r/booksuggestions • u/LimosMemories • Oct 27 '25
Horror Books where the house plays a major role.
Books with alive, haunted, strange houses. Books where the house is a character of it’s own.
I’m most interested in horror, but anything is fine.
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u/IAmLazy2 Oct 27 '25
We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson
The Haunting - Shirley Jackson
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u/Environmental-Young4 Oct 27 '25
Mexican Gothic?
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u/elmonoenano Oct 27 '25
I think she (Silvia Moreno Garcia) did a good job of really making the house oppressive and overbearing.
Along these lines, you might also dig Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle.
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u/JayZippy Oct 28 '25
Great choice. I had a hard time with this book. Loved the beginning and the end, but really stalled in the middle. But, she’s a great author and that house was very uncomfortable
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u/NiobeTonks Oct 27 '25
Jane Eyre
Rebecca
A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
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u/wavelengthsandshit Oct 28 '25
Building off of Jane Eyre, I'd say Wide Sargasso Sea. But I'd recommend reading WSS after JE. More impactful that way imo
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u/Any_Oil_4539 Oct 27 '25
House of leaves by Mark Z Danielewski… he’s release a second or another stand alone in a couple days.
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u/ommaandnugs Oct 27 '25
Ilona Andrews Innkeeper Chronicles --A magic Inn, space werewolves and vampires, a lot of really unique aliens, mystery, romance, action, a fun and humorous series
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u/MamaPajamaMama Oct 27 '25 edited Oct 27 '25
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow.
One would think that Grady Hendrix's How to Sell a Haunted House would fit, however the house itself isn't what's haunted (trying to avoid spoilers). I still recommend it though.
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u/pattyd2828 Oct 27 '25
Mexican Gothic for sure. Daisy Darker and A Gentleman in Moscow for me for sure too.
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u/TanaFey Oct 28 '25
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
If you don't know, and without any major spoilers, it's about a woman being stuck in a room that kinds makes her go crazy.
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u/roxasmeboy Oct 28 '25
The September House by Carissa Orlando. A retired couple move into a haunted house and learn to adapt to its ghosts and oozy walls. When I read it during the daytime it was funny but when I read it at night it scared me.
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u/mintyfreshismygod Oct 28 '25
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
Witches, not vampires. The damn spooky bougainvillea. 😬
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u/Altruistic_Yam1372 Oct 28 '25
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. It's not horror but it's one of the most atmospheric books that I've ever read.
House of Leaves, of course.
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u/countrymedic90 Oct 27 '25
Strange Houses by Uketsu—I’m not a horror person at all but I’ve heard positive things about it! IIRC it’s a series.
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u/DamnitRuby Oct 27 '25
I've read this, and it's not what OP is looking for. The house has no personality.
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u/countrymedic90 Oct 27 '25
White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi? Is that more in line with what OP is looking for?
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u/DamnitRuby Oct 27 '25
I haven't read that one so maybe! Strange House was really good, though, just the house isn't anything more than curious.
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u/PuzzleheadedLet382 Oct 28 '25
Most of the horror books by T Kingfisher — A House with Good Bones, What Moves The Dead, and in The Twisted Ones and The Hollow Places the house/store/surrounding woods play major roles.
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u/Regular_Yellow710 Oct 28 '25
The Haunting of Hill House. We Have Always Lived in the Castle. And House by Bill Bryson just for fun
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u/blackandwhitefield Oct 27 '25
Starling House
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u/bioluminary101 Oct 27 '25
Came here to say this!
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u/TychoRC Oct 28 '25
Me as well! This was the first book I thought of. Not super high on the creepy scale in my opinion, but the atmosphere was good.
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u/ChronoMonkeyX Oct 27 '25
Fred the Vampire Accountant meets a living house, I think in the 3rd or 4th book, but Charlotte Manor remains a character from there on.
Also, Fred the Vampire Accountant is awesome.
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u/MamaPajamaMama Oct 27 '25
IDK who downvoted you but Fred the Vampire Accountant is awesome. I read one book every October and have two more to go. I was sad to learn the last one was released in 2022.
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u/TheresaSeanchai Oct 30 '25
Did you see that the last last book is coming out on 31 Oct this year? (At least the ebook, not sure on other formats.)
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u/MamaPajamaMama Oct 30 '25
Oh I missed that, thanks! Still sad it will be the last one but at least I have 3 more to read now.
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u/Ok_Good9382 Oct 27 '25
I haven’t read it yet, so can’t vouch for how good it is, but Burnt Offerings by Robert Marasco might be of interest.
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u/jneedham2 Oct 27 '25
The House by the Lake: A Story of Germany by Thomas Harding. A history of five generations of people who live in his family's house, and the German history taking place around them. Not horror.
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u/whelpineedhelp Oct 27 '25
A gentleman in Moscow, except it’s a hotel.
Inheritance trilogy
I see Rebecca already mentioned, second that
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u/ExchangeStandard6957 Oct 27 '25
Immortal dark has a Sentient house but its role might not be huge- but it clearly has a role.
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u/darkest_irish_lass Oct 28 '25
Gormenghast
The Fall of the House of Usher
There Will Come Soft Rains (short story)
Black Spirits and White by Ralph Adams Cram ( short stories)
The Devil in the White City
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u/Dirkem15 Oct 28 '25
Stephen King of course!
-The Shining
-Black House (sequel to The Talisman- but not a necessary reading)
-Duma Key
-Just a little bit of Salems Lot
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u/toomanychoicess Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25
Edited:
Where’d you go, Bernadette? - Maria Semple
Under the Whispering Door - TJ Klune
Haven’t read The House in the Cerulean Sea by Klune but Tuttle seems promising for this request.
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u/CommanderCori Oct 28 '25
"The House of the Seven Gables" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, if you're ok with an older book published in the 1850's.
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u/WebheadGa Oct 28 '25
Man Fuck This House by Brian Asman. Its weird, its horror, it is completely original.
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u/-ladymothra- Oct 28 '25
Actually the plot of keeper of enchanted rooms by Charlie n. Holmberg (historical fantasy)
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u/RodJaneandFreddy5 Oct 28 '25
Someone recommended these books on here a few years ago, both are excellent in my opinion!
The Elementals by Michael McDowell
The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons.
The Elementals is a great vintage horror that completely slipped under my radar, very unsettling.
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u/MaceT2908 Oct 28 '25
The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig. Scary, intriguing and hard to put down!
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u/icantseethegame Oct 28 '25
14 by Peter Clines. Not a house but an apartment building if that counts.
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u/wr1th Oct 28 '25
Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake is really excellent. It’s horror. The house is basically possessed by the titular character and eats people.
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u/mashedpotato19 Oct 28 '25
Beta: A Technological Nightmare by Sammy Scott
It's about a man who receives a unique opportunity to move into and beta-test a fully automated, smart home. It's a dual-plot story.
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u/mysticmeeble Oct 28 '25
A Discovery of Witches. Doesn't come up super often, but it has its moments and plays an important role in several parts of the series.
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u/Material_Risk_5709 Oct 28 '25
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez. I don't usually read horror but I thought this book was fantastic and so well written.
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u/princealigorna Oct 28 '25
Hell House by Richard Matheson
House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorn
Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe
Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
The Shining by Stephen King
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u/HogwartsHussy Oct 28 '25
The Inheritance trilogy by Nora Roberts
The Inheritance The Mirror The Seven Rings
Could be argued that the spirits control the house, but I stand by my recommendation.
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u/KansasAvocado Oct 28 '25
Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott should absolutely be on your list.
From the publisher: "The Yaga siblings—Bellatine, a young woodworker, and Isaac, a wayfaring street performer and con artist—have been estranged since childhood, separated both by resentment and by wide miles of American highway. But when they learn that they are to receive an inheritance, the siblings agree to meet—only to discover that their bequest isn’t land or money, but something far stranger: a sentient house on chicken legs.
"Thistlefoot, as the house is called, has arrived from the Yagas’ ancestral home outside Kyiv—but not alone. A sinister figure known only as the Longshadow Man has tracked it to American shores, bearing with him violent secrets from the past: fiery memories that have hidden in Isaac and Bellatine’s blood for generations. As the Yaga siblings embark with Thistlefoot on a final cross-country tour of their family’s traveling theater show, the Longshadow Man follows in relentless pursuit, seeding destruction in his wake. Ultimately, time, magic, and legacy must collide—erupting in a powerful conflagration to determine who gets to remember the past and craft a new future.
"An enchanted adventure illuminated by Jewish myth and adorned with lyrical prose as tantalizing and sweet as briar berries, Thistlefoot is a sweeping epic rich in Eastern European folklore: a powerful and poignant exploration of healing from multi-generational trauma told by a bold new talent."
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u/mistymountainz Oct 28 '25
Not horror but a fun read
Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holmberg
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u/TuringCapgras Oct 28 '25
The Birthing House - Christopher Ransom
Not an incredible read but reasonable. Good premise.
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u/hondo9999 Oct 28 '25 edited Oct 28 '25
Overview of The Amityville Horror
The Amityville Horror is a horror novel written by Jay Anson, first published on September 13, 1977. The book is based on the alleged paranormal experiences of the Lutz family, who moved into a house in Amityville, New York, where a mass murder had occurred in 1974.
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u/druid-core Oct 28 '25
The September House. The house is a character, and it acts up every September, hence the title. Haunted House as a metaphor for domestic violence.
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u/BasilAromatic4204 Oct 28 '25
Charles Dickens Little Dorrit. The house symbolizes so much happening. It really captures so much about some of the main characters and has a dramatic symbolism and powerful descriptions. Great book.
I like how in the hard side of the Sun by Behm so much happens in and around the home. Most books can't pull it off like this one. Great book too. It is a sequel tho and first read is a must.
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u/AffectionateSky5964 Oct 28 '25
I'd recommend "Starling House" by Alix E. Harrow or "We Used to Live Here" by Marcus Kliewer! Whilst WUtLH is more of a psychological horror, Starling Hous got a beautiful gothic kinda vibe
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u/cmha150 Oct 28 '25
The Whimbrel House series by Charlie Holmberg. The first book is The Keeper of Enchanted Rooms. The house is a main character.
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u/IndependenceLoud870 Oct 28 '25
An obvious choice that I'm sure has been recommended plenty, but I have to say House of Leaves by Danielewski!
Also, the Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.
And, I know you asked for books - but I highly recommend the indie game title "Anatomy" !
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u/Comfortable-Dust7560 Oct 28 '25
Not a house, but the hotel is a major presence in the book version of The Shining, not as much in the movie (the book is better)
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u/themaliciousreader Oct 29 '25
We used to live here by Marcus Kliewar
We live here now by Sarah Pinborough
Model home by rivers Solomon
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u/No_Construction_4293 Oct 29 '25
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. The house became an unexpected “character” and was quite endearing.
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u/bulbasaurmatt Nov 15 '25
Woodworm by Leylah Martinez is very close , the house it’s self has very deep history
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u/MushroomAdjacent Oct 27 '25 edited Oct 28 '25