A haunted house is a violent one.

Model Home is an incredible take on the haunted house trope that explores familial bonds and generational trauma. The book opens on our main character Ezri, who is traveling back to their childhood home in Dallas with their daughter, Elijah. After being estranged from their parents throughout their adult life, Ezri finds their parents dead in their home in an apparent murder-suicide. However, Ezri, joined by their sisters, Eve and Emmanuelle, suspect their death is due to the house, which they had long considered haunted. 

We learn more about Ezri, Even and Emmanuelle's childhoods through flashbacks throughout the book, which informs some of the parallel narratives we see with Ezri and Ezri's daughter Elijah, and all of the horrors the children experienced throughout growing up. The character development throughout the book was amazing and I particularly appreciated seeing how the family bonded through the tragedy of losing their parents and how they reckon with the grief associated both with their childhood and losing their parents.  I also loved the sessions between Ezri and Max, their therapist, to understand Ezri better and how they processed their trauma. 

The last quarter of the book I was absolutely rapt and needed to figure out what was happening to everyone. This was a fantastic novel, but check the content as it is quite heavy and so many of the events that happened left me feeling so anxious and worried for these characters. 

I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrator, Gabby Beans, brought each and every character to life. She gave everyone a unique voice and brought so much to the story. I highly recommend listening to this as an audiobook as a result. 

Thank you so much to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the advanced copy.