Skip to content

The House of Last Resort

The House of Last Resort

A Novel
GothicHorror
Pages
304
Published
2024
Language
English

Synopsis

American couple Tommy and Kate Puglisi take an Italian town up on a tempting offer: buy one of its abandoned houses for a single euro, on the condition that they restore it and live there for years. Drawn by Tommy's family roots in the declining Sicilian hill town of Becchina, they move into a sprawling old house - only to learn it was once owned by the Catholic Church and used for its most serious exorcisms. Strange noises, doors that unlock themselves, and the locals' uneasy silences point to a terrible past, and the couple's renovation dream curdles into a confrontation with demonic possession, ancient evil, and the buried secrets of both the Church and Tommy's own bloodline.

Prose complexity
3/10

Vibe

DarkTenseAtmosphericGritty
Fish Out of WaterFamily SagaBetrayalSurvival
Writing4.0Impact3.0Characters3.0Plot3.0Atmosphere4.0

Genres

Gothic Horror Psychological Horror Thriller Paranormal

About the author

C
Christopher Golden

Christopher Golden (born July 15, 1967) is a New York Times bestselling author of horror and dark fantasy who has been called 'the king of the horror-thriller.' Born and still living in Massachusetts and a graduate of Tufts University, he is best known for novels including the Bram Stoker Award-winning Ararat, Snowblind, Road of Bones, All Hallows and Red Hands, and for his debut vampire series the Shadow Saga. He works across media: with Mike Mignola he co-created the comics 'Outerverse' - home...

Characters

Tommy PuglisiProtagonist

An American who accepts the one-euro house in Becchina to reconnect with his family's Sicilian roots.

Kate PuglisiProtagonist

Tommy's wife, who moves with him to the remote town and faces the house's horrors.

FrancaSupporting

The local estate agent who finds the couple the old mansion.

All characters in The House of Last Resort

Frequently asked questions

  • Is the one-euro house in the novel based on a real thing?

    Yes. Golden drew on the real schemes in which declining towns in Italy and Japan sell abandoned homes for a single euro to anyone willing to restore and live in them. He has said he is fascinated by the opportunity and by the dark history that might haunt such places.

  • Is Becchina a real Sicilian town?

    No, Becchina is fictional, but Golden based the setting on his own travels in Sicily.

  • What is the source of the haunting?

    The house was once owned by the Catholic Church and used for its most serious exorcisms; the couple's renovation gradually unearths that legacy of possession and ancient evil.

  • Is the novel part of a series?

    No - it is a standalone horror novel.

  • Who published it and when?

    St. Martin's Press published it on January 30, 2024.

  • Does it connect to Golden's other books?

    No. It stands apart from his Ben Walker novels (Ararat, The Pandora Room) and his Outerverse comics.

Read all 1 reviews