Release date: June 18 2024
Publisher: Bantam Books
Pages: 320
Find it: Goodreads Amazon
Source: The publisher kindly sent me a copy of this book to review
Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis

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, uncanny and 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?

Review

We Used to Live Here follows the story of Eve and Charlie, a couple who spend their days buying houses, doing them up and then moving on to the next one. They’ve recently purchased an old house in a remote location and are in the process of renovating when one day they get a knock at the door. There’s a man and his family standing there asking if they can take a look around as this was the man’s childhood home. Reluctantly, Eve lets them take a look around. As the family wanders round strange things begin to occur and Eve begins to wonder if she’s losing her mind or if there’s something seriously wrong with the house.

I bloody loved this book. There were so many things about it that I just adored. It was dark, it was tense, it was fast paced and it had a completely mind bending plot. I was hooked from the get go and I think about this book all the time even after I finished reading it weeks ago. There’s a really strong sense of atmosphere and Kliewer does a magnificent job of ramping up the tension as the story progresses and creepy stuff starts happening.

I really liked Kliewer’s writing style and I liked the way there were documents and pieces of evidence included, they really added another layer to this clever complex story. There were some moments that really creeped me out and there’s a scene in an attic that frightened the living daylights out of me. This is a brilliant story and I am definitely planning to read everything the author releases.

The story features some really interesting characters and I really liked our main protagonist Eve. I really enjoyed the way that you’re never quite sure if Eve is losing her mind or if there’s something more sinister. Similarly Thomas and his family were really fascinating and I really liked how Kliewer managed to make the reader feel uneasy about a family that seem perfectly normal.

We Used to Live Here is without a doubt one of my favourite books of the year. It was gripping, compelling and terrifying. The book is set to become a Netflix movie starring Blake Lively and I am so excited to see how they do it. If you’re looking for a book that you won’t want to look away from, you definitely need to check this one out.