Haunted Walls, Fractured Truths: The September House by Carissa Orlando

I gave this five stars, and I didn’t even hesitate about it.

Haunted house stories are already my weakness, but The September House by Carissa Orlando did something that made it stand out from the usual formula. It’s not just about ghosts or blood or things that go bump in the night. It’s about denial. Control. Survival. And the terrifying things we learn to live with.

From the very beginning, I believed Margaret. Completely. If she said the house bleeds every September, then okay — the house bleeds. If she said the ghosts have rules, then fine — we follow the rules. I didn’t question her logic at all. And that’s what makes the unreliable narrator aspect so impressive. The shift from certainty to doubt is gradual. Subtle. Almost polite. Then suddenly you’re sitting there wondering when exactly you started second-guessing everything.

What made this even stronger for me was the relationship between Margaret and Fredericka. Their dynamic added humor and emotional grounding in the middle of all the chaos. The banter felt natural. The tension felt earned. It kept the story from feeling like nonstop dread and made the horror hit harder because it felt personal.

Structurally, the book moves between present events, memories, and Margaret’s internal justifications, but I never felt confused. The transitions were smooth, and the pacing never dragged. There were no dull stretches where I felt tempted to skim. It held my attention the entire time, which says a lot.

But what really stayed with me is how layered the horror is. Yes, the house is violent and grotesque. Yes, there’s blood and unsettling imagery. But the deeper horror is psychological. It’s watching someone rationalize the unbearable. It’s seeing how far a person can bend before they break — or convince themselves they’re not breaking at all.

This wasn’t just a haunted house story for me. It was a story about endurance and the cost of pretending everything is fine. And that psychological edge is exactly why it earned five stars.

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Title: The September House
Author: Skyla Arndt
Genre: Horror
Subgenre: Horror, Thriller, Paranormal, Mystery
Page Count: 344 pages
POV: Single
Narrative Style: First person
Series Information: Standalone

Themes and Tropes

• grief and denial
• marriage and control
• haunted house
• unreliable narrator
• “is it supernatural or not?”

Gore Level: 3/5
Moderate gore involving recurring blood manifestations and violent supernatural events.

Spice Level: N/A
No romantic spice; the focus is on psychological and domestic tension.

Profanity: Mild to moderate. Strong language appears throughout, often during heightened emotional moments.
Violence: Moderate to high. Supernatural violence, implied domestic abuse, and intense psychological distress.
Substances: Minimal. Brief mentions of alcohol, no heavy substance use central to the plot.

Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A sharp, unsettling haunted house novel that blends psychological tension with emotional depth. One of the most engaging unreliable narrator executions I’ve read in a while.

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