Book Review: The Place Where They Buried Your Heart by Christina Henry

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

The Place Where They Buried Your Heart by Christina Henry

Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Genre: Horror

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Berkley (November 4, 2025)

Length: 320 pages

Author Information: Website

Christina Henry is following up The House That Horror Built with yet another haunted house-themed story, but this one seems out to hit a different nerve. While there are surface similarities, such a focus on a mother and son, The Place Where They Buried Your Heart settles into far bleaker territory and feels far more visceral, raw, and terrifying.

The story begins in a quiet Chicago neighborhood, the kind where everyone knows each other and nothing stays secret for long. There are streets like this all over the country, the quintessential example of middle-class suburbia, except for one blemish that spoils the whole picture: the McIntyre place. Twenty years ago, an evil man murdered his entire family inside, and the house has sat untouched and rotting ever since. Now it’s just another sad landmark people either learn to live with or pretend not to see, the kind that inevitably draws the curiosity of neighborhood kids. That’s what happened to Jessie Campanelli’s little brother Paul, who went inside the McIntyre house on a dare and never came out.

According to Paul’s friends, the house ate him, but adults dismissed those claims as childish imagination or trauma. Jessie knew better, however. There was definitely something wrong with that house. In his grief, her father tried to burn down the place that had taken his son, and all that did was cost him his life. The McIntyre house itself remained untouched by the flames, a constant reminder of how it destroyed Jessie’s family. Years later, she still lives in its shadow, raising her own son in her childhood home while the old house waits down the street. And when it begins stirring again, Jessie fears it will come for her boy like it came for Paul. Only this time, she isn’t going to let it win.

The author’s work tends to blend human stories with frightening themes, and The Place Where They Buried Your Heart is no exception, though every edge feels a bit sharper this time. If you enjoy the atmosphere of small-town dread, it’s the lived-in quality of the horror that will stand out the most. That’s because the McIntyre house is more than just haunted. Based on the sections revealing its full, twisted backstory, I think it’s more accurate to say the place is possessed by something genuinely evil. It feels alive and malevolent, actively seeking its unsuspecting prey. I was completely drawn into its dark history as it was revealed in immersive, relentless detail.

At the heart of the novel is Jessie Campanelli, who is initially introduced as a listless, directionless teenager carrying the weight of her brother’s disappearance. Young Jessie’s life is messy and raw, and while her outlook can be nihilistic at times, it’s believably rooted in grief and remorse. Henry shows her protagonist struggling with that guilt, as well as the subsequent breakdown of her family. This occasionally makes the first half of the book hard to get through, since the bleakness coupled with Jessie’s brooding can be a little overwhelming, but at the same time, it’s part of what makes the story feel real and grounded.

The tone shifts as Jessie matures, first into a college student figuring out her path, and then later into a mother whose child becomes the emotional center of her world. Everything she experienced in her youth feeds into the woman she becomes, the fear and loss transforming into a fierce overprotectiveness. Henry does an incredible job showing how Jessie’s relationship with the McIntyre house ultimately shapes her, giving her strength and a sense of purpose. That journey is brutal without ever feeling gratuitous, and the plot carefully maintains a balance between revealing the supernatural threat and keeping the tension sufficiently high.

In the end, The Place Where They Buried Your Heart might be one of Christina Henry’s darkest books and not just because of the scares. It’s the emotional heaviness that will stick with you, the way she follows her protagonist through years of tragedy and the lingering consequences. Speaking as a longtime fan of the author’s work, I’m delighted to see her push deeper into this kind of character-driven horror.