Title: We Used To Live Here

Author: Marcus Kliewer

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Publisher: Bantam

Publication Date: 20th June 2024

Rating: 5/5

Cover:

Summary:

You let them back in.
You shouldn’t have…

Young couple Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they got on an old house in a beautiful yet remote neighbourhood nestled deep in the mountains. One day, there’s a knock at 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 family enters their home, strange things start to happen, and Eve wants nothing more than for them to leave and never come back. But they can’t – or won’t – take the hint that they are no longer welcome.

Then Charlie suddenly vanishes, and Eve begins to lose her grip on reality. She’s convinced there’s something terribly wrong with the house and its past inhabitants . . . or is it all in her head?

Review:

Wow. I mean, this book 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 messed with my head. I made the crucial mistake of reading this alone, at night, in bed. I genuinely had to put it down (I briefly considered putting it in the freezer, à la Joey in Friends) because I was so freaked out and then couldn’t sleep, literally jumping at every noise and shadow, with my mind still reeling. It is exceptionally creepy and spine tinglingly eerie from beginning to the mind-bending ending. I really don’t want to give anything away because, in my view, We Used To Live Here will have the strongest effect on its reader if they go in relatively blind and become swept up in the unnerving tale.

The whole premise is pitch perfect and the way the story is structured is incredibly effective, with the narrative interspersed with unsettling collections of documents relating to the house at the centre of this masterpiece of atmospheric tension. I think I’ll have to actually reread this book because there are so many twisted layers that I think more will become apparent on a second reading. I really can’t believe this is a debut – it’s spectacularly assured in its masterful crafting of a truly unnerving and chilling reading experience. I couldn’t recommend We Used To Live Here more highly – terrifying, visceral and unforgettable.

★★★★★

Thank you so much to Anne Cater of Random Things Blog Tours for inviting me on this tour and organising it. I kindly received a copy of the book from the publisher. My review is entirely my own honest opinion.

Buy the book:

https://amzn.to/3Vu8UYh

(As an Amazon Associate I earn a very small amount from qualifying purchases – at absolutely no extra cost to you!)