Scan barcode
A review by samanthampg
There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins
3.0
TWs: body horror, hazing, gore, murder, mentions of rape and suicide
I started off with really high hopes for this novel as a fan of scream and horror in general. I think if you fall into the same boat you'll enjoy this novel but I certainly don't think it'll end up being a five star read for you. I think as far as YA Horror goes it's not terrible, it's certainly not going to keep hardcore horror fans up at night but I think that it was entertaining for what it was.
This book started off pretty strong, the opening chapter really drew me in with suspense. The scenes of characters being killed were well written and I felt the spooky vibe for sure. The idea that somebody is in your house, moving your objects and you just don't know? A spine chilling concept and I think the author portrayed that really well.
It was also nice to see a biracial main character as a horror novel lead, as the horror/thriller genre is known for it's lack of representation. Ollie was a sweet love interest, if not every punk 2000 teens dream but it was her friends I wish we got to know more. Darby is a trans man in a small town, there was a lot of room for exploration into that side of his character but we didn't see it. Alex was her other friend, super outspoken and gothic and somebody I totally wanted to see more of. Sadly, the author had Makani spend most of her time with Ollie.
*CONTAINS SPOILERS*
I think this book really started to go downhill when it revealed it's killer so early on in the book. I think knowing the perp did absolutely nothing to the plot but make it less intense. There was no sense of urgency anymore, no spooky factor about who or why. The hooded horror figure of nightmares was now just a regular person that people knew so it took away the creepy aspect.
I also think the killer had a really terrible motive that did not justify the amount of gore that they were causing. We don't get a lot of insight into the why, just a brief couple lines that I had predicted around the fourth death and seemed very lacklustre. I know - serial killers don't really need a reason to kill they just DO, but I think if you're going to give your killer a motive than at least make it a good one. Having them just do it because it seemed fun is unhinged behaviour I would accept from a psychopathic character, but a weak motive for such brutal murders? Sorry bestie but you're gonna have to do better than that.
Additionally, Makani's "terrible past" was hardly that bad. Was it morally wrong? Yes. But by the way she went on about it I thought she had murdered somebody. spoilers I guess because that is not what happened.
The final act in the book was kind of confusing and hard to see in my head. I think the scene with Alex is hard to believe since the killer was in view of them the whole time? It didn't really add up to me, but that might just be me being dumb.
Lastly, I'm just gonna say it. the ending was awful. It was like the last third of the story was chopped off. There was A MILLION things that we could've just tied up in a short epilogue but no, just cut it off. I think it was a disservice to the readers who followed Makani on her journey to not see her being able to process all the trauma she just went through and be able to properly grieve.
I started off with really high hopes for this novel as a fan of scream and horror in general. I think if you fall into the same boat you'll enjoy this novel but I certainly don't think it'll end up being a five star read for you. I think as far as YA Horror goes it's not terrible, it's certainly not going to keep hardcore horror fans up at night but I think that it was entertaining for what it was.
This book started off pretty strong, the opening chapter really drew me in with suspense. The scenes of characters being killed were well written and I felt the spooky vibe for sure. The idea that somebody is in your house, moving your objects and you just don't know? A spine chilling concept and I think the author portrayed that really well.
It was also nice to see a biracial main character as a horror novel lead, as the horror/thriller genre is known for it's lack of representation. Ollie was a sweet love interest, if not every punk 2000 teens dream but it was her friends I wish we got to know more. Darby is a trans man in a small town, there was a lot of room for exploration into that side of his character but we didn't see it. Alex was her other friend, super outspoken and gothic and somebody I totally wanted to see more of. Sadly, the author had Makani spend most of her time with Ollie.
*CONTAINS SPOILERS*
I think this book really started to go downhill when it revealed it's killer so early on in the book. I think knowing the perp did absolutely nothing to the plot but make it less intense. There was no sense of urgency anymore, no spooky factor about who or why. The hooded horror figure of nightmares was now just a regular person that people knew so it took away the creepy aspect.
I also think the killer had a really terrible motive that did not justify the amount of gore that they were causing. We don't get a lot of insight into the why, just a brief couple lines that I had predicted around the fourth death and seemed very lacklustre. I know - serial killers don't really need a reason to kill they just DO, but I think if you're going to give your killer a motive than at least make it a good one. Having them just do it because it seemed fun is unhinged behaviour I would accept from a psychopathic character, but a weak motive for such brutal murders? Sorry bestie but you're gonna have to do better than that.
Additionally, Makani's "terrible past" was hardly that bad. Was it morally wrong? Yes. But by the way she went on about it I thought she had murdered somebody. spoilers I guess because that is not what happened.
The final act in the book was kind of confusing and hard to see in my head. I think the scene with Alex is hard to believe since the killer was in view of them the whole time? It didn't really add up to me, but that might just be me being dumb.
Lastly, I'm just gonna say it. the ending was awful. It was like the last third of the story was chopped off. There was A MILLION things that we could've just tied up in a short epilogue but no, just cut it off. I think it was a disservice to the readers who followed Makani on her journey to not see her being able to process all the trauma she just went through and be able to properly grieve.