Some stories are those in which the description of the tale draws you in and makes you need to read, The Unhaunting by Micaiah Johnson was one of those books. A twist on the traditional haunted house story, The Unhaunting pulled me in with a great concept, unique storytelling, a haunting that was original.
At the end of the Civil War, a daughter of the Confederacy made what she thought was an innocent wish: to build a house where nothing bad could happen. But peace came at a price, and one hundred and seventy years later Shantell and her friends are about to discover where all that darkness ended up.
When Shantell’s best friend, Avery, tells her he has inherited a house big enough to make their dreams of a sanctuary come true, she’s too cautious to be optimistic. A lifetime of loss — her father to the Iraq war, her brother to police violence, and her mother to suicide — has taught her cynicism, and even though Avery swears the house has never experienced a tragedy, she goes along expecting everything from black mold to evil spirits.
But not only is the house in better shape than they’d expected, it makes them better too: Shantell’s anxiety stops flaring up; terminally shallow Avery is suddenly capable of deeper emotions; and Tobias, Avery’s older brother and the contractor for the job, even quits chain smoking.
There’s an eeriness to the calm, and it’s almost a relief when they realize they do not walk alone in Abernathy House. If nothing bad has ever happened here, where are all these ghosts coming from? As they dig into the house’s history, Shantell, Avery, and Tobias discover that there’s only one thing worse than a house that’s haunted: a house that desperately wants to be.
Haunted house stories are a dime-a-dozen these days, but what makes stories such as The Unhaunting special is how you handle said haunted house. Johnson crafts a story that starts with a tried and true concept, but spins in on its axis to give us something fresh and unique, while also terrifying. The author blends the paranormal with history, family drama, and entitlement to give us a haunted tale that definitely surprised me.
The Unhaunting was a definite surprise, but overall with the story itself and characters connected with me a bit more. There isn’t one over-arching thing that tells me this, but just overall feeling I got when reading the book. There is this sense of disconnect between me and the story at hand, which could completely be just me. I was entertained throughout, just not as deeply engrained as I had hoped. I am extremely glad I stayed around till the end, as the twist is something I didn’t see coming.
The Unhaunting is a unique take on the haunted house concept with a spin that kept things fresh and exciting. Micaiah Johnson puts a touch on the paranormal that I wasn’t really expecting, but surprised me in the end. The twist in The Unhaunting made this haunted house story unique, making for a great experience.
The Unhaunting hits bookstores everywhere on September 29, 2026 from G.P. Putnam’s Sons. The audiobook, narrated by Emma Ladji, is available via Libro.fm!
