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Book Summary and Reviews of Accumulation by Aimee Pokwatka

Accumulation by Aimee Pokwatka

Accumulation

by Aimee Pokwatka

  • Readers' Rating (2):
  • Published:
  • May 2026, 336 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A twisty, searing, conversation-starting novel about a filmmaker-turned-housewife who moves into her dream house and is forced to consider whether it's the house or herself that is haunted.

When documentary filmmaker turned stay-at-home mom Tennessee Cherish moves into the the dream house her husband bought for her, a brighter future seems to be on the horizon. Even if her husband is frustratingly absent due to his new high-paying job. Even if their two young children begin acting out in strange ways. Even if she feels lonelier than ever.

Distracted by the endless details that come with moving into a new town, a new house, and new schools, Tenn doesn't notice when odd things begin happening at home. The faucet that runs at all hours. The creepy doll that seems to show up in every room. The human tooth they found in the floorboards.

As the kids' outbursts and the strange events start to escalate, the family finds themselves increasingly caught in loops, repeating everyday actions with dangerous—and then devastating—effects. Tenn realizes she must find the source of what is haunting her family, before it kills them all.

Taut and twisty, scary and searing, Aimee Pokwatka's Accumulation lays bare the high price women pay for the promises of domesticity and motherhood, and the many ways in which families can be haunted.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"This unnerving haunted house tale from Pokwatka elegantly blends domestic drama and psychological horror...The author excels at crafting a creepy atmosphere, using shifting perspectives and domestic detail to blur the boundaries between literal haunting and psychological fracture." —Publishers Weekly

"Aimee Pokwatka's Accumulation is a razor-sharp, loop-twisting domestic nightmare ... This taut, haunting knockout is a bold excavation of the hidden costs women shoulder when chasing the shining ideal of home and motherhood." —Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of The Leftover Woman

"I loved everything about Accumulation, a clever, dark, beautifully written ghost story that will have you racing through pages ... What a feat!" —Araminta Hall, author of Unreliable Narrator

This information about Accumulation was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Janine_S

Psychological horror
This is a psychological horror novel that twists and turns and at times leaves you dizzy and confused but that’s the point: what or who is haunting Tennessee “Tenn” Cherish?

Tenn Cherish is documentary filmmaker but now a stay at home mom to Aisling and Anders. She and her husband, Ward Trevino, have moved into this old house as he starts a new job in a new state. Within days of the move, strange things happen, personalities change, and life is upside down. After realizing there is something sinister in the house, Tenn consults a ghost hunter, rediscovers her purpose and thwarts whatever or whoever is messing with her and her family in a most ingenious way.

The book has a lot of eerie atmosphere which I liked. I was at times confused by Tenn and her running off to look into this or that. Ward was underdeveloped as a character - I sensed a lot of empathy but I wasn’t always sure of him. But in spite of this, I did enjoy the creepy read. And as I said earlier, the ending was clever.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and G.P. Putnam &Sons for allowing me access to this ARC.

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Author Information

Aimee Pokwatka

Aimee Pokwatka is the author of Self-Portrait with Nothing and The Parliament. She grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia, and received her MFA in creative writing from Syracuse University. Her work has been published in Fairy Tale Review, Outlook Springs, Hunger Mountain, and elsewhere. She lives in New York with her family.

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Read-Alikes

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