‘Tis the season for a bewitching gothic thriller, and Cherie Priest’s It Was Her House First more than fits the bill. From questionable real estate investments to vengeful ghosts, this narrative is guided by all the dark humor, eerie mystery, and emotional complexity that the modern preternatural drama calls for. Many thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced copy to review.
Although this latest book from Priest was published back in late July of this year, the author of The Drowning House clearly already had spooky season on the brain. It all begins with a historic house that the locals just know is home to ghosts and curses galore. It turns out that they’re not wrong; Venita Rost, a film star and the original owner of the house, has spent the last century tormenting those who dare try and renovate her abode, missing a daughter, and keeping a formerly famous detective trapped there with her. Enter Ronnie Mitchell, the latest in candidates eager to restore the house with modern accommodations. Ronnie has her own grief to contend with, but with an unanticipated inheritance and a background in renovation, she gets to work. That is, until a man spewing outlandish stories tinged with jealousy throws the first wrench in her plans. When Venita decides to step out of the shadows, testing Ronnie’s skeptic nature, she’s not alone in her deadly scheming. Soon enough, Ronnie realizes that the goal is no longer to bring the house back to life, but to keep her own when the past violently clashes with the present.
While it has been dubbed a horror novel across the board, readers may find that there is not as much to be horrified by in It Was Her House First than popular standards of the genre might suggest. Rather, the emphasis throughout the story is more on the difference (and in some cases, similarities) between living and dead, but not always in a campfire-ghost-story sort of way. Readers may find the initial description of the house and Ronnie’s plans for it to be a bit on the longer side, when in reality, this sets the tone for the real issue at hand. Rotting wood, dust, broken pipes: all of these symbolize the neglect inherent in something that once had life and now has been left to decay because its time is simply up. If that doesn’t feed into a poignant, introspective ghost story, what does?
That being said, the pace of the overarching narrative as well as that of the pieces of the past we get to see through the diary entries could have used some additional editing to trim some of the more obvious reveals. This would not only help move events along and cut out some lulls, but also ensure that these detours from the present-day sections added to the overall mystery instead of filling in all of the gaps before readers could take their own stabs at them. Otherwise, this tale is told in an unassuming, almost stark way that only adds to the unsettling nature of a good haunting.
The abundance of detail leaves no stone unturned in terms of character development, either, but in this case, most readers will likely agree that this strengthens the plot rather than weakens the mystery of it. When it comes to complicated relationships, familial and otherwise, there is no question that these characters are more than equipped with the experience of trauma and grief to speak on bigger themes like when and how to move on from a great tragedy. Of course, none of them choose the exact same path, creating a web of what-ifs and philosophical arguments that not only shape the characters into distinct, even relatable individuals, but also frame the story with their choices, their impressions, and how it all ties in with the real and the metaphysical world. All of this takes this book from a quintessential story of a haunted house to an examination of human nature that just so happens to defy the lines between life and death.
In other words, readers who have enjoyed any of Priest’s other works, timeless psychological pieces like The Haunting of Hill House, or just good ghost stories in general will revel in It Was Her House First.
K. Watkins 