Book Review: We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
I would say once per year I read a book that I just devour and changes me as a reader, and this was one of those books (it terrified me)
I haven’t done a full blown book review in so long because I really don’t have the time, and planned to start doing a monthly read roundup, but We Used to Live Here needs its very own book review.
General stuff
I’ve gotten really into the spooky/paranormal genre this year after transitioning over from psych thriller. My first read in this subgenre that I loved was Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak, but I have always had a sick love for the backrooms. I’m convinced when I die my heaven will be the less-erie backrooms, like the abandoned 90s mall at night, those weird creepy Chuck-E-Cheese feeling spaces, etc.
This book did not have that kind of backrooms feel. It was the scary trapped-in-a-basement-that-leads-to-hell feel. The entire novel was so unsettling that I genuinely got scared at one part (probably because I was reading at 11 p.m. in the dark) and I have never ever ever been scared by a book. Grossed out, uneasy, creeped out, yes, but wanting to close it out of fear yet I need to see how it ends? Nope, but that has changed.
The book was kind of about someone losing touch with reality, and the further in I got, the more I was feeling the main character’s anxiety myself.
Terrifying. Plus there was some super cool decoding I’ll get into later.
Plot description
This book made me feel like I was having a never ending anxiety attack from start to finish.
It follows main character Eve Palmer and her partner Charlie Bastian on their journey of house flipping. They recently purchased a mountain property in Kettle Creek aka Stray Dog Summit (why are there so many strays in the mountains?) and found it was in rougher shape than the realtor let on.
Eve has what appears to be generalized anxiety disorder (relatable) and throughout the book we hear her inner monologue arguing with herself over whether or not a situation is really worth freaking out over.
It starts with Eve being home alone when a family shows up at the door. The father, Thomas Faust, asks if he can take a look around with his family to show them his childhood home. With him he has his wife Paige, his two sons Kai and Newton, and their little girl Jenny.
Eve is a people pleaser and ends up letting this family in. What was supposed to be a “15 minutes tops” agreement turns into them not leaving for a bunch of different reasons.
The general area in the mountains is incredibly weird, with neighboring homes looking very out of place and places looking abandoned that are very much in business.
Their house is very eerie, with an incredibly large attic and neverending basement.
Eve is forced to grapple with her reality and navigates an always changing landscape both in her shared reality with everyone else and inside of her own mind.
Specifics on the writing
After reading other reviews, people compared the novel to House of Leaves and Accidents Around the House.
One of the things I loved about this book was “evidence” between each chapter, shown to us out of context. At the end of each piece of evidence was morse code. I didn’t realize this until about the third piece of evidence, so as I went through the book I translated it. By the end I had one full sentence.
There was also Norwegian text that needed to be translated and revealed a lot, and other codes throughout the book I hadn’t even realized until looking up other’s thoughts.
Once you get to the end you have more questions than answers, but not even in a bad way like you would think. This book had the hair standing up on the back of my neck at a few points.
I definitely gave it 5/5 on Goodreads! I can’t wait to see what Marcus Kliewer releases next.
Don’t forget:
Mean Girls and Small Town Murders will drop WEDNESDAY Oct. 31 at midnight! Preorder on Kindle now!
