on suburban Long Island.
George and Kathleen Lutz knew that, one year earlier, Ronald DeFeo had murdered his parents, brothers, and sisters in the house, but the property, for the price, had been too good to pass up.
Twenty-eight days later, the entire Lutz family fled in terror.
Average Star Rating out of 5
Average: 3.90 | Amazon: 4.60 | Goodreads: 3.84 | LibraryThing: 3.27
9. A House of Ghosts (2019)
By W. C. Ryan
“The sea was black as ink and the small fishing boat, travelling under a loose sail, moved slowly across its glass-flat calm. Ahead of them the island was barely visible through the early morning mist, but he could just about make out the cliffs that ringed its southern tip. Normally they were a hard grey, but thanks to the soft rain that clung to the sea mist they were darker still – foreboding, even to someone who knew them well.”
Winter 1917. As the First World War enters its most brutal phase, back home in England, everyone is seeking answers to the darkness that has seeped into their lives. At Blackwater Abbey, on an island off the Devon coast, armaments manufacturer Lord Highmount has arranged a spiritualist gathering to contact his two sons, both of whom died at the front.
Among the guests, two have been secretly dispatched from the intelligence service: Kate Cartwright, a friend of the family who lost her beloved brother at the Somme and who, in the realm of the spiritual, has her own special gift; and the mysterious Captain Donovan, recently returned from Europe. Top secret plans for weapons developed by Lord Highmount’s company have turned up in Berlin, and there is reason to believe enemy spies will be in attendance.
It soon becomes clear that each guest has something they would rather keep hidden.
When a storm descends, they find themselves trapped on the island. Soon one of their number will die. For Blackwater Abbey is haunted in more ways than one.
Average Star Rating out of 5
Average: 3.87 | Amazon: 4.30 | Goodreads: 3.69 | LibraryThing: 3.63
10. This House Is Haunted (2013)
By John Boyne
“I blame Charles Dickens for the death of my father. In tracing the moment where my life transformed from serenity to horror, twisting the natural into the unspeakable, I find myself seated in the parlour of our small terraced home near Hyde Park, observing the frayed edges of the hearth rug and wondering whether it might be time to invest in a new one or try to repair it myself. Simple, domestic thoughts.”
It’s 1867 and Eliza Caine arrives in Norfolk to take up her new governess position. As she makes her way across the station platform, invisible hands push her into the path of an approaching train. She is only saved by the vigilance of a passing doctor.
When she finally arrives at Gaudlin Hall, she’s greeted by the two children who will be in her care, Isabella and Eustace. There are no adults at all and the children offer no explanation. Later that night in her room, a second terrifying experience further reinforces the sense that something is very wrong.
From the moment she gets up the following morning, her every step seems dogged by a malign presence. Eliza realises that if she and the children are to survive its violent attentions, she must uncover the hall’s long-buried secrets and confront the demons of its past.
Average Star Rating out of 5
Average: 3.72 | Amazon: 4.10 | Goodreads: 3.60 | LibraryThing: 3.45
11. The Grip of It (2019)
By Jac Jemc
Also see: Book Review: The Grip of It (2019)
“Maybe we move in and we don’t hear the intonation for a few days. Maybe we hear it as soon as we unlock the door. Maybe we drag our friends and family into the house and ask them to hear it and they look into the distance and listen as we try to describe it and fail.”
Julie and James move from the city to a small town. The move is prompted by James’s gambling addiction and his inability to keep his impulses in check. Both Julie and James seem happy to leave behind their old life and start anew.
But the house they’ve bought has plans for them. As they try to settle into their home, the house and its surrounding terrain become the locus of increasingly strange happenings. The architecture – claustrophobic and riddled with hidden rooms – becomes unrecognisable, seemingly decaying before their eyes. Stains contract and expand on the wall and map themselves onto Julie’s body in the form of bruises. Mold spores taint the water that James pours from the sink.
The couple search for the source of their mutual torment, a journey that mires them in the history of their peculiar neighbour and the residents who lived in the house before them.
Average Star Rating out of 5
Average: 3.40 | Amazon: 3.60 | Goodreads: 3.22 | LibraryThing: 3.39
Published: 11 October 2022
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