Killer House Party

Starred review from August 1, 2024
High school friends must survive a haunted graduation party. When valedictorian Arden's perfect future--a private college that guarantees medical school admission--is derailed because her feuding, divorced real estate agent parents spent her tuition money on Bucktown's notoriously haunted house, the Deinhart Manor, she's devastated. All she's ever wanted was to dismantle the fatphobic and racist medical system that works against people of color like her (Arden is Black and Puerto Rican). Luckily, her two best friends, Remi and Maddy May, have a money-making plan to save her college dreams: charging admission for a graduation party at the spooky, abandoned manor. White queer Remi can't wait to see her crush at the party; bilingual Mexican American Maddy May has a complicated relationship with her drama club co-star, the Romeo to her Juliet. The celebratory mood quickly changes once the teens realize the house won't let anyone leave. Teaming up with her former fling, Nathaniel, a Black science geek, Arden and her friends work together to figure out why the manor wants to keep everyone inside. In her latest, Anderson revamps the haunted house narrative while weaving in complex characters whose bonds and hope for the future can save them all. Vivid descriptions contribute to the palpable suspense as the pace builds and the stakes rise. A hauntingly beautiful take on a classic horror story that will leave readers' skin crawling in the best way possible.(Horror. 14-18)

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Starred review from August 1, 2024
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Right before high-school graduation, Arden's recently divorced parents have sunk her college fund into their latest real estate venture: renovating the Deinhart Manor, a grand, crumbling building with a gruesome history. To recoup her losses so she can finally leave her dead-end town, Arden and her friends decide to throw a fundraiser graduation party at Deinhart, banking on her classmates' curiosity to make them willing to fork over cash to finally get a peek firsthand. But of course, once all those partying teens are packed inside, the terrifying occurrences begin: first the doors and windows seal shut, then the walls start bleeding, portals open, ghostly figures appear in mirrors, possessed teens in a ballroom are compelled to dance until their bones break, and more. Anderson (Scout's Honor, 2022) seems to gleefully play with haunted-house tropes here, blending not only a wide variety of hauntings in the house but a beguiling array of urban legends about the original Deinhart family, all of which slyly come together in the plot. There's a compelling, critical undercurrent that encourages readers to think about how ghost stories begin and what keeps them alive in cultural memory, but at its core, this is pure fun for horror fans, with sharply drawn teen characters, lively banter, and a deft balance between moments of comedy and genuine scares.

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August 12, 2024
It’s all fun and games until doors start bleeding, carpets devour stabbing victims, and exits lock down during a haunted house party fundraiser in this scary-snarky thriller by Anderson (Scout’s Honor). Afro-Latina Arden Lazano Flack would skip graduation and jump directly to college if her divorced real estate agent parents didn’t blow her tuition savings to buy the long-abandoned, likely haunted Deinhart Manor. Arden’s best friends, Mexican American Maddy May and white Remi, assert that everyone wants to party in a haunted house, and encourage her to plan a get-together in the manor as a tuition fundraiser and alternative to the school-sponsored Sober Grad Night. With her friends’ help—and keys pilfered from her parents’ office—apprehensive Arden throws a rager. The party promises social and financial success—until all the scary rumors about the house start to come true. With her trademark snappy dialogue, Anderson elevates high school drama and haunted house horror tropes. The characters’ steadfast found family dynamics and individual motivations and future goals are a hopeful undercurrent, even as Arden’s dreams of life after high school morph into a real-life nightmare. Ages 14–up. Agent: Laura Zats, Headwater Literary.

November 22, 2024

Gr 9 Up-Anderson delivers a lively blend of supernatural horror and high school drama, centered around Arden, a straight-A valedictorian brimming with academic ambition and simmering resentment. After her parents' bitter divorce, Arden's college savings are drained to fund their plan to convert the eerie Deinhart Manor into a bed-and-breakfast. Arden's sense of betrayal ignites a journey both into a haunted house and a fractured family. With her best friends and witty, on-again-off-again love interest Nathaniel, Arden aims to throw the ultimate end-of-year booze-fueled party to raise money-but things take a dark turn when the house begins trapping them inside. Despite blood-soaked walls and malevolent spirits, the teens' banter and sarcasm lighten the novel's grim tone, evoking a Scooby Doo-vibe and occasionally straining readers' patience. Through alternating chapters detailing Deinhart Manor's sinister past, the story touches on social themes like body image, racial injustice, and agency in a refreshing way, as Arden questions her small-town limitations. While the narrative attempts a poignant reflection on adolescence and friendship, some may find the jarring tonal shifts-teens quipping about hookups while facing deadly spirits-disorienting. The ending provides a hopeful twist, though it leaves Arden's future frustratingly unclear. VERDICT A unique mix of haunting and humor that captures the volatility of youth and the belief that one's future is worth the fight, even against the supernatural.-Lee De Groft

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