Ask My Shelf
Log in Register
Ask My Shelf

Share your thoughts in a quick Shelf Talk!

The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich

Have you read this book? Just a few quick questions — it takes about a minute. Share what you liked (or didn’t), and we’ll use your answers to recommend your next favorite read!

Love The Dead House but not sure what to read next?

These picks are popular with readers who enjoyed this book. Complete a quick Shelf Talk to get recommendations made just for you! Warning: possible spoilers for The Dead House below.

In The Dead House, did you enjoy ...

... the dossier-style mix of diaries, transcripts, and police evidence that lets you piece the truth together?

The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp

If the compiled diary pages, therapy transcripts, and CCTV around the Elmbridge High fire pulled you in, you’ll love how The Last Days of Jack Sparks unfolds through emails, interviews, and a “found manuscript.” Watching Jack argue with his own editor’s footnotes and disputed files scratches the same itch as sifting Kaitlyn/Carly’s journal and case notes—right down to that eerie question of what was staged, what was illness, and what wasn’t human at all.

... a fractured identity and blurred reality through a narrator you can’t fully trust?

The Wicker King by K. Ancrum

Haunted by the split self of Kaitlyn/Carly? The Wicker King traps you in August’s head as he follows his best friend Jack into a kingdom only Jack can see. As the pages darken and police reports, school write-ups, and notes seep in, you’ll feel that same destabilizing pull you got from Kaitlyn’s diary and the sessions where reality and delusion traded places.

... an intimate, suffocating plunge into a mind that might be haunted—or haunting itself?

White Is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

If the psychological spiral behind Kaitlyn/Carly’s voice kept you up at night, White Is for Witching delivers that same claustrophobic unease. Miranda’s disordered eating and fugue-like episodes tangle with a predatory house that sometimes speaks for itself. As with the aftermath of Elmbridge, you’ll keep asking whether you’re witnessing possession, pathology, or a terrible fusion of both.

... time-scrambled storytelling that forces you to reinterpret every scene?

Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

If reordering the diary entries and video logs in The Dead House thrilled you, Genuine Fraud plays a mesmerizing game in reverse. Each chapter pulls you further back through Jule’s past, recasting identities and motives the way new evidence in the Elmbridge case kept rewriting what you thought you knew about Carly and Kaitlyn.

... those reality-warping reveals that make you question every record you’ve seen?

Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall

If the late-game revelations about Naida’s ritual and the Elmbridge fire made you reexamine every file, Rules for Vanishing will hit that same nerve. Sara’s search for her sister unfolds through interviews, phone footage, and written statements, and each twist recontextualizes the evidence until you’re no longer sure which version of the night’s events to believe.

Unlock your personalized book recommendations! Just take a quick Shelf Talk for The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich. It’s only a few questions and takes less than a minute.