I am always game for great haunted house story and even more game when it comes from Christina Henry. However, what Henry gives us in The Place Where They Buried Your Heart is something far more from your typical spooky haunted house tale, but an unsettling supernatural horror filled with grief, family, and loyalty.
On an otherwise ordinary street in Chicago, there is a house. An abandoned house where, once upon a time, terrible things happened. The children who live on this block are told by their parents to stay away from that house. But of course, children don’t listen. Children think it’s fun to be scared, to dare each other to go inside.
Jessie Campanelli did what many older sisters do and dared her little brother Paul. But unlike all the other kids who went inside that abandoned house, Paul didn’t return. His two friends, Jake and Richie, said that the house ate Paul. Of course adults didn’t believe that. Adults never believe what kids say. They thought someone kidnapped Paul, or otherwise hurt him. They thought Paul had disappeared in a way that was ordinary, explainable.
The disappearance of her little brother broke Jessie’s family apart in ways that would never be repaired. Jessie grew up, had a child of her own, kept living on the same street where the house that ate her brother sat, crouched and waiting. And darkness seemed to spread out from that house, a darkness that was alive—alive and hungry.
Christina Henry is no rookie when it comes to haunted house stories, speaking specially about the wonderful The House that Horror Built. So it comes as no surprise that I was be game for her latest haunted tale, The Place Where They Buried Your Heart. Heading into the story I was expecting something a bit different, but what we got was something far better. A truly eerie horror story that has many more levels than a typical straightforward haunted house tale.
The Place Where They Buried Your Heart is a blend of terrify monster story, murder tale, and family drama. This combination made for a multifaceted and complex story that had me quickly turning each page. What seems as a haunted house story turns into a tale of how the past can haunt us across generations. And while the story focuses around one specific creepy house, it really is about a haunted neighborhood over many years.
I feel most of us have felt that we cannot escape where we grew up and that even if the grass is greener and you can blaze your own path elsewhere, we feel stuck in our hometown. This is the same for Jessie and a number of other neighbors but to a whole other level. Feeling stuck is one thing, but being haunted by the past while also grieving is another. The Place Where They Buried Your Heart truly had me gripped.
The Place Where They Buried Your Heart is a unique and original haunted house story that blends the eerie supernatural with family and generational grief. This is a horror story with heart and takes us places we didn’t think we could go. Christina Henry really knows how to grab us and not let go.
The Place Where They Buried Your Heart hits bookstores everywhere on November 4, 2025 from Berkley. The audiobook, narrated by Leiana Bertrand, is available for preorder via Libro.fm!
