After finding her boss dead in the New York office, Cassie suddenly ghosts her job, breaks up with her girlfriend Lavender, and flees to her hometown in New Jersey. Here, she reconnects with her high school best friend, Eli, who is now a widowed father of two. Their bond reignites and, within a few short months, Cassie finds herself married to Eli, living in his house in the woods, adjusting to life as a wife and stepmother, and getting to know her reserved neighbour, Joan. But Cassie’s fresh start isn’t as idyllic as she’d hoped. She deals with harm OCD, her mind plagued by a barrage of gory and graphic images, and she struggles under the shadow of Eli’s late wife, Beth, who was a committed homemaker and traditional wife. Soon, Cassie manages to connect with Beth in a way that surprises them both, and ultimately leads Cassie down a path to uncover the truth behind Beth’s untimely death.
While House of Beth offers an intriguing premise, it falls short in its delivery. With chapters that alternate between Cassie and Beth’s perspectives, I kept waiting for something good or interesting to happen, but it never did. Sometimes I thought it might, but nope. Despite the somewhat effective portrayal of harm OCD—something author Kerry Cullen struggles with personally—Cassie has little to offer as a character. Depressed and indifferent, she makes for an exceptionally boring character, even if parts of her are relatable. Cassie even lacks any rewarding character development throughout. If she were more compelling, I think it would’ve made a huge difference. None of the other characters, aside from Beth, had much to offer either, though the kids were better personalities than expected. The reading experience was fairly dull. Fortunately, it’s short at 240 pages.
“I had poisoned them, probably, or there were stab wounds through their stomachs, blood melting into earth. Their pain ran through me even now, even knowing that none of it happened. It didn’t matter. The thoughts were there, as real as memory.”
It’s impossible to talk further about the book’s other intrigues and problems without spoiling it. There’s nice prose dotted around, well-expressed sentiments, and some intriguing musings, but it reads like an early draft. It’s written well enough, but desperately needs polishing. Cullen makes an effort to change her writing style between Cassie and Beth, in addition to some flashback scenes feeling like reflective diary entries. It’s a strength that Beth’s past felt rich. Cassie was fleshed out, too, but her character still felt flat. I wonder how the book would’ve turned out if Beth were the main character… if we followed her into the afterlife and Cassie never got point-of-view chapters.
House of Beth has themes of death, religion, mental illness, sexuality, the supernatural, feeling ostracised, motherhood, new family, and running away from yourself. Cullen explores these effectively as she forces us to think about the choices that have led to our current lives and if we’re happy with them. The entire book is rooted in sadness and nostalgia as the characters long for connection. Marketed as a horror, House of Beth is more of a literary fiction with darker themes as mentioned above. While it wasn’t for me, I’m certain this book will find its audience.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy. House of Beth will be released 15th July.
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