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A review by specificwonderland
We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Uhhh.
I couldn't put it down until about 50%.When they started hinting around maybe other consciousness' were placed in bodies, I felt alarm bells going off. I put it down for a few days. I think I read somewhere (a blurb for the book? A Facebook group?) this book is The Strangers meets Get Out and when we started to see glimpses of the Get Out plot, I immediately lost interest.
It was tense. It was atmospheric. I, too, found it to be somewhat HOL-adjacent, with the footnotes, evidence, and the undulating floorplan. I'm impressed this writer got published, I've never done that. But I think this could've tightened up in some ways.
Questions I still have:
Is Shylo ok?
Why did Thomas show up? With the title, did he just used to (always) live here? He just does this anytime someone moves in? Did an evil entity just pick Eve to drive her crazy for fun? The kids were all in on it? When Jenni asked about her wrist tattoo, was that her breaking character?
What did the address change matter? Just another symptom of her "insanity"?
Does Thomas's dad being in a band matter?
Is this a scary story about Capgras syndrome?
Is it a paranormal haunting story?
Was the whole town in on it to keep using the hatches for whatever weird body possession they were doing?
Why did the officer get so mad interrogating Eve, when he seemed okayish talking to Andrew?
At the end, I didn't care to revisit my questions and I don't think I'll think about this book again. It had real potential the first half and then kinda felt like it was throwing a bunch of spaghetti at the wall to see what stuck. I thought the woman chasing her through the basement was scary but her final few apotheoses with Charlie, Thomas were either overwrought or lackadaisical. On the pro side, it was fun hearing local places shouted out and I'd probably give the writer one more chance with another book!
I couldn't put it down until about 50%.
It was tense. It was atmospheric. I, too, found it to be somewhat HOL-adjacent, with the footnotes, evidence, and the undulating floorplan. I'm impressed this writer got published, I've never done that. But I think this could've tightened up in some ways.
Questions I still have:
Is Shylo ok?
Why did Thomas show up? With the title, did he just used to (always) live here? He just does this anytime someone moves in? Did an evil entity just pick Eve to drive her crazy for fun? The kids were all in on it? When Jenni asked about her wrist tattoo, was that her breaking character?
What did the address change matter? Just another symptom of her "insanity"?
Does Thomas's dad being in a band matter?
Is this a scary story about Capgras syndrome?
Is it a paranormal haunting story?
Was the whole town in on it to keep using the hatches for whatever weird body possession they were doing?
Why did the officer get so mad interrogating Eve, when he seemed okayish talking to Andrew?
At the end, I didn't care to revisit my questions and I don't think I'll think about this book again. It had real potential the first half and then kinda felt like it was throwing a bunch of spaghetti at the wall to see what stuck. I thought the woman chasing her through the basement was scary but her final few apotheoses with Charlie, Thomas were either overwrought or lackadaisical. On the pro side, it was fun hearing local places shouted out and I'd probably give the writer one more chance with another book!