There's Someone Inside Your House

(Author's Notes: I originally finished this book October 2021.)

This was the first book I finished after a series of DNF's. October marks my favorite time year which is SPOOKY SEASON! I saw this book was turned into a movie on Netflix, so I thought this would be a great start to spooky season.

I was hooked right from the start with this one. I said this last year and I will say it again, but Teen Slasher is not only making a comeback, its already here. (And to be completely accurate this book was originally published in 2017, before Clown in a Cornfield).

Recap:

Makani moved to Nebraska from Hawaii because of a dark secret that is revealed later in the story. She becomes friends Alex and Darby, and she even begins a relationship with rebel Ollie. But not all is well in this sleepy town. One by one teens are getting killed. Makani and her friends are trying to figure out who the killer is and their motive.

This was a fast paced story with well crafted suspense. One of my favorite things about this story was how the killer created fear by moving furniture around, leaving cabinets open, and just plain gaslighting the victims. Knowing that someone was there but never knowing exactly where, when, or how kept me invested.

The first murder happens fast. Like, so fast I barely even processed that I started the book. Since this is a teen slasher novel, I liked that the story got right into it. I enjoyed all the classic slasher tropes.

I also really enjoyed the balance between romance and slasher. It’s about 50/50 here, so if you don’t like romance this may not be the book for you.

This book wasn’t perfect though. I felt like the reveal of the killer was too early. When it happened I thought it was a red herring. When I realized it wasn’t I was fine with it, but then the motives were revealed, and it fell flat for me. Maybe it wasn’t explained well or maybe it happened too fast, but I felt like there could have been stronger motive.

However maybe this is what it is in real life? When murders happen IRL there's never a satisfactory reason. If this were the author's intention then I can appreciate that.

Overall, I enjoyed this book for what it was and I liked that it was a quick read.

4/5 Stars

P.S. If you decide to watch the movie after reading then expect to see a lot of changes. Things like who was murdered and when. Even something as basic as the motive was changed, and in my opinion its an even weaker motive in the movie.

I've heard from people that didn't read the book that the movie was really good. So this is a case where the book and the movie should be seen as two different entities.