House of Monstrous Women

A book I’ve been anticipating for months is finally here: House of Monstrous Women by Daphne Fama. This horror debut, set in the Philippines, is a feast of creepy atmosphere, an unnatural mansion on a secluded island, and evil passed down between generations. When Josephine, her brother Alejandro, and his longtime girlfriend Gabriella get invited to their childhood friend Hiraya’s home, they are all ready for an awkward but necessary reunion. When Hiraya asks them to play a game they once played as children, this time with higher stakes, how can the friends refuse? But they don’t yet know that playing this game of hide-and-seek actually means life or death.

What I Liked:

• A disturbing game of cat and mouse. Josephine, Alejandro, and Gabriella have all been invited to their childhood friend Hiraya’s remote island home for a game of hide-and-seek, like they used to play. But the stakes are higher than ever before, and the true nature of the game only comes out in fragments as the hours pass. Things become deadly as the game turns into an all-out hunt.
• House as a living organism. That isn’t just any house the friends are playing in. This mansion has dozens, maybe hundreds of rooms, and good luck ever understanding its layout. There are rooms within rooms, bizarre corridors, secret passageways, and an endless number of crevices to hide within. The house is often compared to a human body, made up of arteries and rooms akin to cancerous growths, with a garden like a womb shoved inside a corpse. Then there are the masks and dolls, and the silent servants lurking the shadows. The effect is something terrifying, alive, and deeply unnatural.
• Creepy, disgusting themes of insects, fruit, and meat. If you’re a little squeamish, watch out! But the use of pungent foods and parasitic bugs really added to the scary and icky vibes of the book.
• Political backdrop running in parallel with the story. The Philippines’ dictatorship has directly affected Josephine and Alejandro’s family for years, and it’s a major factor in the choices they make now. However, the political upheaval continues to play a role as the plot progresses. There always seems to be a radio on somewhere in the distance, with radio hosts narrating what’s happening with their country’s dictator, protestors, and new politicians vying for change. It ultimately mirrors the arc the characters are going through as their game hurtles towards dawn.
• Filipino monsters and culture. From aswang to mentions of sigbin, kapre, tiyanak, from the balete trees to an older character communicating in Baybayin, there are a lot of cultural references rooting this novel in the Philippines and its history.

What Didn’t Work for Me:

• Overuse of ellipses in dialogue, especially in the first half. I’m usually not too bothered by grammatical choices, but the excessive ellipses started to become distracting for me and took me out of the story. Thankfully that stopped being an issue around halfway through.

Final Thoughts

House of Monstrous Women gets off to a slow start, but by the time the game is underway, it’s a mad dash of terror. Its themes of bodies and insects, a bizarre and meandering house, and the hallucinatory atmosphere create for a hypnotizing sort of horror. The aswang and ghostly themes add to it all, making this feel like a terrifying fever dream in all the best ways. It took its time, but it eventually got its teeth into me. This is the scariest book I’ve read in a while; I absolutely loved it and look forward to reading more from Daphne Fama.

Special thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy House of Monstrous Women here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

House of Monstrous Women by Daphne Fama
Audience	Adult
Genre	Horror; Gothic
Setting	Philippines
Number of Pages	336
Format I Read	Ebook (NetGalley ARC)
Original Publication Date	August 12, 2025
Publisher	Berkley

Official Summary

A young woman is drawn into a dangerous game after being invited to the mazelike home of her childhood friend, a rumored witch, in this gothic horror set in 1986 Philippines.

In this game, there’s one rule: survive.

Orphaned after her father’s political campaign ended in tragedy, Josephine is alone taking care of the family home while her older brother is off in Manila, where revolution brews. But an unexpected invitation from her childhood friend Hiraya to her house offers an escape. . . .

Why don’t you come visit, and we can play games like we used to?

If Josephine wins, she’ll get whatever her heart desires. Her brother is invited, too, and it’s time they had a talk. Josephine’s heard the dark whispers: Hiraya is a witch and her family spits curses. But still, she’s just desperate enough to seize this chance to change her destiny.

Except the Ranoco house is strange, labyrinthine, and dangerously close to a treacherous sea. A sickly-sweet smell clings to the dimly lit walls, and veiled eyes follow Josephine through endless connecting rooms. The air is tense with secrets, and as the game continues it’s clear Josephine doesn’t have the whole truth.

To save herself, she will have to play to win. But in this house, victory is earned with blood.

A lush new voice in horror arises in this riveting gothic set against the upheaval of 1986 Philippines and the People Power Revolution.