Model Home

The three Maxwell siblings have kept their distance from the lily-white gated enclave outside Dallas where they grew up. It wasn’t being the only Black kids in the neighborhood that pushed the children to flee, but rather the strange and inexplicable things that began to happen in the house as soon as they moved in. Was it some cosmic trial, a demonic rite of passage into the upper-class? Whatever it was, the Maxwells, steered by their formidable mother, stayed put, unwilling to abandon their home, terrors and trauma be damned. As adults, the siblings finally got away from the horrors of home, leaving their parents all alone in the house. But when news of their parents' death arrives, Ezri is forced to return to Texas with their show more sisters, Eve and Emanuelle, to reckon with their family’s past and present, and to find out what happened while they were away.
Weird things had always happened in the Maxwell house while growing up in an all-white gated neighborhood. Mom refused to believe any of it was real and would not move. Now, all three of the Maxwell siblings are grown and had left home but now have returned to their childhood home after both parents die. Were the events of their youth really supernatural, or were they because they were the first black family in the neighborhood?

It's true that this is a story about a haunted house, but it's also the story about haunted people. At the heart of this story are family secrets, as well as surprisingly, meaningful touches of love and hope. Two bodies lie in the garden of a sprawling property in Oak Creek Estate, a wealthy gated community in Dallas, Texas. The bodies belong to the parents of our three sisters, Ezri, Eve and Emmanuel, who long ago ran from their childhood home leaving their parents remaining. They hoped to never look or come back. Though the local police say that the Maxwells had planned a murder-suicide, the girls are far from being convinced, and they can’t agree whether their parents were killed by entirely human or supernatural forces.

They could agree, however, that this was a place they would never again call "home" and that they had also all been haunted, both spiritually and physically throughout their entire lives in this ritzy, white neighborhood where they grew up as the one and only, black family. It was, to no stretch of the imagination, a happy childhood. The girls had only hoped to survive this place that they always felt had wanted to expel them; ruin them; and eat them alive...all at the same time. They tried not to think about the childhood they spent there at all...but after their parents’ death, the girls are forced to confront the many reasons they had left...the nightmares that have held them captive, and the possibility that there are absolutely multiple and unspeakable realities that actually exist beyond those that they have encountered and been molded by, thus far.

The story can be described as scary, bold, tender, and powerful, all at the same time and sometimes even on the same page. The reader will join the girls to consider the power of memory, loss and most of all...identity. show less

Three sisters grew up in an otherwise all-white enclave in Texas, in a home that hated them. The oldest has a dissociative disorder, and believes that she was possessed by the woman with no face who lived in the house—a woman at least one of the other sisters had also seen. What follows is a horror story about racism. The story felt over the top in the way the best horror can be.

"We can't be disappointed by men we never once believed in"

Gut-wrenching, shocking, and heartbreaking.

This is a story about a family terrorized by a house. It's a story about racism, trauma, and gender fluidity. This story of siblings and their attempt to untangle their childhood memories of a haunted house, their parents, and what they know to be true. It bounces between one of them as a child and then as an adult, come back to the house now that their parents are both suddenly and shockingly. . .gone.

I did this as an audio with an amazing narrator and there were times I had to stop and catch my breath, the tension and dread in the story was so tight. It's hard to say I love this one but I definitely felt drawn into the story and it show more will stay with me.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. show less

fiction/haunted house horror - starring Ezri, a trans/genderfluid diabetic single parent, and their two sisters Eve and Emmanuelle, returning to a traumatic childhood home where they were the only Black family in a gated neighborhood, north of Dallas (Ezri's young teen daughter also comes along).
It starts with a text from their mother's phone number but this isn't their mother--it can only be Nightmare Mother. Ezri and their sisters cannot get a hold of their mother or father, so they fly back to their parents' house, a place they never wanted to return to but which their parents never left and a source of contention that would leave them estranged from each other. It just gets much, much worse from there, though eventually there will show more be a sort of closure when at the end it is revealed that it isn't a haint but their white neighbors who have been sneaking in at night to terrorize the girls, and the friendly neighbor Laurie has been sexually abusing Ezri to the point where they have blocked out that whole trauma and instead create memories around a vengeful ghost.

Scary and suspenseful throughout, for fans of Jordan Peele horror (thankfully without the bloody rampaging chimpanzees, though there is definitely still significant horrible trauma). show less

This was a tough read. I admit that I wasn't a big fan of it in the first half, but the second half—especially the ending—really turned it around for me. I'm pretty sure it's one of those stories that's not written to be enjoyed, anyway.

As soon as they could, the Maxwell siblings left their childhood home in its gated community far behind—and whatever presence haunted it. But when their parents pass, they're forced to face both the presence and their past.

The beginning was difficult for me, I couldn't help but think that there were a lot of "gimmicks" being used that weren't really necessary. And though this was definitely on purpose, the characters were also difficult to read. But as things progressed, it all became easier and I show more began to sympathize a lot more with everyone. Or, at the very least, understand.

Was this a true haunted house story? Maybe not, but it was satisfying. VERY satisfying, and a lot less sad than I thought it would be. Again, I still wouldn't say that I enjoyed it, but similar to Morrison's books, though there are extremely important, a lot of them aren't really written to be "enjoyed" (like, say, cozy fantasies). Readers who are expecting and wanting a classic haunted house story might be disappointed, but it was still a wonderful and masterfully written book all in all. I'll continue to devour whatever Solomon writes!

Content warnings for EDs, pedophilia, racism, homophobia and homophobic slurs, and ableism. show less

Others may have a different experience, but for me, the sinister truths around the mystery of the horrors experienced by these siblings in their childhood home were pretty clearly telegraphed from the start of Model Home. This didn't stop the book from being engrossing, engaging, and absolutely chilling. A really traumatic haunted house story.

My first Rivers Solomon book and they might be a new favorite. Excellent writing, haunting and powerful story, themes of unresolved childhood trauma, racism, grooming, and identity.