“They say you can’t go home again, but of course you can. It’s just that when you get there, somebody may have repainted and changed the fixtures around.”
A House with Good Bones is the Goodreads Choice Award-nominated 2023 horror novel by T. Kingfisher. The story follows Sam, a young woman who returns to her childhood home on a North Carolina street to spend a visit with her mother. She’s looking forward to watching murder mystery shows and sharing boxed wines, but, upon her arrival, quickly realises that things are not quite right inside the home. The walls have been painted sterile white, her mother jumps at the smallest sounds and in the garden she discovers a jar of teeth. As she delves into what has made her mother so frightened in her own home, Sam quickly discovers that some secrets are better off being left buried. If you love tales brimming with eerie atmospheres, gothic elements and family mysteries, join us today at What We Reading for the best books like A House With Good Bones!
The Twisted Ones – T. Kingfisher
Kicking off our list of the best books like A House with Good Bones is another one of T. Kingfisher’s best horror novels, The Twisted Ones. When she is asked by her father, Mouse agrees to clean out her recently deceased grandmother’s home in North Carolina. To her dismay, she arrives to find that her grandma had been a serial hoarder and that her estate is crammed full of useless rubbish.
Whilst cleaning, Mouse stumbles upon her step-grandfather’s journal, which contains all manner of terrifying things he described for herself. Alone in the woods with just her dog for company, Mouse soon finds herself face-to-face with a series of seemingly otherworldly terrors. And, if she doesn’t face them head-on, she might not survive long enough to tell the tale.
Mexican Gothic – Silvia Moreno-Garcia
After receiving a panicked letter from her newlywed cousin begging her to rescue her from a mysterious doom, Noemi Taboada finds herself arriving at High Plae, a distant estate in the Mexican countryside. In her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick, Noemi doesn’t appear the typical sleuth; however, tough and smart, she soon finds herself ensnared in the grips of High Place’s inhabitants as well as the house itself, which begins invading her dreams with visions of blood and doom.
Many secrets are lurking within the walls of High Place, secrets about the family’s dark past. Their once colossal wealth and mighty mining empire have protected them from the prying eyes of the public; yet, as she digs deeper, Noemi soon unearths grim stories of violence and madness. One of the best creepy gothic books like A House with Good Bones, Mexican Gothic is a chilling, atmospheric and seductive invite into the world of High Place.
Check Out The Best Books Like Mexican Gothic
The Little Stranger – Sarah Waters
One postwar summer, Dr Faraday is summoned to a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two hundred years, this once-grand Georgian estate has fallen further and further into disrepair. Its gardens are choked by weeds, its masonry has started to crumble and the clock in the stable yard is permanently fixed at twenty to nine.
The house’s owners – mother, son and daughter – are struggling to keep up with a society rapidly changing around them, as well as with their own inner conflicts. But, are the Ayreses haunted by something more sinister than the changing winds of time? Similar to A House with Good Bones, Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger follows Dr Faraday as he investigates the house and its residents, soon learning how their story is about to become terrifyingly intertwined with his own.
Check Out The Best Indie Horror Books
The Invited – Jennifer McMahon
Searching for a simpler life, Helen and Nate abandon all the comforts of suburban life to make a new home for themselves on forty-four acres of rural land where they will construct their own house of their dreams. When they learn that this beautiful piece of land has a terrible past, Helen becomes consumed by the local legend of Hattie Breckenridge, a woman who lived and died there a hundred years ago.
With her keen eye for artefacts, Helen picks up special materials that become a part of the new house. Materials that tie her even closer to the story of Hattie and her descendants, all women who died under mysterious circumstances. In Jennifer McMahon’s The Invited, as the couple progresses with their building project, they unwittingly construct a new home that beckons its owners and their neighbours toward unimaginable danger.
Plain Bad Heroines – Emily M. Danforth
In 1902 at The Brookhants School for Girls, best friends Flo and Clara are obsessed with each other and a young novelist named Mary MacLane, the bestselling author of a scandalous memoir. The two girls founded their club known as The Plain Bad Heroine Society in devotion to Mary. They meet at a nearby apple orchard where, one day, their bodies are discovered by the police with a copy of Mary’s book splayed beside them. Just three years later, the school closes for good, with another three mysterious deaths recorded on its grounds.
Over a century on, the derelict Brookhants finds itself back in the headlines when another writer, Merritt Emmons, publishes a book celebrating the queer-feminist history sounding the Gilded-Age Institution. The success of the book inspires a controversial horror film adaptation. But, as the Brookhants opens its gates once again and three new heroines step foot on its grounds, the past and present become grimly entangled in Emily Danforth’s Plain Bad Heroines.
Diavola – Jennifer Marie Thorne
Anna has two strict rules for the yearly Pace family holiday: tread lightly, and survive. These are two rules that are easier said than done, especially when she’s the only one in the family who doesn’t seem to ever fit in. Her twin brother, Benny, goes with the flow so much he has practically dissolved. Elder sister, Nicole, is so used to everyone following her lead that Anna often ends up in trouble for simply asking a question. Her mother questions all of her life choices, whereas her father just wants some peace and quiet.
The idyllic remote villa in tiny Monteperso looks like the perfect location to endure so much family togetherness. That is until things start going awry. Strange noises at night, unsettling warnings from the locals, and the dark, bloody history of the villa itself all help make Jennifer Marie Thorne’s Diavola the perfect follow-up to A House with Good Bones for any readers looking for another dark horror featuring all-too-familiar family dynamics.
The Homecoming – Andrew Pyper
After the death of their absent father, Aaron and Bridge Quinnlan travel to a remote cabin in the middle of a vast rainforest to hear the reading of his will. There, they meet up with their troubled sister, Franny, and their loving mother and are shocked to discover the will’s terms: to claim their slice of their father’s fortunes, they must remain within the perimeters of the estate with zero contact with the outside world for thirty days. Despite their concerns, they all agree.
The Quinnlans soon come to discover that their family has more secrets than they ever could have imagined, revelations that soon flip their curiosity to terror. Andrew Pyper’s The Homecoming is a gripping psychological thriller that, like A House with Good Bones, explores how people you’ve known your whole life can suddenly become total strangers.
Check Out Our The Homecoming Book Review
The Spite House – Johnny Compton
Having left his wife and home in Maryland behind, Eric Ross and his two daughters are on the run from a mysterious past. But, when he stumbles upon a strange ad for the Masson House in Degener, Texas, he believes his luck may have finally begun to change. One of the most haunted estates in the country is in need of a caretaker; a caretaker capable of proving the existence of the paranormal. All Eric and his daughters need to do is remain in the house and document everything that happens. Provided the horrors don’t drive them mad like those that came before them.
The three of them will receive a huge payout if they’re able to make it through. Eric is also keen to learn more about the secrets lurking in the Spite House, hoping that they will provide the answers as to why his family are always driven from town to town. Like A House with Good Bones, Johnny Compton’s The Spite House is a terrifying Southern Gothic about grief, death and the depths of a family’s love.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
