The Dead House
| Company type | Novel |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Founded | 2015 |
| Founder | Dawn Kurtagich |
| Products | Young adult horror novel |
The Dead House marks the young adult debut of author Dawn Kurtagich, released in 2015. In the United Kingdom, the paperback edition was made available on 6 August and later on 15 September 2015 through Orion Publishing. Meanwhile, the hardcover version was published in the United States on 15 September 2015 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. The story is uniquely presented through a combination of formats such as diary entries, news articles, video recordings, and interview transcripts.
Synopsis
The narrative is assembled from diverse materials discovered following the destruction of Elmbridge High School by fire a quarter-century earlier. These include recovered diary pages, video footage, interviews, and various notes. Kaitlyn names her diary "Dee."
Carly and Kaitlyn Johnson are two distinct identities inhabiting a single body and currently reside at Claydon Mental Hospital. They receive care from Dr. Annabeth Lansing after their parents died under mysterious circumstances. Carly is dominant during daylight hours, while Kaitlyn emerges at night. Diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder alongside Carly’s eating disorders and Kaitlyn’s tendencies toward self-harm and auditory hallucinations—specifically hearing a malevolent voice named Aka Manah—the therapist suspects Kaitlyn is a psychological construct created by Carly. However, Kaitlyn maintains that she existed prior to their parents’ passing.
Upon transfer to Elmbridge, Carly forms a friendship with Naida, who believes both personalities are genuine souls. Kaitlyn finds solace in an unused attic space and reluctantly begins a romantic relationship with Ari. She experiences unsettling supernatural visions and is troubled by the foster care placement of her sister Jaimie. When Carly stops appearing, Kaitlyn attempts suicide and is readmitted to the hospital. The therapist interprets this as an integration of the two personalities. Kaitlyn reconnects with John, a friend from childhood. Naida warns Kaitlyn to flee, fearing pursuit by Shyan—a practitioner of dark magic targeting individuals with dual souls.
After escaping, Naida conceals Kaitlyn in the school’s basement and reveals her dual-soul nature to their friends. As paranormal incidents intensify, they seek guidance from Haji—Naida’s brother and a dark magician—who sheds light on their condition. Naida performs a ritual to enter Kaitlyn’s mindscape known as the "dead house," but an attack by an evil spirit interrupts the process; Naida then abruptly severs her own tongue.
Haji conducts the ritual again with Kaitlyn, Haji himself, Brett, John, and Scott (Naida’s boyfriend) entering her mind. It becomes apparent that Shyan is hidden among Kaitlyn’s acquaintances. Growing suspicious of John, Kaitlyn uncovers through Carly’s diary that Brett was feared due to his inappropriate behavior. John later admits he wishes for Kaitlyn’s return to the asylum and reveals that their parents died in a car accident caused by distraction during an argument involving Kaitlyn; he also recounts that she once described the crash as the happiest moment of her life. Using a charm provided by Haji to identify Shyan’s presence, Kaitlyn initially suspects Brett but shifts suspicion to John after Brett’s corpse is discovered. That same night, Kaitlyn unintentionally kills John while trying to break up a confrontation between him and Ari. Despite mourning John’s death, supernatural disturbances diminish; Kaitlyn realizes that the deceased girl she had seen was protective and resolves to reunite with Carly at any cost.
An undated diary entry clarifies that John was not Shyan; instead, Ari orchestrated many events, believing Carly and others obstructed Kaitlyn's true existence. Ari denies responsibility for all incidents but claims that Carly summoned the demon possessing Kaitlyn. He also accuses Kaitlyn of killing a missing girl while under possession (Naida later informs a detective that Ari sacrificed the girl to negotiate with the demon). Kaitlyn writes that Ari can no longer harm them—implying she has killed him—and acknowledges that the demon's malevolence will continue causing damage. Ultimately, she takes her own life through self-immolation, which triggers the fire at the school.
The story concludes with Carly/Kaitlyn’s former therapist—whose medical license has been revoked—now working as a paranormal investigator who publicly dismisses supernatural causes on a radio program despite numerous disappearances at the school site and authorities failing to locate Carly/Kaitlyn’s remains.
Reception
The Dead House was met with generally favorable reviews, though opinions varied regarding its depiction of mental illness. Both Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal responded positively, with the latter describing it as "A worthy addition to high school horror collections." While Publishers Weekly acknowledged certain weaknesses in the story’s suspense and chronology, it praised the novel’s well-developed characters and its insightful examination of adolescent identity. SciFiNow presented a more ambivalent perspective, labeling the book an intriguing literary experiment but ultimately "too depressing to enjoy" as a narrative. The audiobook version, narrated by Charlotte Parry and Christian Coulson, earned an AudioFile Earphones Award.