Synopsis from Good Reads:
Scream meets YA in this hotly-anticipated new novel from the bestselling author of Anna and the French Kiss.
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.
Well. That was a huge disappointment. I’m just going to list all the ways it disappointed me.
–This was basically a Contemporary Romance with a little bit of murder thrown in. It was not in the least bit scary or even suspenseful. The killer’s pre-killing ritual didn’t really make a lot of sense. A nod to Charles Manson, I guess? It still wasn’t scary.
–The characters were boring and unlikable. It reminded me a little bit of Lola and the Boy Next Door in trying too hard to make the characters seem quirky and unique (speaking of LATBND, there is a brief cameo mention from that novel which was one of the few things I liked). There is just enough diversity thrown in to make sure the mean kids on Twitter don’t get mad.
-Makani, the main character, has been exiled to her Grandma’s in Nebraska after some horrific event in her past that is often vaguely alluded to. She lives in constant fear of someone finding out what she did and thinks it might be why she’s a target of the killer. It’s eventually revealed and it’s…STUPID. It’s so stupid. It made me start to wonder if this book was supposed to be a spoof and I had been reading it with the wrong intentions. But, no. Unfortunately it’s supposed to be serious.
-The romance. The romance really did feel like the main focus of the plot. I didn’t necessarily dislike Makani and Ollie’s developing relationship, but I didn’t love them together, either. Ollie was a more subdued version of the swoony male lead Perkins is known for and in another type of book I might have liked him a little more. There is a scene where they make out a bit during a group prayer that I felt was really disrespectful.
-The murders. I have read several reviews that talked about how gory this book was so I was really expecting some intense scenes. Now I’m wondering if we read the same book? The murder scenes were incredibly brief with about the least amount of detail you can have while still staying in this genre. I don’t want it to seem like I really enjoy a lot of graphic violence, but if you’re going to have a slasher-inspired murder scene, you better make me squirm in discomfort and maybe feel a little sick. Instead I felt nothing but a little bored.
-The killer. The identity was revealed much earlier than I thought it would be and it took with it a lot of opportunity for tension and suspense (though by now I don’t think this book was really capable of that much suspense, anyways). The identity didn’t really have a lot of impact and the motivation for the killing was really lame.
Overall, There’s Someone Inside Your House was a tremendous disappointment. It wasn’t scary, it wasn’t suspenseful, it wasn’t unique, it wasn’t clever, and it wasn’t very enjoyable. I was thinking that I would give this book 2 stars, but the only good thing I can really think to say about it is that I like the cover. I can appreciate the author’s effort to write something outside of her normal genre, but I definitely think she should stick with romance from now on.
Overall Rating (out of 5): 1 Star
I really appreciate your honest review. And I haven’t seen one good thing about this book, yet, which means I won’t be reading it. I’m sorry it sucked so bad!
It was just so much worse than I thought it would be! And I lowered my expectations a lot before reading because I kept seeing poor reviews on it, too. You are not missing anything if you skip it.
Oh no! Sorry this one was so disappointing, I have slowly been lowering all of my expectations for it. Now I don’t think I even want to read it since all I wanted was the murder and suspense definitely NOT a romance. Great review and thank you for suffering through this one for the rest of us! 🙂
Haha you’re welcome. It was way more romance heavy than anything else. Very disappointing!
Oh man, I was looking forward to this one. Great review.
Thanks! If you read it I hope you enjoy it more than I did! I found it super disappointing.
Oh no! I’m kind of glad now my request wasn’t approved… I don’t think I would enjoy this story either. Great review and thanks for sparing me the time and money on this book. 😉
Thanks! Definitely don’t spend money on this one. I think you would get really annoyed at the romance heavy plot.
That sounds about right… Definitely not for me. xD
Hahaha well, the cover is awesome, that’s for sure. Tbh, I checked this out because I usually like this kind of stories but I saw who wrote it and thought it would be just like you said. I will stick to watching the Scream show 😛
The Scream show is quite fun! I wish this book was more like it! I didn’t mind her other books and knew there would be some romance in this one, but I didn’t think it would take over the plot. Disappointing.
Dang. That does sound disappointing! I was looking forward to this one, too. 😦
Yeah it was one of my most anticipated fall reads, but it definitely wasn’t worth the wait.
How disappointing! Thanks for suffering through for the rest of us. I have the book but after reading your review and trying a few chapters, it is going back to the library.
It was very disappointing. I really don’t think you’re missing anything by not finishing it.
The title would keep me from buying this book. I’m sorry you were disappointed on seemingly all levels. It sounds as though reading it was a waste of time – you could have been really engrossed in a good one.
I don’t mind the title, actually. It was entirely disappointing, though!
😦
Pingback: October 2017 Recap | Stephanie's Book Reviews
Pingback: The Nope Book Tag | Stephanie's Book Reviews
Pingback: My Most Disappointing Books of 2017 | Stephanie's Book Reviews
Pingback: End of the Year Survey: 2017 | Stephanie's Book Reviews