Review: There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

Title: There's Someone Inside Your House

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Genre: YA, mystery thriller

Publication date: September 2017

Published by: Dutton Books

Source: Library book

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Synopsis:

Love hurts...

Makani Young thought she'd left her dark past behind her in Hawaii, settling in with her grandmother in landlocked Nebraska. She's found new friends and has even started to fall for mysterious outsider Ollie Larsson. But her past isn't far behind.

Then, one by one, the students of Osborne Hugh begin to die in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasingly grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and her feelings for Ollie intensify, Makani is forced to confront her own dark secrets.

My rating: ★★☆☆☆
I was so, so excited to read this! It’s right up my alley after all! But... no. It was... just, no. If you are a horror/thriller fan like me, don’t go into this book thinking you’re gonna get that, ‘cause you’re not. The title and synopsis of the book are incredibly misleading. This is a contemporary/romance that every once in a while remembers it’s actually supposed to be a mystery.

I did like that it started off with a kill... but then it just completely drops off and it takes forever to get back to the mystery! Too much romance and not enough killing.

The actual killing part was pretty good though. I liked the kills and how gory they were. It was also kind of suspenseful in parts. My favorite part of this whole book was when the killer finishes they’re most recent kill and the victim is lying about, you know, dead, when...

The killer sat on the rug—crisscross applesauce—picked up the abandoned controller, and unpaused the game. There was no hurry.
No one would be home for hours.

It was SO messed up!! And I loved it! The killer literally sat there for five hours! FIVE!

So, overall, I liked the kills and they were pretty gory (just how I like them), but the killer’s motive? It was dumb as fuck!

He killed these guys because all these people had dreams of leaving this tiny town and doing bigger, better things while David would stay in town probably forever. So, by killing all these people he would get sent to a maximum security prison (because he was planning on turning himself in) that is two hours away, and thus, leaving the tiny town behind. He went through all that for the dumbest motive to ever motive! Ughhhh! I can’t with this book...

Anyway, back to the part where this book was being slow at getting back to the kills. On page 25 we head into flashback, while I’m over here like

Too much backstory I don’t care for! Just get to the killing already! The action! No, the other kind of action. Ugh!

Look, I appreciate the author giving characters their backstories and depth and whatnot... but ugh! I don’t care! At least don’t dump all this info on me right from the start! The book literally starts of with a high and immediately drops off a goddamn cliff to some dumb romance shit and I just

And okay, I do admit the romance was pretty sweet at times, and I wound up liking Makani and Ollie together. They were cute. The characters and their relationships with one another grew on me eventually even though all I really wanted was the mystery and the horror stuff.

The book is told in third person POV, mostly Makani’s, but we did switch around a little bit. We got to see other murder victims POV as they died, which I was a fan of. But before that we get even more background stuff on them. I get it, I really do. Trying to make them seem human, maybe make them relatable, but honestly I don't fucking care! I know they’re going to be dying in the next 3 seconds so this seemed like a waste of time. Those scenes went on for too long! I get that they were setting things up and whatnot, but man, too long!

And okay, this issue is more of a me thing. I read a lot of Fear Street and in those books I get exactly what I want: the mystery/thriller I crave without all this character stuff. Character development is a good thing, but in my opinion pointless when they’re gonna die within the next page. Or when we’re nearing the freaking climax and pages are being wasted on this useless character stuff I don’t fucking care about. Get on with it already!

I did have a favorite character though: Katie! I could totally relate to her! Especially because she’s an older sister with twin siblings... like me!

Spoiler alert Katie dies. It was probably one of worst deaths in this book and we didn’t really know her too well. So, the killer comes after Katie, when she is babysitting her younger siblings. Unfortunately, he gets her, stabbing her and stabbing her and...

David peered over her. His question was curious, though his voice was dead. “Why aren’t you screaming?”
Because I don’t want to wake up my brother and sister.

Omg ME! I almost cried, it was so sad. Can totally relate.

Another character I liked (sometimes) was Alex. The things that came out of her mouth were just hilarious! I really enjoyed these funny moments in the book.

Let’s talk about the thing that is almost immediately mentioned in the synopsis of the book: Makani’s secret. I was very intrigued by it and was curious to see how it would tie in to what was going on in the present. Throughout the whole book I kept wondering what awful thing she did to get her sent to her grandmother's in the middle of nowhere. It turns out it was... nothing. Or rather, something dumb. Something so dumb that it did not live up to my expectations. It was just so underwhelming and frustrating! This was an intriguing part of the story, but in the end, it was a real let down. It also had nothing to do with the current story, so wtf! I don’t understand why it was so important to hide the thing she did. Yeah, she did a pretty bitchy thing, but come one! Like people care? It was a serious overreaction on their part. And totally not realistic at all. Especially considering that situation wasn’t even Makani’s fault to start with. It’s hard to believe everyone would blame her for this thing. And also, this thing that Makani does was beyond an overreaction on her part, too. I just don’t get it.

Alex, before Makani started telling her story, was all like, “Omg did you kill someone?!” Makani: “Omg no! Wtf!” Honestly, that’s what I was expecting and would have been SO much better than the stupid shit we got. We could’ve got some horrible accident that Makani caused, or even some self defense... something interesting! I’m telling you this so you don’t get your hopes up.

One thing I did like about this hot mess of a "secret" was how the story was told. It was this sort of combination of a flashback with interjections from the present. So basically, we get to see (not told) what happened, so that was nice. But every once in a while we get these interruptions from the present as Makani’s friends interject their thoughts, opinions, and questions. I really liked that format—it was fun.

And here are a couple more of my scattered thoughts before we wrap things up:
-I loved that the school musical was Sweeney Todd—I absolutely love that movie!
- The reveal on page 154 of 287... too much book left for a reveal!
-Makani’s mother is the fucking worst.
-Makani and her friends trying to figure things out, trying to see pattern to the killers victims... what fucking pattern?! The theories they came up with made no sense at all and they just went on like we were supposed to understand? Umm, no.

-The scene where the killer attacks Makani and Ollie saves the day while naked... that was THE BEST! It was so funny and suspenseful all at the same time! Makani’s friends then poking fun at him made things that much better. Lol.

Sooo... this book. It had a slow-ass start and an abrupt end. This book was just not for me. But I also didn’t completely hate. I hear this author’s contemporaries are, like, amazing or something. I wouldn’t know—contemporaries aren’t my thing. But maybe go read those instead of this? Or maybe because you like those you’ll like this too? I’m not sure. Lol.

As for me, after reading this disappointment I needed something to cheer me up: enter the Elemental Assassin! It’s not a horror/thriller, but I highly recommend that series especially if you are looking for a good adult urban fantasy! I absolutely adore that series and it’s actually very suspenseful at times! Skip There's Someone Inside Your House and read that instead. Lol. Or read this if you really want. You do you. Lol.

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! :)