THE PLACE WHERE THEY BURIED YOUR HEART by Christina Henry – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Place Where They Buried Your Heart by Christina Henry
Published by Berkley on November 4 2025
Genres: Adult, Horror
Pages: 320
Format: Finished hardcover
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Christina Henry masterfully tackles the haunted house trope in this riveting coming-of-age story, infused with otherworldly terrors and heart-wrenching emotion.

“Nobody ever said the house was dangerous—that is, beyond the obvious fact that it was an old, rotting house. More than one kid needed an extra tetanus shot after going in there, but nobody died. Nobody died until Paul.”

I am a long time Christina Henry fan, and I can say without a doubt that The Place Where They Buried Your Heart is her best book yet. This is a tense, scary story with so many layers and a distinctive narrative voice that compels you to keep reading. The best horror stories are the ones with gut-punching emotional moments, and this book is full of complex family relationships and dynamics. It’s also eerie and terrifying, which makes it one of those rare finds for me—a perfect story.

Henry splits her tale into two timelines. In 1993, we meet thirteen-year-old Jessie Campanelli and her little brother Paul, who live in the suburbs of Chicago. Jessie is a typical teen and older sister, giving her brother the brush-off one day when he wants to play Monopoly with her. Trying to get rid of him, Jessie dares Paul to go inside the neighborhood “spooky” house, which is just down the street. Paul takes the dare and convinces his friends Jake and Richie to tag along.

The McIntyre House has been abandoned for the last twenty years, ever since Glen McIntyre came home from work one day in 1973, killed his family and then committed suicide, a tragedy that’s hung over the neighborhood ever since. Over the years, kids have broken into the house, but nothing bad has ever happened—until now. Paul, Richie and Jake go into the house, but only Richie and Jake come out. They claim Paul was “eaten” by the house, but of course, no one believes them. But Paul is indeed gone. There’s no body, and attempts by the police to search for the missing boy end in failure. Paul’s disappearance sets off a horrific chain of events that the neighborhood’s residents will never recover from.

The second part of the book begins four years later in 1997. Jessie still lives in the neighborhood, keeping watch over the McIntyre House—which has been relatively quiet—just in case it decides to “wake up.” And when the house inevitably begins to stir and take more victims, Jessie and Jake—now in high school and one of Jessie’s best friends—decide to shut it down once and for all.

Obviously I’ve left out most of the plot to avoid spoilers, but there is a whole lot more that happens. Henry’s story is intricate and rich and covers almost thirty years. Kids grow up and families move away, but some of them stay, including Jessie, who feels bound to the neighborhood because of Paul. Even though his disappearance was never solved, she holds onto a sliver of hope that he might emerge from the house one day. This yearning, along with a deep sense of guilt that Paul’s disappearance was her fault, propels the story forward. Because the mystery was never solved, the outcome could be nearly anything, and that’s what keeps Jessie—and the reader—going.

The entire story is told from Jessie’s first person point of view, and we follow her life over a period of about thirteen years, so you can imagine a lot happens during that time. I loved the way the reader learns about some of the “off page” events, things that Jessie didn’t experience first hand. For example, three years after Paul’s disappearance, Jake tells Jessie exactly what happened to the three boys inside the house, and it was chilling to finally learn the truth. There’s another “story” near the end when Jessie and Jake meet a strange man who fills in more of the blanks of the past, explaining how he was involved with the McIntyre family as a child. All of these accounts are chilling, and pieced together with the research that Jessie and Jake have been doing over the years, a fractured yet terrifying picture begins to emerge.

Henry doesn’t hold back when it comes to the horror—both otherworldly and human—so readers who might be upset by things like verbal and physical abuse, death of a child, suicide or graphic violence should beware. It’s all appropriate for this story, though, and each element is integral and important to her tale. She also does a great job of building dread. For much of the story, the reader doesn’t know what’s going on in the house, but it’s the way the neighborhood residents react to various events that creates so much tension. When the house’s secrets are finally revealed, I was stunned. Henry doesn’t follow the traditional haunted house playbook, but instead adds a twist that I didn’t see coming.

Equally well done are the characters and their relationship with each other. At its heart, this is a coming-of-age story about loss and acceptance, growing up and finding your way amidst tragedy. Jessie has terrible luck with her own family, but she eventually finds a father-like figure who is everything her own father (and mother) were not. I loved Jessie’s friendship with Jake, who fills in as a surrogate brother. They share a special bond—the secret of what happened to Paul—and through the years, they continue to support each other. Jessie’s relationship with her mother was by far the most heartbreaking, but Henry figures out a way for Jessie to rise above it later in the story. I won’t say more due to spoilers, but I thought it was a brilliant addition to the story.

One more thing: the title makes sense once you read the book, and it couldn’t be more perfect for the story. It works on several levels, which is what all good titles do. The Place Where They Buried Your Heart was outstanding, and it’s one of my favorite books of the year.

Big thanks to the publisher and Kaye Publicity for providing a review copy.