The House Built on Alligator Bones by Sophia Huneycutt had such an interesting premise.
Shortly after her mother’s death, Dartrine (Dart) is reunited with the family she didn’t know she had. But from the beginning the reader can feel that there is something strange about this family, and Dart.
When I first started reading The House Build on Alligator Bones, I felt like it had a lot of promise to be a creepy, anxiety inducing story. With a kind of strange narrator who was desperate for family, or any kind of human connection, a creepy house on an island, and a family whose empire is built on the deaths of the alligators that surround the area I don’t think my expectations were too wild, but I was disappointed.
For a book that had so much going on, I found the pacing so slow that I found I had almost no inclination to pick it up to continue reading once I set it aside. In fact several times I set it aside for days, and wasn’t sure if I would pick it up again, and I probably wouldn’t have if it weren’t an advanced copy.
I wish the author had leaned harder into the supernatural elements of the novel and really ramped things up. Unfortunately, with the introduction of the sabotage at the farm, the supernatural elements felt less threatening and anxiety inducing. I wish the author had either leaned into the supernatural and not written in the sabotage, or made all of the incidents easily explained through logic.
I will also say, I am not a fan of alligators, but I felt like the way the alligators were treated on the farm was disturbing. I get it, alligators are not a beloved animal for most people, but that doesn’t justify the ways they were deprived as they were being raised on the farm, or the cruel ways they were killed.
I did end up liking this book overall, but I really wanted to love it. It just wasn’t interesting enough to keep my attention for long periods, and didn’t deliver on the gothic atmosphere I was expecting. I do feel like the story showed promise and I would be interested in reading more by this author to see if her writing improves.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The House Built on Alligator Bones will be available on October 6 2026.
