By Jim Mcleod 
The Bones Remember: A.G. Slatter’s Grief-Chilled Tale of Haunting and Heritage, The Cold House
You know that feeling. Not the jump scare, not the gory bit. It’s the slow seep of cold. The kind that starts behind your ribs, a dull ache that has nothing to do with the weather. It’s the chill of an empty house, a silent phone, the ghost of a laugh in a room where no one’s laughing anymore.
That’s where A.G. Slatter plants her story in The Cold House. She doesn’t just write about grief; she lets it pool on the page, a dark, reflective surface in which every reader might see a familiar shadow. Forget haunted houses for a minute. This is about a haunted life, a psyche cracked open by loss and then poked at by something decidedly… other.
The set-up is almost cruel in its simplicity. Everly Bainbridge, a writer, loses her husband and young daughter in a single, brutal moment. A lorry, a car crash. The mundane made monstrous. That horror alone would be enough to unravel anyone. But Slatter, with the precision of a surgeon who knows exactly where to cut, layers on another agony: betrayal.
A lawyer shows up. Turns out Everly’s husband was someone else entirely, a man with a hidden fortune and a hidden past. So now she’s adrift in a sea of grief, but it’s a sea salted with lies. Who do you mourn when the person you loved was a fiction? This is the brilliant, awful knot at the story’s core, a question that resonates through every creaking floorboard and whispered echo that follows.
Naturally, she runs. Or rather, she’s strategically placed. A remote house-sit in the countryside, arranged by that same lawyer. A grand, isolated place called Hunter’s Chase. Locals give it a wide berth. They call it the Cold House. Of course they do. It’s got the classic ingredients: a cellar with a well, a room so frigid it defies explanation, and a history that smells of old blood and older fear.
Everly arrives with her modern grief, and the house, steeped in its ancient, folkloric dread, seems to drink it in. It’s a fantastic collision, contemporary psychological trauma meeting the timeless, earthy terror of folk horror. Is she hallucinating her daughter’s voice from the well? Is she sleepwalking to its edge? Or is the house, and whatever resides in its foundation, using her sorrow?
Let’s talk about Slatter’s prose. It’s a thing. If you’re coming from her lush, gothic Sourdough Universe, you’ll find a different, sharper instrument here. The writing in The Cold House is taut, pared back, yet somehow still evocative. It can switch from the black, snappy humor of a person who’s stared into the void too long to a sentence of such raw, unvarnished pain it makes you catch your breath. She describes grief not as a single emotion but as a full-body possession. It’s in the forgetting, for a second, that they’re gone. It’s in the guilt that follows that moment of forgetfulness. It’s in the rage at the dead for leaving, and for lying.
And that pivot. It’s a doozy. The book is a lean 160 pages, a novella that feels both compact and surprisingly expansive. There’s no fat here, no meandering. The pace is relentless, a downhill sprint that starts with emotional devastation and ends in a place of shocking, strangely resonant revelation. It’s not about cheap scares. The horror here is baked into the themes of inheritance, what we’re given by our families, what we choose to carry, and what we fight like hell to leave behind in the dark.
If you want a masterclass in atmospheric tension, a story that wraps the cold tendrils of dread around your heart and squeezes slowly, this is your book.
Slatter has done something remarkable here. She’s taken the well-worn path of the haunted house tale and dug something fresh up from its soil. She’s shown us that the most profound horrors aren’t always in the monster under the bed. Sometimes, they’re in the empty space beside us in it. And sometimes, that emptiness starts to call your name.
The Cold House by A.G. Slatter
When Everly’s husband and young daughter die in a car crash she finds out nothing is quite what she thought… Secrets, lies and grief collide in this funny, tragic, intimate and utterly compelling horror novella.
Written by the acclaimed author of the Sourdough Universe novels and winner of multiple awards including the Shirley Jackson and World Fantasy, this searing tale is perfect for fans of Rachel Harrison, Delilah S. Dawson and Sarah-Maria Griffin.
Writer Everly Bainbridge’s life is left in ruins when her husband takes their child to the supermarket one day and a lorry collides with their car. After the accident, a lawyer appears on her doorstep and tells her her husband was not who he said he was and she is a very rich widow. She retreats to a lonely house in the countryside to recover. But there’s a well in the cellar, a spectacularly cold room, and one night, Everly wakes up with a foot hanging over the emptiness of the well and the echo of her daughter’s voice in her ears…
A short, sharp, emotionally layered story of horrific secrets and dangerous lies, this dark, fierce gem of a novella will keep you turning the pages late into the night…
Why Ginger Nuts of Horror is a Top Destination for Horror Book Reviews
For dedicated fans searching for their next great scare, finding a trustworthy and passionate source for horror book reviews is essential. Look no further than Ginger Nuts of Horror, a cornerstone of the dark fiction community that has been delivering insightful and enthusiastic coverage for over 16 years.
Driven by a genuine love for the genre, the site offers far more than simple plot summaries. It provides a deep dive into the emotional and thematic heart of horror, exploring the feelings that make these stories so powerful and resonant.
What makes Ginger Nuts of Horror an indispensable resource for horror readers?
- In-Depth Horror Book Reviews: Find thoughtful, critical analyses that help you discover your next favourite read, from mainstream hits to hidden gems.
- Exclusive Author Interviews: Go behind the pages with fascinating interviews that explore the creative minds and processes behind the genre’s most renowned and emerging horror authors.
- A Commitment to the Genre: The site is renowned for highlighting innovative and boundary-pushing dark fiction, ensuring you stay on the pulse of what’s new and exciting.
Founded by Jim Mcleod, Ginger Nuts of Horror has grown from a passion project into an award-nominated, credible hub for a global community of readers. It’s a place built on a shared joy for horror, making it the perfect guide to help you navigate the vast and thrilling world of horror literature.
If you want to stay informed, inspired, and connected to the heartbeat of the genre, Ginger Nuts of Horror is your ultimate resource. Explore the site today and join a community that lives and breathes dark fiction.
Benjamin Kurt Unsworth