There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins
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One-by-one, the students of Osborne High are dying in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasing and grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and the hunt intensifies for the killer, the dark secrets among them must finally be confronted.
International bestselling author Stephanie Perkins returns with a fresh take on the classic teen slasher story that’s fun, quick-witted, and completely impossible to put down.
I believe this was a case of two weird genres getting together and not vibing. I’ve been lowkey a few of Perkins since I hesitantly got on the Anna and the French Kiss trend and rather enjoyed it. Lola and the Boy Next Door is one of my favorite books of all time, so when I literally saw that Perkins one sentence synopsis of this book how many years ago about slasher fic meets Anna, I WAS SOLD I WAS SOLD I WAS SOLD. However, I believe the problems came, well, because the fact that it was slasher meets Anna. It couldn’t figure out which one it wanted to be and I was just left confused.
My biggest issue was this wasn’t scary. I was not scared once in the story. Perkins had a fascinating idea about how this villain came into someone’s house, moving around items causing people to not be able to figure out if it’s someone else or just their imagination. It’s freaky, but that’s about it. Perkins tried to bring in the scary, but she just focused on the weirdest things…for example:
THE EGGTIMER. The story starts off with our first victim, walking around the house being confused on why this eggtimer keeps getting moved around. Okay, the moving around part is freaky, but the girl kept focusing on how the eggtimer itself was creepy. She’s like, oh, I don’t trust this weird little thing. It’s white and it looks beady or something and she just gets creeped out by it. I have never once been creeped out by one, so it felt like Perkins was just telling us to be scared of it instead of making it actually scary (and a super missed opportunity to not have that creepy ticking).
Later, another victim is a football player. When he starts to notice that things have gone missing, he perhaps thinks it’s because of a possible concussion or related illness, CTE. I thought that would make a lot of sense, but I think Perkins was like, oh, right, I have to make this creepy, so she keeps using the phrase, CTE? Is it you? So the narrator would go on for a bit of prose and then all of sudden, CTE? Is it you? would just randomly appear. It actually made me laugh out loud, and I had a long discussion with my friend about this later on because I was still crying over it.
Okay, those were two of the examples of what I thought was Perkins trying to force the scary aspect of it. It got a bit more slasher fic at the end of the story, but to tell the truth, I didn’t really know/care about any of the victims getting killed, I was not scared, I called the killer literally the first instance that I saw them, and I was not held in suspense.
Plus, the romance parts got super in the way. I felt like they were in the most inopportune times to be added in. I mean, there’s having a moment of prayer/silence for some of the victims, and Makani and her lovey decide to have a passionate kiss while everyone around them has their eyes closed for it? I was concerned by that. And I didn’t get into the romance either. Perhaps that was because I didn’t care for the characters at all? They were all just kind of there, and I never formed a connection to any character.
However, I did enjoy the diversity aspect of it. One of the supporting characters, Darby, is transgender, and Makani is half Native Hawaiian and half African American. Perkins tackled a lot of fantastic points about racial diversity in a town without much and the different micro aggressions that take place.
Overall, this story just fell super flat to me. I couldn’t get into the characters or romance, it wasn’t scary, I knew the killer the first moment I saw them, and I found the writing for a slasher fic subpar. Perkins still has a tremendous amount of talent, but I thought that really missed the mark due to the mixing of two genres that didn’t really need to go together (although I still really want to read one though XD). The premise really was great, but I think I’ll go read Lola and the Boy Next Door instead. 1 crown and a Merida rating although perhaps a visit from Moana?
I am so sad that I have not been seeing good reviews for this book. I was very curious about it but I will definitely be skipping it. Awesome review!
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I know! It held such intriguing promise to it, but it just had too many factors that didn’t combine well for me. Thanks so much, Kristin! 🙂
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Aw, I’m sorry to see how this book fell flat for you. But now I’m concerned…remember that slasher story I may start to publish on my blog (because you said you were disappointed in this book and I jokingly said I could do better?) Well, I have no idea if I can make it scary… I guess I can try…😅
That CTE thing made me start laughing with just your description. What the heck…that’s just the opposite of scary, that’s just silly! And I hate it when it’s all telling and no showing. You need to have a balance of both. I guess the problem with this was that there wasn’t much subtlety, eh?
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Ahahahahaha. Oh, no, I think you got it, Kate. You’re so talented with words, I’m sure you’ll bring the suspense which can be scary in its own way.
And IK. I literally sat there going, BUT THIS ISN’T SCARY, IT’S JUST WEIRD AND I CAN’T DEAL. XD No, no real subtlety at all.
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Meh. We’ll see how I do…(the summary for the story will be up tomorrow. I was busy today and barely had time to write even that, lol). I prefer suspense over jump scares any day, tbh. I am probably going to get a lot of inspiration from The Knife of Never Letting Go, which had fabulous suspenseful writing, like WOW.
Just reading your description made me start laughing out loud, like, this isn’t how people act…it’s not scary at ALL. Like, a lack of fear I can understand, but to be so silly…
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Agreed! I read a really good thriller the other day. Little Monsters by Kara Thomas. It wasn’t scary or anything in the jump scare tense, but it totally made me feel so uneasy and unsettled. I think that’s what a good thriller will do, so you’re so right. I’m going to keep a lookout for it! 😀 And totally writing down The Knife of Never Letting Go. XD
And YES. So much agreement.
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Ooh, I’ve heard good things about that for a while. I’ll have to look into it some more. I love a good thriller. You can check out my review for The Knife of Never Letting Go, it’s got more info than I could put into a comment. I didn’t like the writing at first, but it grew on me and I eventually came to like it a lot.
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Yeah, I would suggest it, Kate! And ooooh, I’m going to have to go check it out now then. 😀
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I’m so nervous. It hasn’t been getting great reivews at all, but I bought it and I feel like I have to read it.
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THAT WAS WHAT HAPPENED TO ME. I was so excited, bought it, and then saw the influx of bad reviews, but felt I had to read it. I have seen some good ones, though, so there is hope still, Birdie? But it was quite a bit of a struggle.
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My daughter is reading it right now, and she seems to be struggling. My hope is dwindling. 🙂
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Oh nooooooooooooo. At least it had a prettyish cover? XD I’m sorry, Birdie! ❤
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I completely agree with your review. I think she tried to write it in the style of an 80’s horror slasher film with all the cheese, sex and horror but it didn’t work. I think if she would have stuck to one genre the entire way through, it would have worked.
Oh my lord, did that CTE thing piss me off? Excuse a tiny rant I’m going to have one. Let’s be honest here, how many YA fans are also huge NFL fans or sports fans? Not that many and not enough to know what CTE is, either. It felt like she was making a joke of an important and often overlooked issue in football at any level. I’m sorry lol but I know a lot about CTE and its effects and how she used it really bothered me.
Sorry! Rant over haha, but I’m not really sure if I’ll give Perkins another chance. I didn’t like Anna and the French Kiss and I didn’t care for this one, either. Maybe I’m just not meant to like her lol
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YESSSSSSSSs. I so agree! It really felt like she’s trying much too hard with it to be that but then throw in all the romance and contemporary aspects, it got far too messy.
And yes! You make so many valid points. It really came off so cheesy and like a joke, because you’re so right – it’s not something to joke about and super serious but the way that it kept getting mentioned, it was something that just seemed laughable.
I did enjoy Lola and the Boy Next Door quite a few years ago, but truthfully, if you didn’t like Anna, I might suggest passing again. It was of the same kind of stuff.
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I hope you make a book giveaway of this one. I want to read this one badly ❤
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Oh no! A copy just came into the library today, so I was hoping it would be a good spooky read. Great review though, despite the fact that you didn’t get scared by the book.
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It was…it was interesting? I’ve seen a few goodish reviews, so I’m intrigued to see what you end up thinking about it. The fear factor was a lot less, but it did have some interesting parts.
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Sharing a passionate kiss during a moment of silence for the dead……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….no.
I don’t think I’ll be picking this one up. If I can’t even do real scary, I don;t think fake scary will be any better.
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THANK YOU, RENDZ. I kept looking around going, I couldn’t be the only one that noticed this??? But no, I would not recommend wasting Rendz’s epicness on it. 😉 And dealt with a bit of gore, which I know you’re not a big fan of either.
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It was kind of an odd mashup. I totally agree with all the issues you had with it honestly. Despite that, I was totally glued to it. I don’t know why, but this was a book I loved even though I kind of hated it if that makes any sense. Great, great review, Mandy! Also, I didn’t know Lola was one of your favs, but that totally makes sense!
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Ahahahaha, omigosh, I know the exact same feeling, Krysti! I have more than a few books that I love but also kind of hate. And thank you! And yes! Cricket and Lola were so cute, and the family dynamics were adorable. Isla was your favorite out of the three, wasn’t it?
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Exactly, Mandy! 🙂 Cricket and Lola are just totes adores. ❤ Isla is my fav of those books, but honestly, I enjoy all of them.
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Yes! I loved the family dynamics as well. I feel like I really need to reread the series. Like I know everyone’s name, but I forgot so much about it. XD *adds it to the never ending pile of things I need to do again*
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Me too! That would be super fun. Maybe in the spring…
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1 crown!!! Omg!
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Ahahaha yes! XD
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Lmao. I’ve never given a book 1 star. Good review too.
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It wasn’t until this year that I started giving them. If I didn’t like it, I usually just gave up on it before I got to the end. Something this year has just kept me going with them. XD What do you do with books you don’t like – do you usually just don’t finish them? 🙂
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It depends. Sometimes, I force myself to finish them then I give 2 star reviews. Lately, I have a lot of books to read so, I don’t like to waste time on books I don’t like and I don’t finish them. I always feel bad for not finishing books though. I haven’t finished Heartless by Marissa Meyer and The Raven Boys and they’ve been on my Goodreads “reading” shelf for soo long.
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