There's Someone Inside Your House

by Stephanie Perkins

[Amber]

3.5, really.

I’ve been waiting for this book for the longest time. Probably along with the rest of Perkins’ fans, right? There’s Someone Inside Your House had a completely different feel to it than any of Perkins’ contemporary novels. I think if I hadn’t known they were by the same author then I wouldn’t have connected the dots.


There’s Someone Inside Your House is a short book, but it doesn’t lack the classic slasher horror feel that was revived with movies like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Perkins writes some excellent creepy scenes. In the book, the killer messed with people by moving things around the house and leaving cabinets open. While paranormal horror doesn’t tend to get to me, I am always thoroughly creeped out by home invasion stories, and I think Perkins hit the nail on the head here. It was so freaking spine-tingling! Plus, there was a good amount of gore. Like, a huge amount. Don’t read this book if you’re sensitive.

The main character, Mariko, is mixed race, and one of her close friends is transgender. Yay, representation! I feel like the close friend could have had more to do though.

I do have a couple of complaints, though. First of all, there was too much romance. I’m not a massive fan of romance anyway, and if I’m reading a horror/slasher/thriller, I don’t want to be reading about teenagers falling in love and/or getting it on. There doesn’t need to be romance just because it’s YA! The romance in this wasn’t too over the top, thankfully, but I didn’t care for it. Especially because it was such a short book.

My other issue was that the “big reveal” was a bit crap. I was expecting it to be better, or at least for there to be more to it. If you’re expecting There’s Someone Inside Your House to be a really intelligent and twisty tale, then you should probably lower your expectations. Go into it expecting a gory horror novel, but it’s definitely not full of twists and shocking reveals.

That said, I’d definitely be interested in reading other thrillers or horror novels written by Perkins. This wasn’t a bad book by any means, it just wasn’t as hard hitting as I had hoped.