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Ezri Maxwell isn’t sure if their childhood home was haunted by literal ghosts, but they’re certain it was a place steeped in malevolence. From the day their Black family moved into the mostly white Dallas suburb, the former model home seemed intent on breaking their spirits—inflicting fear, harm, and a relentless sense of dread. As soon as they were old enough, Ezri and their sisters escaped, desperate to leave the trauma behind. Their parents, however, stayed—until their lives ended in what appeared to be a murder-suicide. Now, Ezri and their siblings are left to unravel not just the truth of their parents’ deaths but also the tangled web of their shared past. And one question looms over them: Was this tragedy truly as it seemed, or did the house claim its final victims?
Calling Model Home a haunted house story feels as reductive as describing It as being about a clown. Rivers Solomon’s chilling new novel takes the genre and reshapes it into something far more profound—a harrowing examination of grief, trauma, and the ways the past refuses to stay buried. At its heart is Ezri, whose narration is as complex and fragmented as the memories they’re trying to make sense of. Years of unresolved pain and mental health struggles, filtered through changing diagnoses and the burden of their mother’s ambivalence, make Ezri a deeply human and at times unreliable storyteller.
Solomon masterfully layers Ezri’s present struggles—learning to navigate parenthood, reconciling their identity, and connecting with their estranged sisters—against the looming shadow of their childhood. The house, with its unsettling malice, is more than a setting; it’s a manifestation of generational scars, societal hostility, and the way trauma seeps into every corner of life. As Ezri reflects on their mother’s resistance to leaving behind her career for full-time motherhood, parallels emerge that deepen the story’s emotional resonance. The novel powerfully illustrates how the past doesn’t merely inform the present—it actively haunts it.
Model Home is more than a tale of supernatural terror; it’s a visceral exploration of self-doubt, fractured family ties, and the enduring impact of childhood wounds. Solomon’s unflinching narrative is as gut-wrenching as it is compelling, cementing the novel as a standout addition to the haunted house canon. This is a story that lingers long after the final page, leaving readers to reckon with their own ghosts.
