“A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.

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.”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of The September House by Carissa Orlando. The September House was published by Berkley on 5th September 2023 and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio and digital formats.

Oh my days, The September House is the best haunted house novel I have EVER read! What a creeping, chilling, unnerving piece of fiction. I loved it! I had been wanting to read this book for a while. It made a huge splash when it was first published back in 2023, and my pesky sense of FOMO kicked well and truly in. I was determined to do whatever it takes to get a hold of a copy. My mission became a lot easier when it arrived in my local library (where I happen to work). So I borrowed the book, but because of one thing or another, I struggled to find time to read it. Long story short, I had to return it to the library (I did recommend it to a colleague though, who thoroughly enjoyed it!). I decided the best thing to do would be to download a copy of my own and read it at my leisure. ‘My leisure’ being the ‘20 Books of Summer 2025‘ challenge. FINALLY, I got to read the book I have been looking forward to for YONKS. And I loved it. Just brilliant!

Margaret and Hal have never really had a house of their own. For Margaret, it’s always been something she’s missed. Something she felt she both wanted and needed. So when a striking Victorian house comes up for sale on Hawthorn Street at a remarkably reasonable price, the couple take the plunge and put in an offer. The house is perfect. Their lives will be perfect. It’s everything Margaret has ever wanted. Until September rolls around and the hauntings start. Throughout the course of the month the ghosts gradually ramp up their escapades and the overall intensity, making more and more trouble, becoming more and more infuriating. Visitors to the house are a terrible idea during this time. How do you explain blood dripping down the walls? And whatever is in the basement is the most terrifying entity of all. Even the ghosts can’t deal with whatever lurks down there. After a few years of ‘Septembers’, Hal can no longer take living in the house and leaves. Margaret point-blank refuses to do the same. It’s her house, and she’ll stay to the bitter end (no matter how blood-soaked or messy that end will be!). But then Katherine, Margaret and Hal’s adult daughter starts asking questions. She hasn’t spoken to her father in a while and can’t contact him. The last thing Margaret needs is Katherine’s meddling. Particularly as she isn’t aware that her parents’ house is haunted. Drastically so! Katherine declares an unplanned visit to coincide with the start of September. Her timing is, of course, abysmal. Keeping the ghosts away from Katherine will be a mammoth task. Particularly as the thing in the basement never, ever follows the rules. But Margaret will do whatever is necessary to protect her daughter from the truth…

Blimey! I thought I could tell the direction this book was heading in, but it turned out I couldn’t. I got it so wrong. I love the way the author toys with her readers. Leading you gently down a certain path, you think you’ve got it all worked out, only to [BLAM!] drop a brick wall on your head, completely changing the direction and leaving you feeling a little dizzy. So brilliantly done. Margaret is a strong lead character. I quite liked her. I enjoyed the relationship she has with the ghosts (if you can call it that). Her love of her house, no matter how bonkers it is. But most of all, I loved her determination to stay. Personally, I would be long gone, but I’m not Margaret. Katherine is an interesting character. She’s not likeable at all and is really quite awful to her poor, rather put-upon mother. Margaret has enough to deal with without an obnoxious daughter to boot! In my notes, I said Katherine was abrasive. She is. The relationship between the two women was fascinating though. How it changes over the course of the book. How, despite everything, Margaret would still do anything for her bratty daughter.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. If you’re a horror fan and you haven’t read this book yet, then that needs to change. If you’re not normally a horror fan, then please consider picking this book up and giving this book (and the genre) a go. It is gory, you can’t sugar-coat that really. The ghosts appear as they died and most of them met a very grisly end. The walls do bleed (a lot) and it’s a fairly unsettling, uncomfortable read, but I LOVED it. Every single word. There are twists and turns along the way to keep you invested in Margaret’s plight. There’s tension, bucketloads of atmosphere and dark themes running throughout. I found The September House to be a very engaging, very compulsive, beautifully complex read. I’ve read quite a few haunted house novels over the last twelve months or so but this, this book surpasses them all. It felt fresh and different. Addictive and highly memorable. Yup, I loved it. Highly recommended.

The September House by Carissa Orlando was published in the UK by Berkley on 5th September 2023 and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio and digital formats (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

Carissa Orlando has a doctorate in clinical-community psychology and specializes in work with children and adolescents. In her “day job,” Carissa works to improve the quality of and access to mental health care for children and their families. Prior to her career in psychology, Carissa studied creative writing in college and has written creatively in some form since she was a child. It was only a matter of time before Carissa, an avid horror fan for much of her life, merged her understanding of the human psyche and deep love for storytelling into a piece of fiction.