This Cursed House by Del Sandeen
Berkley (October 2024)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
Jemma Barker needs a fresh start, and it appears in a strange letter offering her a position with the Duchon family in New Orleans. It promises the highest pay she’s ever earned.
The author, Del Sandeen, wastes no time settling readers into the gritty anticipation of horror and mystery. When Jemma arrives in New Orleans, a woman in a café urges Jemma to return home. The driver ices her out, not wanting to speak of the Duchon place, much less see it.
This Cursed House was unputdownable from the get-go.
It’s richly gothic and impressively uses the subgenre’s infamous tropes, such as a governess/teacher called to a haunted house, ghosts, family secrets, generational curses, and nasty deaths. Sandeen’s genre blend is painfully immersive, with endless punches of dread. Whether it’s the white folks ready to deny Jemma service ,or stumbling upon the family cemetery, readers will be helplessly in suspense, anxious for the other shoe to drop.
The author’s vivid portrayal of America’s haunting past of racism and colorism made this Southern Gothic feel undeniably important in these strange times. Using the classic nerve-wracking dinner scene in gothic horror to explore colorism was as effective as shocking. The Duchons, who appear “white enough” to maintain their status and wealth, have secrets — they’ve done awful things, and they look down on anyone with darker skin. And Jemma sees more spirits than she ever has before. There’s a suffocating smell of smoke. You can taste it in the air. It’s enough to make Jemma pack her bag, but the spirits and the family need Jemma. Only she can break the curse.
Jemma’s character is fierce and scrappy. Whenever I swore at the Duchons for how they treated Jemma or because of the vile things they said, Jemma was out of her chair giving them the business. She’s very much an act-now type of character, which means there was never a dull moment in this read. Plus, there’s a lot to admire in her character arc.
The other characters have their moments, but most of the Duchons are unlikable as hell, which the author intended and stuck the landing. Even so, Sandeen has these great moments where readers can’t help but sympathize with these devils, too.
From creepy lullabies to horrid history, This Cursed House is among the best gothic horror books I’ve read. It’s cinematic in unraveling the many mysteries of the Duchon family and placing readers in a tomb of rejection and isolation that is often a reality for marginalized groups.
I do think this story could’ve been thirty or forty pages shorter to dispel occasional repetitiveness. Some of the exposition could’ve been used to beef up the scare. I’m hoping Sandeen takes us through an even more fearsome ride with her next book.
I can’t wait to see what Del Sandeen does next. If you like The Haunting of Bly Manor or Tananarive Due’s The Reformatory, you’ll love This Cursed House as much as I did.
