Book cover of Burnt Offerings

Book description

Ben and Marian Rolfe are desperate to escape a stifling summer in their tiny Brooklyn apartment, so when they get the chance to rent a mansion in upstate New York for the entire summer for only $900, it’s an offer that’s too good to refuse. There’s only one catch: behind…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Burnt Offerings as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Speaking of vacations, the Rolfes, the family In this book, another beloved, if less famous, classic, do just that with their haunted house. I found this old paperback in a used bookstore ages ago and couldn’t put it down. This tale of a summer stay in a shockingly affordable (for a reason!) house in Long Island spirals out in a genuinely unsettling manner.

I can still recall the profound claustrophobia of this reading experience. Which I’d say is precisely how a novel about a place that won’t let you leave (or at least won’t let you leave the same!) ought…

This book isn’t nearly as well known as the others except to real aficionados of the genre. But it’s one of the scariest evil house novels ever written, in part because of the surprising twist at the end. A young couple decides to get out of the city for the summer and rent a house in upstate New York. Right away, there’s something odd: an elderly woman lives in the house, and she stays locked in her room all the time. As the days go by, it becomes obvious that something weird and terrifying is happening in the house, and…

From JG's list on evil houses.

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Book cover of The High House

The High House by James Stoddard,

The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.

The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.

Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…

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