With past ties to the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, a woman spends her days helping families locate members who have joined cults. She tries to remove and deprogram them from the cult so they can return home. Her past quickly catches up to her when she crosses paths with an FBI agent specializing in cult crimes.

I am perpetually fascinated by the Satanic Panic. It was essentially a modern-day witch hunt in many respects. On the surface, it might seem like older generations were only in a frenzy over kids playing Dungeons and Dragons. In truth, it had devastating real-life consequences for some people. Now, with movements like QAnon stirring up new controversies and outdated traditionalistic sentiments gaining traction in America and Canada, it begs the question if we're on the cusp of another witch hunt. This book delves into the aftermath of the Satanic Panic and its potential implications for the future when similar fear-mongering happens in the modern day.

The story would have benefited from more room to develop. Everything unfolds quickly, which leaves some aspects feeling underexplored. Despite pacing issues, the narrative is compelling, complemented by exceptional artwork. Jacob Phillips, in particular, excels in capturing the moody atmosphere of the book with deep moody colors.
With more fleshing out, this book would have easily earned more than 4 stars from me. I anticipate incredible future works from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. They are certainly talents to watch.

Thank you, NetGalley and Image Comics for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

On Storygraph, this was given 3.75 stars, anywhere else will be rounded to 4.

‘Houses of the Unholy’ follows our protagonist as she is forced to revisit her haunting past as a child at the centre of the Satanic Panic in her home town.

I really enjoyed the jarring style of storytelling, particularly the balance between the Satanic Panic flashbacks and the present day investigation. I found myself being truly sucked into the story, largely due to the illustration style enabling me to play the movie in my head.

My biggest complaint is that I would have loved the story to have been more fleshed out, there were a few details that I personally felt were unresolved by the end.

Overall this was a very entertaining and fun comic and I would recommend it to anyone interested in stories set around the Satanic Panic, particularly if you need a quick read to satiate an appetite for a thrilling story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Image Comics for the e-ARC. All opinions are my own.

This is not at all my normal choice of reading but the description sounded interesting. This was my first Graphic Novel. It was really good and I really enjoyed it. It was great story and the animation was so good. I’m personally on the fence about graphic novels but this story was a good read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Image Comics for this advanced copy of Houses of the Unholy. Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips will forever be one of the most solid teams in all of comics. Houses of the Unholy is a cult crime noir about belief and the power of suggestion. While it may stay in its story lane it has a lot to say about how our words shape reality and their influence on people and can easily be transferred to modern day media. The satanic panic is just one of many examples of the power of words and our shared reality but it is quite an interesting root for a story such as this. It is rapid paced and bleak with a spark of hope. Overall all I enjoyed it quite a bit, just wished the pacing was a tad slower to really connect with the characters but I understand the choice to run with it.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC!

Houses of the Unholy is a dark, uncompromising fictional narrative of a woman who, as a child, was an accuser in the Satanic Panic trials. As she is pulled back into the world of the occult, she has to reckon with with whether or not truth really matters.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel - it managed to avoid feeling cliche while still crafting a story in well-trodden ground. The characters were believable and empathetic, and the art was perfect for the tone of the story.

My only complaint is that there was a tendency to being abrupt - the sex scene and the ending, in particular, felt like they came out of nowhere to me.

I’m not into comics and I was unsure about this one. The plot sounded interesting so I thought why not take a chance? I’m so happy I did!

I thought this was fantastic and the story was super entertaining and kept you wanting more.
It was creepy and uncomfortable.

I learnt this is going to be a tv series, which I hope does this comic justice.

Thank you Netgalley for my ARC.

After recently getting into graphic novels, this looked right up my street and I can confirm it is an absolutely wild ride. I loved the shift from past to present tense as it made the whole graphic novel super engaging. Throughout, there is such an eerie and tense atmosphere and I ended up reading it all in one setting. The artwork is absolutely incredible and feels like a nod to a classic comic book style.

Thank you to NetGalley, Image Comics, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips for granting me advanced digital access.

Such a great murder mystery thriller type. Ed Brubaker is always great at creating crime stories with rich characters.

This was actually pretty good, but I gave it 3 Stars because I felt it was a bit rushed. I would have loved to have more detail as the plot was very interesting. I didn't realize this was a graphic novel but enjoyed it and felt like it was a quick read for me. I would still read a second installment in hopes of more content!

Thank you to NetGalley, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips & Image Comics for this ARC!

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy for an honest review.

I really enjoyed reading this and will be picking up a copy as soon it releases. 💕
It was well written and I really enjoyed my time reading it.

Rating 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This graphic novel wasn’t bad…the ending could have been better. Overall I enjoyed reading it and the artwork and use of colours for different time lines was great.

Dark, gorgeous and heartbreaking. A story like this needs to be told this way. The use of color was brilliant, and I felt jarred back to earth when it was over.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

Thanks to NetGalley and Image Comics for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Brubaker and Phillips have done it again. And by "it," I mean created a masterpiece of a graphic novel. The Dynamic Duo. These two do magic together.

Houses of the Unholy follows Natalie Burns, an adult with a past connection to the Satanic Panic of the 90s, and an FBI Agent as they try to uncover what is killing the rest of the Satanic Six.

Brubaker' gritty storytelling is perfect for dealing with the Satanic Panic and Phillips artwork does a fantastic job of tying it together. The layout of every page was ridiculously cool and hard for me to describe.

5/5 stars

This book had a great plot with intriguing characters. I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author.

Thank you to Image Comics & NetGalley for the e-ARC of Houses of the Unholy!

I had to restart this a couple of times to get into it & that was probably just my brain not braining, but at some point, I was all in. This is very Satanic Panic & has cults which I absolutely love!!There’s also an unexpected twist that made this story even more fun.

Art wise, it wasn’t a style that I’d swoon over, but I absolutely respect the vintage-y vibes it was giving & the color scheme was definitely fitting for the story!

Creepy, twisty yet also a fun read.
The art is dark but gorgeous and suited the culty demonic theme of the story.

A really good comic with very good illustrations! The story was really good and it was thrilling. Very horror esque

This was one of the best comics/graphic novels I have read in a while. I loved the storyline and I literally couldn’t put it down. I read the entire thing in one sitting and stayed up way too late but it was worth it and I would 110% do it again.

I have been a fan of this team for awhile now, so learning that they would be tackling a story regarding the satanic panic with Brubaker’s typical crime flare made me more than a little excited! I was soooo excited to get my hands on an early copy.

I thought this story & artwork were pretty much up to par with what we’ve come to expect from this team, and I loved the topic. I’ve always been fascinated with that particular time period so it was really interesting to read a story focused around the panic & hysteria that overtook our country at that time. I loved the way they danced on the line between reality & panic. For most of the story this would have been a 5 star read but the ending really diminished the story, it felt like it came too abruptly & left me wanting & needing more.

I have a bad habit of rating things according to my feelings about the ending but I am trying not to do so here. The story here is top notch, & while this classic crime noir art style has never been my fav i do think it works well with Brubaker’s content, including this on!! A strong 4 star read!

It takes an effed-up world for the person taking a teenaged girl out the trunk of her car and dragging her into a remote holiday cabin to be the heroine, but that's where we start. It soon goes a long way from there, as we see our lead, Natalie, dragged back into her past. For way back when, she was part of a gang of kids who colluded to pretend they'd been satanically abused by camp guardians, and caused more than one death and more than one lengthy custodial sentence in the people they wrongly accused. Now, someone (or is it something? No – it's someone) is seemingly killing them in turn, and after all these years Natalie is wrenched from anything like normality back into the loopy underground thinking of alleged satanists.

The "Reckless" series wanting to have a lot to say about the time in which it ended up being set, this can feel like a cousin to that – highlighting the way the Internet managed to kill off the idea of all those repressed abuse memories that were the height of fashion once, even as it still has a fascination with the occult underworld. One only has to look at the garbage about Hollywood being full of devil-treating paedos to see this as a historical piece with current relevancy. There's a line here, more or less to remind us that this kind of stuff is always being done, just by those nobody's accusing (and if not them, then by the church).

But for all the interesting spin on devilment, this is flawed by huge coincidences. <spoiler>Natalie and companion conspire to find the very last person they want; said companion is just such a way inclined; the wrong person is always there at the right time.</spoiler> The biggest player in all this here is not Satan, it's the god called Happenstance. Too much just happens to fall in place, and a book that was as inherently enjoyable and readable as this team's routinely are, on reflection feels too flawed. The message is that once you dabble with the devil your fingers are always marked, but boy this is too much of a collusion against our heroine to be anything like the really satisfying narrative it might have been.