This was in the Horror category so I was surprised to find a nonfiction book. The title is so misleading, it’s not about sick houses or haunted houses or even murder houses. This is about movies with houses in them. A very deep dive into movies. Very disappointed.

Sick Houses is a fascinating work of horror literary criticism that takes the reader on a tour of haunted houses, ranging from the fiction to non-fiction. Leila Taylor is a knowledgeable, engaging and insightful narrator: I found her writing style completely absorbing.

The definition of what makes a haunted house is wide ranging, including not only supernatural hauntings but more abstract ones, such as attempts to design architecture to influence human behaviour (High Rise), humans held in captivity (Room), and the way houses and inhabitants influence each other (the Unabomber cabin). It's a mark of how much I enjoyed this book that I didn't want it to end: there are plenty of haunted houses which didn't make the cut which I would love to hear Leila Taylor's take on. The haunted house is such a widespread and well established trope that it would be impossible to catalogue every one. Instead, the examples act as prompts to explore our expectations around houses and how we react when people fail to meet them.

Sick Houses focuses mainly on the American haunted house, with a few exceptions such as High Rise, The Others and His House. At times, I felt like the book would have benefitted by narrowing its focus to specifically American haunted houses, at others I would have liked to broaden it to include more international examples. However, the non-American examples were well chosen and added something interesting to the discussion that I would have been sorry to lose.

Thank you to NetGalley, Leila Taylor and Repeater books for an ARC in return for my honest review.

This book was a surprise for me. I was really drawn in by the description but still a bit apprehensive because I'm not a big reader of non-fiction. My love for haunted houses is bigger though... This was a very good book about the architecture of haunted houses. I learned so much and the research from the author really shines through. The writing style is not tedious and it's nothing like a textbook from school.

This book can reel you in and keep you close through the entire book.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the chance to read this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This is a fantastic concept, and I really found this kind of editorial essay approach to a fascinating non-fiction subject a good one for the topic. This book covers the idea of houses and homes and the in-between that gives us such a distinct sense of dread when dealing with the supernatural in them. I know this feeling well - we live in an incredibly old house, and have just as many cats as necessary to compensate for (presumably) all the ghosts that probably live here with us.

This book starts off with the concept of homes and then the concept of hauntings, and then further dives into interesting sub-genres of the haunted and bizarre in houses. There are segments dedicated to different forms of houses, often pulling on the strings of pop culture to bolster points and the concept of the weird. I found that there were some bits that were a bit too short, and drew on movies that I maybe would not have put into those precise contexts or segments, but they were still solid.

This is a really interesting read as a whole, and while I would have liked for it to be a bit longer, it is definitely an interesting book, and well worth the time!

Sick Houses explores the architecture of the quintessential domestic space: the home. What makes our refuge, that place of protection, become unsettling? What haunts these spaces? Leila Taylor masterfully dissects what happens when a disruptive element intrudes upon our sanctuary, transforming it into a hostile setting, even a trap.

The connection with Taylor is almost immediate: she seems to share with me a series of neuroses and obsessions that are utterly fascinating. Her concern with understanding how a home can be desecrated to the point of becoming merely “a house” resonates deeply.
Through real-life examples intertwined with references to horror literature and cinema, Taylor attempts to explain the cases where the house becomes a character. Sometimes, it takes on an overwhelming prominence, with malevolent intentions that even overshadow its inhabitants, that fall victims to the building's perverse will.

The author dedicates each chapter to a specific type of house: the haunted house, the dollhouse, the witch’s house, and so on, interweaving themes and political analyses. For instance, she explores how capitalism and certain policies have created a culture that idealizes homeownership, making us vulnerable to its eventual perversion. The homeowner, having invested time, money, and hopes in their home, has no choice but to become a victim of the house.

Taylor’s analysis goes beyond mere anecdotes—though she uses concrete examples—and seeks out the possible origins, the initial malignant cell that contaminates a house and makes it sick, in a thoroughly compelling work of non-fiction that will captivate horror enthusiasts and curious minds alike.

Thanks to NetGalley and Repeater Books for this ARC

Sick Houses is an exploration of unnerving and haunted domestic buildings, from simple family homes to imposing concrete tower blocks, and the fiction and real life that shows us these. The chapters focus on different types of architecture and spooky homes, sharing a range of examples and some of the eerie elements of these, and drawing on a range of media to look into what makes a house haunted.

I like Taylor's approach to the idea of haunted houses, making it quite a broad term that doesn't just cover houses with ghosts, but a range of types of 'haunting'. There's a lot of different material covered in the book, with a lot of examples, but I did find that it was more of a collection of different kinds of haunted homes rather than an analysis of things about them. I expected it to have more of an argument than it did, though I did like that the final chapter was Taylor's own experiences and a sense of uncertainty around what exactly a haunting is. I'd say that it is good if you're looking for something that shares a lot of different types of 'sick houses', but it is worth knowing that it isn't an in-depth exploration of the concept of these houses and what it might mean. I think it would sit well alongside Jacob Geller's YouTube video 'Control, Anatomy, and the Legacy of the Haunted House', which takes the approach of analysing a few haunted houses more deeply, as for me that video set the bar very high for looking at the concept of a haunted house.

Cool concept, and I liked the debunking of some misreadings.
I expected it to focus more on the mood of the settings, the locations, and more of the author’s analyses and supporting visuals.

I never expected a book about houses—haunted or otherwise—to be so interesting. Leila Taylor avoids the morbid details of true crime in favor of exploring real and fictional horrors, and does so with the precision of a professional and the charm of a close friend.

Absorbing and highly atmospheric, this is a well-written book about houses with a creepy past, whether fictional or true. The author’s tone is likeable and readable, and the information is in depth yet totally parsable. The author clearly knows her stuff!

My expectations for Sick Houses were very high as I am a big fan of horror, especially of the haunted house trope. This is a non-fiction book that unfortunately reads like a school report on horror movies. The majority of the book is just a movie synopses and summaries that are big spoilers if you haven’t seen the films. I had to skip some descriptions, because I don’t want to be spoiled the ending or the whole premise of certain books and movies – huge spoilers for the movies Us and The Amityville Horror. I expected the author to put more explorations and analysis of their own opinions, but we just got some facts about famous houses. The best quotes and metaphors were from different sources, the bibliography at the end is massive. It was interesting reading how true events can be interpreted and presented as hauntings, as in the case of the Winchester house. This house was very fascinating, but there we no photos of it. There are plenty of photos of other houses, including movie scenes from various films, which was very unnecessary in my opinion. There were no floor plans or architectural drawings of buildings, there were some photographs I can assume taken by the author, but I can’t be too sure of that. The book ends with a personal experience that the author had, but for the most part I felt like the person writing this isn’t very familiar with the things they are writing about. I was pretty disappointed and unfortunately I cannot rate it very high.
Thank you to NetGalley and Repeater Books for providing me with the ARC.

What a fascinating combination of personal experience, film criticism and social commentary! I thought this was such an interesting concept and it did not disappoint- the author’s conversational tone brings life to the analysis. I think I’d have liked to hear more on about houses in fiction but that’s just a personal preference for literary studies and doesn’t negate how interesting I found this, or how informative it was. I’ve spoken to people about this already so I’ll definitely be enthusiastically handselling on publication. Looking forward to reading the author’s other work on black southern horror!

This in not only a great breakdown of what makes haunted houses in movies work, but a greatly way to get movie recommendations. I love that each house gets a thorough run down and explanation and that it is divided neatly into parts.

I'm not really a non-fiction kind of reader, but the description really appealed to the horror lover in me, and I was not disappointed!

The book takes you on a journey through both fictional and real-life houses of horror and peculiarity, with some areas being more fully covered than others. I was really fascinated with the story behind the high-rise multiple occupancy homes both in reality and as portrayed in film. I also enjoyed that one of my favourite miniaturist content creators was referenced in the book as it was a nice personal easter egg for me. Some of the photography was also brilliant, and I found myself wanting more reference pictures and looking up a lot of images as I read.

My only complaint is it did spoil the ending of a book on my TBR, and I didn't think it really needed to be done to get across the point of the story. Although I guess it's on me for not reading faster!

Overall, if you're like me and you only read one or 2 non-fiction a year, I'd recommend this one!

I don’t typically read nonfiction so it’s only fitting that I picked this up because it was horror-related! This is a very interesting read that explores what makes the safety of the home, and dives into many pieces of literature and film and shows and the architecture of the homes that rip that safety away and set the scene for hauntings, murder, witchings, etc. She explores why those structures have such an influence on the overall “vibes” of each piece of work, why they’re perfect in creeping us out. She even goes so far as to explore the symbolism of dollhouses in films and other works. It was a very unique exploration of architecture within films and very engaging to get short blurbs of each piece of work before she dives into the “sick houses” in them.

The writing felt very conversational, not too dense, which was refreshing for a nonfiction read. I did expect more of an exploration into if certain architecture can attract bad energy but, I have to say that I enjoyed the analysis of films and shows and novels quite a bit. There were many iconic pieces of work featured that any horror lover would be happy to dive into analyzing - Ammityville Horror, Haunting of Hill House, Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, and so on.

Sick Houses is a good read that dives into how horror twists the idea of home into something terrifying. One of my favorite parts was the photos and the interesting facts—not just about haunted or creepy houses, but also about what makes a house feel like a home. It made me think about how personal and vulnerable our connection to home really is.

I loved the detailed analysis of famous houses from movies—it was so cool to see those spaces broken down in a new way. That said, there were moments when the book got a bit too detailed, and it pulled me out of the spooky mood I was expecting.

Overall, I think this book is perfect for someone who’s really passionate about the horror genre and wants to dig deeper into the themes and symbolism behind it. It’s more about exploration than scares, but if that’s what you’re looking for, it’s definitely worth reading.

All the stars! LOVED this book which has gotten my 2025 reads off to a banging start! I devoured it in two sessions so I will be returning to it to fully savour the ideas and draw up lists of the horror books and films mentioned that I already knew but feel compelled to revisit, and those that I now want to read/watch for the first time. The bibliography will be my friend. I enjoyed googling further images and info as I went. I've just preordered a physical copy as this deserves a place on my shelves.

This was an interesting and thought-provoking exploration of how our homes, traditionally places of comfort, are transformed into sites of fear in horror narratives. Taylor weaves together an impressive array of film and TV references, from classic haunted house tales to modern depictions of unsettling domestic spaces.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the depth of Taylor’s analysis, I found some chapters a bit lengthy, though that may be due to me not being a huge non-fiction reader. Overall, Sick Houses is a fascinating read for anyone intrigued by the intersection of horror and the concept of home.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: Feb. 11, 2025
Leila Taylor’s “Sick Houses: Haunted Homes and the Architecture of Dread” is a unique compilation of structures, throughout human history, that have been labeled as disturbing, off or haunted in some way. From serial killer Ed Gein’s house and the Unabomber’s shack in the woods, to real life horror stories like the house in the Amityville Horror, houses portraying other houses on screen (such as in Hitchcock’s “Psycho”) or even just those houses we identify as belonging to the neighbourhood “witch” or “crone”. Each of these structures are bricks, wood and concrete, and, at one point, was someone’s American Dream. Taylor investigates the desire for home ownership while exploring some of America’s deepest, darkest homes.
Taylor’s book is absolutely creative and new. With the number of stories, I’ve read on hauntings, possessions and all things paranormal, I never thought to look at these stories from the outside and analyze the house where the happenings occurred. Some of Taylor’s tales I am familiar with, such as “The Amityville Horror” house, but there are other, lesser known, architectural horror stories that were just as captivating, if not more so.
Taylor breaks down the book into sections and groups, making “Homes” digestible for the reader. She talks about the architectural style of the house, but does not go overboard, somehow providing the exact right amount of information on the house’s design.
Underneath all of the scary brick and mortar, Taylor delves into some deeper issues, such as the lure of the American dream and the desire for home ownership as well as society’s idea of an unmarried, childless woman being identified as a “witch” or “hag”. As mentioned, there is also some interesting architectural tidbits on the homes’ designs or specific designers (such as Frank Lloyd Wright or Sara Winchester) that kept me engaged.
“Homes” is like a true crime novel or a paranormal story but told from an entirely new perspective. Not only did Taylor provide me with more horror movies (new and old) I’ll have to keep an eye out for, but she presented me with a new way to look at what we call “haunted houses”, and the characters who reside within them.

This book dives into what kinds of houses sends shivers down our spine, has us tip toeing down the halls, and peaking around corners, but it delves into the psychological “why” we do these things. Why does this type of house or the people who dwell within them give us the heebie jeebies? Is it because horror movies taught us to fear them, or because these houses drudge forth emotions, fears, hopes, and dreams that have been instilled Into us by our culture, economy, government, race, gender, religion and socioeconomic class .

Things that go bump in the night scare us because not only has it invaded a safe haven, our home, but we can’t see it and it can see us; a gross invasion of our privacy in our most sacred space. Are we really afraid of the old women in the ivy-covered Victorian houses, or do we fear the women who invoke a power they have been taught to repress. Of a woman that defies societal norms and does not keep a house for her husband and children, only herself. Since she does not want to bear children she must want to eat them, right?

This author does a great job at pitting these many issues against plots of horror movies to prove their point. It is not a subject I typically would’ve read about without the horror innuendos, but I ended up really enjoying in the long run. Thank you to NetGalley, Leila Taylor, and Repeater Books for an advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest review.

I am obsessed with houses. Some have good "vibes" and some have bad vibes. I find that I connect more with some houses too. I research historic homes in my community and that allows me to visit and tour all sorts of places.
I even threw a birthday party in the Browning Mansion.
So naturally I wanted to read this one. I loved it. I really loved it! I learned a lot. I might buy this for my friends for Galentines day.