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3.19 AVERAGE
3.19 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
super unique perspective delivered very well despite a few grammar and spelling errors. dread and anxiety ridden!!
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
I think there's a reason we don't get many books with the second-person POV. It makes things confusing! Case in point is Anybody Home?, an interesting and DARK (all caps necessary here) book about an expert home invader guiding an apprentice (as well as us the readers) on the steps involved to elicit the best "performance." It's these performances that inspire the horror movies that we consume. There's even a cheeky reference to Saw.
All of this sounds like it could be cheesy, but this book is brutal, and our narrator has no qualms murdering adults, children, or pets. No one is safe; your home is the invaders' playground. It's all quite chilling, assuming you're an innocent and sane person. If so, you're likely to imagine yourself as one of the victims and worrying about how these psychos are able to invade your life and home so easily.
Unfortunately, the book's second-person POV sometimes detracts from the whole frightening experience, as it can be hard to make sense of who's who, what's being said between characters, and just what is actually happening (where are these cameras?). At the same time, I'm not sure this book would be as memorable without its second-person POV. It's definitely provocative, but it can be a tad repetitive.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5. Fear Nerd says, "Check it out!"
All of this sounds like it could be cheesy, but this book is brutal, and our narrator has no qualms murdering adults, children, or pets. No one is safe; your home is the invaders' playground. It's all quite chilling, assuming you're an innocent and sane person. If so, you're likely to imagine yourself as one of the victims and worrying about how these psychos are able to invade your life and home so easily.
Unfortunately, the book's second-person POV sometimes detracts from the whole frightening experience, as it can be hard to make sense of who's who, what's being said between characters, and just what is actually happening (where are these cameras?). At the same time, I'm not sure this book would be as memorable without its second-person POV. It's definitely provocative, but it can be a tad repetitive.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5. Fear Nerd says, "Check it out!"
“Anybody Home?” is written as if a seasoned home invader is giving you, the reader, advice on how to plan your first home invasion, or performance. In Seidlinger’s novel, home invasions are a well thought out play, with different acts, all recorded for the benefit of the Cult. The mentor take you step-by-step through the home invasion process, beginning with canvasing a home, learning the residents’ routine, staging the invasion, and the actual invasion itself. Once the family is chosen, we learn of both the family and the invaders’ dysfunction and how that plays a part in the performance.
“Anybody Home?” took me a little bit to get into due to the book being written in second person, and the author writing as if you are responding back to the mentor but we don’t get to know the responses all the time. The book started off strong in the pre-planning and planning phase but once the day of the home invasion occurred the plot slowed down. In addition, I was distracted by typos and it appeared the #s assigned to an invader or victim got messed up from time to time. There are no names for any characters in the book to emphasize anonymity, and all are given invader #s or victim #s. Overall “Anybody Home?” had an interesting concept/plot but I do not think it was fully executed.
“Anybody Home?” took me a little bit to get into due to the book being written in second person, and the author writing as if you are responding back to the mentor but we don’t get to know the responses all the time. The book started off strong in the pre-planning and planning phase but once the day of the home invasion occurred the plot slowed down. In addition, I was distracted by typos and it appeared the #s assigned to an invader or victim got messed up from time to time. There are no names for any characters in the book to emphasize anonymity, and all are given invader #s or victim #s. Overall “Anybody Home?” had an interesting concept/plot but I do not think it was fully executed.
I was bored. Yes, it was unnerving, but still a slog
I listened to this as an audiobook and it was both an unique reading experience as well as creepy. Its told like the narrator is talking to you and teaching about how to do an home invasion, like some very odd "how to guide". It's not very gory or extreme but it was very unsettling. To me the way the book was told was different from any other story I've read or listen to before.
dark
sad
Michael J. Seidlinger deserves jail time for this book which is actually a compliment. I’ve never been so severely mindfucked and disgusted while not being able to stop reading in my life. I had to take breaks between chapters, then breaks between paragraphs as we got deeper into the story!
All that ti say this is the most effectively written book I can remember. It accomplishes everything it sets out to do and makes the reader beep absolutely complicit in every horrendous act that happens.
All that ti say this is the most effectively written book I can remember. It accomplishes everything it sets out to do and makes the reader beep absolutely complicit in every horrendous act that happens.
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No