Proceed with Caution:
This book contains bloody murder, attempted murder, and mentions of parental death and suicide.
The Basics:
This book is narrated in third person, mainly from Makani's perspective, but occasionally from each victim's.
We're constantly reminded that they're in Osborne, Nebraska. We get it. No need to mention it on every other page. But it's set in a tiny town, Osbourne, Nebraska, where the most exciting things to happen are the high school football games. At least until a serial killer comes to town and starts picking off the teenagers.
My Thoughts:
I was really excited for There's Someone Inside Your House despite how long it took me to get to it. I don't read many thrillers, but I adore this author, and it sounded exciting and eerie. Unfortunately, it fell completely flat. The characters were flat. The suspense was flat. The motivation was...I don't really know, but it was flat. The one thing that I did really like was how the killer would rearrange furniture or move things inside the victim's home before murdering them. I'll need to keep an eye out...
Makani has a secret, which is randomly brought up throughout There's Someone Inside Your House. She's convinced that if anyone finds out, they'll hate her. She's even afraid of being a suspect at first! I was really curious to find out what she did, but then it's revealed. The big secret is seriously stupid. She was blamed for something she didn't even do. Well, she did one thing that was totally unacceptable, but not worth the consequences she faced. And certainly no reason for a serial killer to target her. It was just plain silly and ruined the vibe.
There's Someone Inside Your House is also more romance focused than I expected. As a primarily Romance reader, this normally wouldn't bother me, but that's not what I was expecting. It would have been shorter and faster paced if we weren't following the developing relationship between Makani and Ollie, which didn't add to the suspense plot at all.
In the beginning the narrative was definitely trying to make Ollie seem super suspicious, but it was going too hard. Like he should have been wearing a shirt that said "red herring" on it. The killer is revealed about halfway in, and was anti-climactic. I honestly did not care about this person. Their motivation was purely speculation and seemed like a reach. Then it took half the book to catch them after announcing who it was, so it was just a matter of time. I was bored.
There's Someone Inside Your House was a disappointment. None of the characters had any personality. No one stood out, not even the killer. It's already a short novel, but it's chock full of filler that didn't add to the plot, and actually detracted from it a bit. I'd pass on this one if I were you.