Christina Henry’s latest release, The Place Where They Buried Your Heart, is for more than just horror fans. It’s a story of redemption. The book is a David and Goliath tale, as a young woman, Jessie, faces an ever-looming monster. Henry has crafted a story that is hauntingly spooky, a page-turner despite my wanting to slam the book shut and hope the characters pack up their homes and move as far away as possible. But beyond the scare tactics of shifting stairs, doors that can’t be opened, and walls that bite, The Place Where They Buried Your Heart is filled with tenderness, the ever-expanding capacity of human connection, and sacrifice.
Henry’s take on the haunted house begins with a young barely teen Jessie, grounded and bitter. Her little brother Paul wants to cheer her up and get his playmate back. Instead, Jessie does what older siblings do best—offers up a dare to clear him out of her room. Unlike most dares that may end up with a punishment of their own, Paul’s ends with him never coming home. The house down the street ate him is one of the tales, and it begins to become harder and harder to refute as Jessie’s family and anyone who dares enter the house, get picked off one by one. As the house’s powers grow each time blood is spilled, Jessie, now a mom herself, vows to find a way to stop it before it takes her beloved again.
The characters in the book face a large looming monster that seems invincible and too powerful to conquer, but they never run. The group that witnessed the bulk of the tragedy and brought the house to its fullest power refuses to leave their neighborhood to be devoured. They keep watch, they listen, they do the best they can, because they're both witnesses and sentinels waiting for their comeback. The themes of holding a strong stance not just against a haunted house, but to any monster looming in life prevail throughout the book, alongside the self-driven power of belief that aids in the house's eventual demise. If you dwell in the ideations of evil and let them permeate your thoughts, that is what will be. But holding tight to your hope and credence can be your shield.
Christina Henry writes the kind of horror I can get behind. For someone who is a little weak in the knees, this was the perfect level of scare plus heart and intellect to keep me enthralled and not up all night wishing I hadn’t turned the page. The characters themselves, Jessie, Ted Jake, Sheila and Frances, are gripping forces in Henry’s novel. The reader is rooting for them every unthinkable step of the way. We see the changing face of neighborhoods and what that means for the disappearances and impact of community. Something very familiar is happening on the Chicago streets in Henry’s book, multifamily homes are being demolished to make way for single family mega-mansions, forever limiting each block's potential for eyes on the street. As the breezes turn chilly and rustle the leaves, as the nights begin earlier and rats scurry (hopefully not into my house), The Place Where They Buried Your Heart should be moved to the top of your must-read stack.
The Place Where They Buried Your Heart (Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House) is available where all books are sold as of Nov. 4. For more information about this book and others by Christina Henry, visit christinahenry.net.
