"As much about the terrors of humankind as it is about the supernatural, this is an exceptional debut, full of action-packed gore and carnal imagery. Ransom’s style mimics that of the early Stephen King and Dan Simmons’s horror fiction (e.g., A Winter Haunting)."
- Library Journal
"The Birthing House is as scary as they come, but calling it a horror novel is too simplistic. A passionate, thoughtful exploration of the darker regions of the human heart, rendered in prose elegant and luminous as the edge of a knife, it's quite simply a terrific novel. Christopher Ransom is going to be huge."
Marcus Sakey
author of The Blade Itself
and Good People
“Either I don't know my horror stories (and I do know my horror stories) or Christopher Ransom's The Birthing House was so all-out scary that it kept me up until the wee hours in a way few novels have since Carrie went to the prom. Alone, in the dark, this modern-day tale of ancient Liliths and their spawn kept me wondering if every sound was a tall, bone-pale woman in a long, crackling black dress. This book is killer.”
- Jacquelyn Mitchard
author of The Deep End of the Ocean
and Still Summer
“A stunning debut — swaddling the reader in dread from the very first sentence, and spiraling into a heart-stopping climax.”
- Michael Marshall
author of The Straw Men
and The Intruders
“It's rare that a first-time novelist comes at you with all weapons locked and loaded, with a voice that can be hard-edged, lyrical or funny, with mind and heart -- and a story and characters solid enough to display both mind and heart without being overwhelmed by them. It's also rare to find yourself in the midst of a damn creepy, very original ghost story. Christopher Ransom is just such a novelist and The Birthing House is just such a book.”
- Jack Ketchum
“If Christopher Ransom's The Birthing Househad just been a biting and well-written novel about a contemporary marriage, that would have been enough to make it worth your time. If it had just been the kind of genuinely scary story that makes little hairs stand up on the back of your neck, that would have been sufficient as well. But what's remarkable is that it manages to have the best of both genres, without sacrificing thrills for insight. This is a rare thing: a ghost story with class. Read it.”
- Peter Blauner
author ofSlow Motion Riot
andSlipping Into Darkness
“Terrifying and beautiful. I couldn’t put The Birthing House down.”
- Sara Gran
author ofCome Closer
“The birth of an exciting new voice in dark fiction. Christopher Ransom leads us into the shadowy avenues of the human heart with surprising detours into the light. The Birthing House is a book that will leaving your holding your breath.”
- Scott Nicholson
Bram Stoker Award finalist, author of They Hunger
Feel free to say hello by dropping a word to author@ransomesque.com
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