Book Review: Model Home by Rivers Solomon

Thanks to the rise of so-called “elevated” horror, this millennium has seen the genre reach new heights of respectability, garnering the sort of critical praise and major awards consideration that was previously pretty rare. It makes sense, as horror is well-suited to serve as a vehicle to critically examine many of the worst aspects of human nature and modern society, though it has so consistently done those things since its inception that it’s odd to only recently see it being recognized for it. Of course, when something comes to be seen this way, it can invite works that feature more than a whiff of pretension and Rivers Solomon’s Model Home unfortunately falls at least a little bit into that trap.

Genderfluid Ezri and their teenaged daughter Elijah are called back home to Dallas from England when their estranged parents are found dead under suspicious circumstances. Upon arriving they reunite with their sisters Eve, a chronic overachiever who is raising twins on her own, and Emmanuelle, the youngest and a rising social media star. The sisters had a traumatic childhood and while it is not immediately clear why, it is quickly established that they believe the house itself is to blame.

Bunking up at Eve’s house and dealing with traumas both past and present, tensions and tempers rise, leaving the siblings with little choice but to excavate their pasts and more closely examine their memories. Given that this is a horror novel it perhaps goes without saying that they won’t like what they find, but perhaps they will all emerge stronger for having dealt with the truth. If it doesn’t kill them first.

There are a few tense moments near the end, but this is horror more in the vein of V.C. Andrews than Stephen King; more disturbing than scary. That would be fine if Solomon wasn’t also perhaps a little too interested in trying to be capital “L” Literature. Largely told in Ezri’s voice (except when it periodically isn’t), the slightly odd dialect used is hard to get into at first. The dreamlike structure can also make it challenging to determine what is happening and to whom, especially towards the beginning. Fortunately, both issues lessen as the novel moves along, though neither ever fully goes away.

There is a compellingly tragic story at the core of Model Home and it’s refreshing to experience a perspective as unfortunately unique as Ezri’s. Using the tropes of the genre to deal with grief, familial trauma, and racism has become enough of a trope itself now to no longer feel clever, but it’s handled well enough here to still be effective. I thought I knew where this was going but the end did manage to surprise me, it’s just a shame how hard the novel was to initially to get into. Model Home might have worked better with a little more pulp and a bit fewer aspirations towards “high art”, but it’s still a worthwhile read with a message that resonates. ★★★