There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins
Makani Young is still adjusting to her new life with her grandmother in landlocked Nebraska after her parents send her away from her beloved Hawaiian home. She's made friends and has even had a hint of romance, yet her old life is hard to forget. But things in her new quiet little Nebraskan town take a strange turn when one by one, her classmates are violently murdered. No one knows who is next on the killer's list or why they are being targeted, but Makani realises her past may soon catch up with her.
| There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins | |
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| Category: Teens | |
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Reviewer: Amy Etherington
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| Summary: Hawaiian-born Makani Young is adjusting to a new life with her grandmother in landlocked Nebraska, when suddenly one by one her classmates are brutally murdered. A chilling story, but it's missing something to make it really pack a punch. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 304 | Date: October 2017 |
| Publisher: Macmillian Children's Books | |
| External links: [www.stephanieperkins.com Author's website] | |
| ISBN: 978-1509859801 | |
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The title of this book alone – There's Someone Inside Your House – has the familiar nostalgic feel of the popular slasher films of the 90s. A quiet town, a group of high schoolers, each one of them inadvertently involved in a mass killing spree. Stephanie Perkins recreates that chilling plotline here in this contemporary YA thriller, with an attempt to flesh out the characters more than we would normally be accustomed to in this style of novel. Does it work? A little, although the focus on character development did cause the plot to fall a bit flat.
I think I expected a bit more from this novel. It starts well – the tension is built up from the beginning as we are told of the death of the first victim. The scenes where we see the murders were my favourite parts by far, which may seem morbid but I felt that they created the most atmosphere. While it's not exactly frightening, it does have its fair share of guts and gore which I don't mind but perhaps it's something to be wary of if it's not your thing. The thriller/slasher part of the story I really enjoyed; it was just what I was hoping for when I first started reading. However, it was the other half of the plot that let it down for me.
I knew from the get-go that as a protagonist Makani has something to hide. She's a person of interest because you know she has a past she wants to keep hidden and the mystery of her story runs alongside the main plot. Yet the focus of this was taken away by her budding romantic relationship with Ollie, the school outcast. I don't mind a bit of romance in a thriller story; it breaks things up a bit and adds another layer to the plot, but after a while this started to feel like a romance novel with a slasher side story. It was entertaining enough but it lacked a certain 'umph' that would have kept me completely hooked.
There's Someone Inside Your House is an otherwise interesting addition to the young adult thriller genre. It doesn't necessarily add anything new but it's an entertaining read written in an easy style, and it's a good story to get cosy with in the cold autumn months. If you like YA romances and thriller stories then this might be one to check out, but don't go in to this expecting a complex and intricate plot.
For another story in a similar vein then I would recommend checking out S.T.A.G.S by M A Bennett. It's a compelling YA thriller with dark undertones and it has the perfect balance of romance and suspense.
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You can read more book reviews or buy There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins at Amazon.com.
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