Book Review: WE USED TO LIVE HERE by Marcus Kliewer

WE USED TO LIVE HERE by Marcus Kliewer (Atra/Emily Bestler Books, June 18, 2024) Hardcover, 312 pages. ISBN #9781982198787 

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .

From an author “destined to become a titan of the macabre and unsettling” (Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author), a haunting debut—soon to be a Netflix original movie—about two homeowners whose lives are turned upside down when the house’s previous residents unexpectedly visit.

As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in.

As soon as the strangers enter their home, inexplicable things start happening, including the family’s youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even more weird, the family can’t seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family—or is Eve just imagining things?

This unputdownable and spine-tingling novel “is like quicksand: the further you delve into its pages, the more immobilized you become by a spiral of terror. We Used to Live Here will haunt you even after you have finished it” (Agustina Bazterrica, author of Tender Is the Flesh).

My Four-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

Add this to the list of horror novels that didn't scare me, but that I still enjoyed. This is a good debut novel, and I look forward to seeing what Marcus Kliewer does next.

It's a real page turner, which I attribute to the easy reading style of the author. Whether or not he's manipulating situations to make things occur - he does know how to write well. Characterization is excellent, even though I'm not enthusiastic about all the characters.

I guess I'm enjoying this because of the style of writing more than anything else - - I don't know how to explain that better. I have nothing in common with Eve, but I've come to like her because of her flaws. I empathize. Give the writer some credit for that.

The ending was not quite to my liking, but still satisfactory. I felt that there was a missed opportunity here for the author to wrap things up even more. 

Everything that occurs in this novel leaves it to the reader to decide if it actually occurred or was imaginary - or just certain parts that were real and others in the mind of Eve. Kliewer leaves things ambiguous, but he has a ways to go to equal or best the master of ambiguity in horror novels - - Paul Tremblay.