These Familiar Walls by CJ Dotson
St. Martin’s Press, 2026
ISBN: 9781250336583
Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition
Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com
These Familiar Walls is a taut thriller, a major improvement over CJ Dotson’s debut novel, The Cut : it avoids all the problems that plagued that novel. It is a tightly written story that sticks to its premise, and does an outstanding job of throwing the reader off-base in terms of guessing the ending. No sophomore jinx with this book: it’s certainly worth the read.
The book starts with a prologue, where thirty-something protagonist Amber Hughes’s parents are brutally murdered in a home invasion, and one of the killers(killed in the attack) turns out to have been Amber’s disturbed childhood friend, Nathan. Amber inherits the house, and she and her husband Ben, and their two kids move in. Strange things start happening, and the author does a good job slowly building up the level of tension over the course of the book. Dotson uses fairly basic items like sounds and images, but does it well, especially when using mirrors. With a number of the incidents, it’s almost more psychological, as it seems like some of the characters go into a sort of fugue state, as they find themselves doing things, and being there, but not mentally in the moment. It adds a nice touch, and will make the reader wonder: is the house really haunted, or are the characters mentally unstable, and dealing with the results? The scene with the multiple candles, and the barbeque scene are good examples: they keep the story riveting while providing for some uncertainty for the reader.
The narrative is a split narrative, with parts taking place in the present, and sections in the past that document Amber’s time growing up as a teen with Nathan, who is every concerned parent’s worst nightmare. Worth noting: there is a bit of animal cruelty associated with Nathan, and some people might want to skip those two sections. It makes sense in terms of the plot, but can still be difficult to deal with. The timelines tie together in the end, as the mystery of the house, as well as the mystery of the killer who escaped the night Amber’s parents were slain, are all resolved.
As good as the book is, it’s the last third of the book that’s a real gut punch, as all the answers are truly stunning and will completely throw the reader off. As much as this is a thriller about a haunted house, it’s also a prime example of how the worst things in the world aren’t always supernatural: they can be contained within ourselves.
In closing, These Familiar Walls is a vast improvement over Dotson’s debut novel: let’s hope the author can keep it going in the future. Recommended.
Reviewed by Murray Samuelson
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