Book Review: How to Fake a Haunting by Christa Carmen

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

How to Fake a Haunting by Christa Carmen

Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars 

Genre: Horror

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (October 7, 2025)

Length: 349 pages

Author Information: Website | Twitter

You ever read a horror novel with a premise that sounds totally ridiculous, but then somehow turns out to be genuinely creepy? That was How to Fake a Haunting for me. Christa Carmen takes the tongue-in-cheek setup of a woman staging a fake haunting to scare her awful, alcoholic husband into leaving their family home, and spins it into something far darker than expected. The result is part domestic suspense, part psychological ghost story, with just enough hints of the supernatural to keep you guessing.

From the outside looking in, Lainey appears to have the perfect life: a loving husband named Callum, their sweet little girl named Beatrix, and the big, beautiful house they all live in. But appearances are deceiving. In reality, Callum has had a drinking problem for years, an addiction that has turned their marriage into a nightmare. After a particularly harrowing night out at a party, a drunken Callum behind the wheel nearly kills them all in a car accident, and Lainey finally decides she’s had enough.

However, leaving Callum isn’t going to be as simple as filing for divorce. His wealthy family’s connections within local law enforcement and the courts allow them to make problems disappear, and his overbearing mother has never hesitated to use that power to cover up her son’s messes. Fearing that she could lose Beatrix in a custody battle, Lainey decides to hatch a plan to force Callum to leave them instead. After confiding in her best friend Adelaide, the two women come up with a wild plan to fake a haunting so terrifying that it will drive an already substance impaired and paranoid Callum out of the house for good.

What starts off as a bonkers revenge scheme verging on silliness quickly spirals into something far creepier. At first, Lainey and Adelaide’s “haunting” feels almost playful and maybe even a bit flippant, considering the gravity of the situation. After all, Callum’s uncontrolled alcoholism certainly makes him dangerous. Should this really be the two women’s priority? But then, bit by bit, the tone shifts. Their juvenile, how-could-anyone-believe-this-would-ever-work tricks start to take on real menace, and the situation becomes truly terrifying, with the satisfaction of watching Lainey’s asshole husband get what’s coming to him giving way to unease as both the characters and readers lose track of where the fake scares end and the real ones begin.

Before long, you can’t help but wonder—are Lainey and Adelaid still in control of the haunting, or has something else taken over entirely? One of the greatest strengths of How to Fake a Haunting is the way it walks that thin line between the psychological and the supernatural. The author keeps you constantly second-guessing what’s real, and whether the increasingly strange occurrences are all part of the women’s plan or signs that they’ve actually stirred up something much darker. The story plays with that ambiguity brilliantly and beautifully, keeping the answers just out of reach while letting the tensions build. There came a point in the book where I literally felt chills run down my spine.

I feel the only real stumble came in the final stretch. After so much uncertainty, the author had the option of delivering a sudden, powerful ending, but instead chose to stretch the reveals a bit longer than necessary. The mystery that had been building ultimately lost a lot of its punch, resulting in an ending that felt strangely muted. It’s a minor gripe, considering how tightly paced and engaging the plot was otherwise, but it did leave the book ending on a weaker note.

But overall, How to Fake a Haunting is a fast, clever, and thoroughly entertaining read, delivering equal parts creepy and quirky. For a novel that initially came across as messy and tonally all over the place, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed at how well it all came together. This spooky season, if you’re looking for a “haunted house” story that takes a fresh spin on the genre, this one may be worth checking out.