The House That Eats the Dead - by Max Doty (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A family moves into their dream home--only to discover that it hides an insatiable hunger--in this dread-laced and darkly outrageous domestic horror novel.

"Doty's devilishly voracious novel ended up devouring me."--Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes and Devil Inside

The new house is a fresh start for Claire and her family. It's a move away from the cityscape of a declining San Francisco and towards the quiet suburban life she has craved since her turbulent childhood; a step up the corporate ladder for her husband, Tom; and a safe haven for their two children.

Yet as they unpack their boxes, she senses something is wrong. Fresh flowers dry up, store-bought eggs are inexplicably hollow, and her daughter's favorite toy disappears. Claire soon confronts a series of impossible truths: The house is hungry. It's devouring anything that was once alive. And only Claire and Tom, the owners of the house, will remember that this "food" ever existed.

When Claire exploits the house's power in a moment of weakness, she and the house forge a fragile bond. But as its hunger intensifies and Claire loses control, she fears who else might be drawn to her home--and what sinister appetites they'll bring.

Review Quotes

"An ingenious take on haunted houses, The House That Eats the Dead is a delightfully bloody story about the sacrifices people make for stability. I adored Claire and enjoyed cheering for her as she navigated the horrors that came with her new house. With a clever premise and a tightly paced escalation, I was hooked up until the deeply satisfying conclusion."--Bonnie Quinn, author of the How to Survive Camping series

"A wonderful exploration of love, loss, pain, memory, and the nature of good and evil--as well as a fun read and absolute page-turner!"--Kelly Dwyer, author of Ghost Mother

"Doty has taken the most domesticated horror premise on the shelf and found the one raw nerve nobody else thought to bite down on: the horror of complicity rather than possession. . . . Fresh, nasty, and genuinely hard to shake."--The Ginger Nuts of Horror

"Haunted house narratives are an enduring cornerstone of horror, but Max Doty's debut finds a genuinely original angle by turning an idyllic suburban dream home into a living, hungry predator. . . . Treating the house as a ravenous creature with a stomach and a sulky personality, Doty masterfully transforms domestic comfort into a claustrophobic nightmare of mounting paranoia, weaving dark suburban humor with escalating psychological tension, making the residence itself one of the year's most memorable horror creations. Grounded by strong emotional stakes, The House That Eats the Dead is an inventive, deeply disturbing debut."--SciFiNow

"With the grisly, irreverent fun of a grown-up Goosebumps or perhaps Grady Hendrix anchored with a Pet Sematary-esque moral temptation, this one is nothing short of an absolute page turner . . . Deeply original, thought-provoking if you'd like it to be, and ridiculously entertaining regardless."--FanFiAddict

"Here I am, thinking I'm the one devouring The House That Eats the Dead, only to learn--too late--that Max Doty's devilishly voracious novel ended up devouring me. Better put your fear in escrow before opening this book. Your heart's going to need it."--Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Devil Inside

"An all-consuming horror, Max Doty's fast-paced and deliciously unhinged debut, The House That Eats the Dead, gives a fun twist to the haunted house novel."--Leigh Radford, author of One Yellow Eye

"Max Doty subverts the idea of home-as-sanctuary in this tense domestic horror. A darkly thrilling delight . . . I devoured it in great gulps."--Charlotte Cross, author of The Brides

"The House That Eats the Dead rips. It's that rare book with a premise big enough to mess with your moral equilibrium while still moving like a runaway train. Max Doty peers straight into the blacker corners of the human soul and reports back without blinking. It's nasty, smart, satisfying, and enormously fun. I had a great time with it."--Scott Hawkins, author of The Library at Mount Char

About the Author

Max Doty is a veteran game-writer who served as the head of content for Choices: Stories You Play and Surviving High School, for which he also wrote two spin-off novels. His screenplay Almost Kings won Netflix's inaugural "Find Your Voice" award and was made into a feature film. Max regularly contributes to reddit's NoSleep forum as scarymaxx, where his works often appear at the top of the charts. He holds a BA and an MA from Stanford University as well as an MFA from Arizona State University.