A review by alba_marie
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey

dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

She knew she should be frightened. She knew that she should be afraid of whatever had taken her quilt away, whatever had rattled that old bed bedframe on her first night and climbed into her dreams with cold fingers and a sweet whisper. She knew she should try to find out what it was, or run from it, or kill it. She knew it was probably there in the dark, waiting for her to fall asleep. But in that moment, as she hid in the safest part of the safest place she'd ever known, trying to understand how it'd all gone so wrong, she wasn't afraid. She was too alone to be afraid."

Having discovered a newfangled love of the horror genre last year, my fascination with the genre shows no sign of letting up. Just Like Home has been on my library hold list for awhile, and as soon as it arrived, I devoured it. I suppose that's a good verb for this book. Devouring.

Part haunted house, part ghost story, part monster tale, part serial killer thriller, part psychological mindf•ck, Just Like Home was such a haunting, dark, gory tale. Unputdownable, nail-biting, and bizarre. Trying to summarise it is difficult. Suffice it to say, Vera has a troubled relationship with both parents, though her mum, Daphne, in particular. It's the definition of a toxic relationship full of spitting words and angry thoughts. But her relationship with her dad, while seeming more healthy in her memories, is actually just as bad. That tends to happen when your dad's a
serial killer
who you've secretly been watching ply his trade. 

Then there's the lodger James Duvall. He just feels grimy. A spiritual artist in communion with the house (or whatever), he's a loony but clearly not harmless. He he's not going anywhere, no matter how unwanted he is. 

"Come home," Daphne says to Vera, the first words she's spoken to her daughter in decades. Why now? What's wrong with Daphne? Is she really dying?

It's clear pretty early on there's something wrong with the house, and it's infecting the people inside. The grime and grease that so fascinated Francis Crowder, Vera's dad, seems to seep from the walls, from under the bed, from the mouths of its inhabitants. The atmosphere of dark decay and black grease pervades everything seen and unseen. 

This is a thoroughly creepy tale with a few twists throughout. If you like horror, I would recommend it. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings