What readers think of Model Home, plus links to write your own review.

Model Home is the fourth novel by award-winning American author, Rivers Solomon. When Ezri Washington Maxwell gets a text from their Mama’s phone that reads “Children, I miss your screams. Come play.” they know it’s from the Nightmare Mother, the Ghost Mother, the woman without a face in the attic, the reason they left the family’s north Dallas gated community, where they were the only Black family, eighteen years earlier and fled to England. They share the message with their sisters back in Texas, Eve and Emmanuelle.

Ezri already understands that “It’s stupid to run from pain instead of to it because pain always comes, and if I could just accept that, life would not be a constant fluctuation between numbness and fear.”

Calls and texts to their parents have gone unanswered, and Eve comes straight back with a demand that they return home. Soon Ezri is on a plane with their fourteen-year-old daughter, Elijah. It’s Ezri who is sent to 677 Acacia Drive in Oak Creek Estates to do a welfare check on their Mama and Pop. They’re not in the house, but they are on the property, deceased, and while it looks like a murder/suicide, Ezri knows it isn’t: the house killed them, the house that terrorised them all throughout their childhood.

“A family hurts. It does. We are born in its noose.” How they came to live there, what happened to them, and why their parents didn’t pack up their family and leave, is gradually revealed in discussions between the siblings, extracts of Ezri’s therapy sessions and the flashbacks to the siblings’ childhoods, which are distinguished by the irritating feature of lacking quote marks for speech.

Solomon includes some dark themes in the story and their protagonist makes some puzzling choices, indulging in risky behaviour, and their care of Elijah comes under critical scrutiny. Most of the narrative is carried by Ezri, with Elijah taking a minor role, and it becomes gradually apparent that Ezri’s might not be entirely reliable. There are a few twists and surprises before the resolution. A thought-provoking and challenging read.

This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Random House UK Cornerstone

"Model Home" by Rivers Solomon takes the standard haunted house novel and gives it a modern, woke twist. Imagine a neurodivergent family facing evil spirits on top of that inconvenience. When three very different siblings turn up at their loathed childhood home to find their parents dead, emotions come up for which they are unprepared. The house becomes the main suspect.

The multiple timelines serve a purpose. Ezri analyzes her childhood compared to the modern child-rearing they must do. Today, her siblings live genderless and explore veganism, allowing the family to examine how their upbringing influenced their contemporary existence. As a character, Ezri lacks direction from their past. A world of hookup apps introduces them to men who take advantage of their low self-esteem.

Goodreads lists this as an "LGBT" novel, and most of the characters qualify, but what stands out is the kind of universal humanity that they show to one another. You do not expect this in the horror genre, but the family drama is convincing and compelling. Novels about perfect people annoy the heck out of me.

Children faced with life after the death of both parents experience a broad spectrum of emotions. These adults know that their mother and father mistreated them and realize that they may never have closure. These elements of family drama make you forget that you are reading horror and allow you to enjoy the individuals. I think we all relate to holding a funeral for someone about whom you had mixed feelings.

When you receive answers, you will think it was right in front of your face the whole time. Since the lack of a specific genre limits cliches, you do not see it coming. Just be prepared for a late climax and empathize with the siblings' eeriness and pronounced wariness.