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Book: “Haunt Sweet Home” by Sarah Pinsker
Publishing Info: Tordotcom, September 2024
Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.
Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound
Book Description: On the set of a kitschy reality TV show, staged scares transform into unnerving reality in this spooky ghost story from multiple Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Sarah Pinsker.
“Don’t talk to day about what we do at night.”
When aimless twenty-something Mara lands a job as the night-shift production assistant on her cousin’s ghost hunting/home makeover reality TV show Haunt Sweet Home, she quickly determines her new role will require a healthy attitude toward duplicity. But as she hides fog machines in the woods and improvises scares to spook new homeowners, a series of unnerving incidents on set and a creepy new coworker force Mara to confront whether the person she’s truly been deceiving and hiding from all along―is herself.
Eerie and empathetic, Haunt Sweet Home is a multifaceted, supernatural exploration of finding your own way into adulthood, and into yourself.
Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novella!
Well, Summer is pretty much over, and while I do admit I will miss the pool and other outdoor activities as the temperatures drop, Autumn is my favorite season and it’s no contest. I am also one of those weirdos who decides that Halloween Season begins the moment that Labor Day ends, and what better way to celebrate that than with a spooky book? And if you are looking for a spooky book that isn’t TOO spooky, well then do I have a good title for you: “Haunt Sweet Home” by Sarah Pinsker! Are you kind of interested in getting in the Halloween mood, but don’t want to dive in too deep, either because you aren’t a lunatic like I am or because you like your horror a little on the lighter side? Then look no further.
This is a novella, so it’s a pretty quick read, but for being quick it hit all of the correct beats and parsed out an engaging and at times eerie ghost story while also effectively taking on mediocre reality TV shows. I never got into home improvement shows, but I do have some experience with ghost hunting TV, and “Haunt Sweet Home” nails the false pretenses of reality TV and the way it can manipulate those who participate and those who consume. We follow Mara, a twenty something who hasn’t found her lot in life yet and is convinced to join her cousin’s incredibly successful reality TV show where he not only renovates and makes over houses, but also investigates hauntings. Mara becomes a lower rung PA and finds out how the sausage gets made on a show like this, but also encounters some strange, and perhaps otherworldly, characters along the way. It’s a ghost story that has a genuine self discovery theme, and I found it to be honest about the frustrations of not knowing your path as well as honest about the faux imagry of reality TV. I especially liked the way that Pinsker frames the novella with excerpts of pivotal episode transcripts for “Haunt Sweet Home”, and how they seem to show one thing, but then slowly reveal something else as the story goes on. As someone who doesn’t watch a lot of reality TV but is also deeply fascinated with the genre and how produced it actually is I really enjoyed the peek behind the curtain here.
And while I didn’t find this book particularly scary, I don’t think that being scary was the goal. And that worked in its favor, as the coziness of this tale is hard to deny and the journey of self discovery is pretty well done. Mara’s encounters with the supernatural are pretty clear if you know what to look for from the jump, and even when they are revealed its less a surprise and more of a puzzle piece that helps explain her motivations going forward, and a fairly enjoyable arc for our somewhat aimless protagonist. It’s the kind of spooky-esque read that would be perfect for people who don’t really like super scary stories, but want something to pick up during Autumn as the leaves turn and Halloween creeps up upon us. Mara had a tendency to be a bit frustrating at times, but I don’t think that was unintentional, and because of that it worked pretty well for the narrative.
Overall, if you want a more gentle and cozy horror tale for the upcoming spooky season, “Haunt Sweet Home” is a pretty good option. It’s quick, it’s charming, it has vibes for the Halloween fiends who want gentler fare for sure.
Rating 7: An introspective ghost story about bad reality TV and self discovery, “Haunt Sweet Home” is a quick read perfect for the upcoming Autumn season.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Haunt Sweet Home” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of yet, but it would fit in with other Cozy Horror books.
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