[Review] There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Pan Macmillan (Oct 5, 2017)

Blurb:
One-by-one, the students of Osborne High are dying in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasing and grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and the hunt intensifies for the killer, the dark secrets among them must finally be confronted.

I received an ARC of There's Someone Inside Your House from Kinokuniya Malaysia for panelling at the Tower of Dawn launch party.

Rating: 3 stars

---

I think the book industry was thoroughly excited when Stephanie Perkins—an author who is known for her cute romantic comedies and swoon-worthy ships—announced that she was working on a horror/slasher novel.

I swore that I would read anything she wrote after reading Anna and the French Kiss more than once, so I went into her first foray out of her usual writing genre with quite high expectations, I’m afraid.

The thing is, I won’t disregard the fact that There’s Someone Inside Your House is a reminiscent tale of those 90s teen slasher flicks we grew up watching—I distinctly remember my first time watching Scream 3. What a bloodfest. Ew.

Paying homage to these slasher flicks, Stephanie Perkins’s new book revolves around the lives of those who go to Osborne High School, in a quaint, quiet town surrounded by corn fields. Except, one by one, members of the student body are being murdered by a serial killer a la Scream.

The main character and protagonist, Makani Young recently packed up her life in Hawaii and is currently living with her grandmother because her parents are in the middle of a divorce. But there’s also another reason why Makani has been banished to the sleepy town of Osborne but it’s all very hush until the end of the book.

I have to commend Stephanie Perkins for including a diverse set of characters, including Makani who’s biracial and her best friend, Darby who’s a transgender male.

To be perfectly honest, I was definitely getting Scream vibes right from the start, I’m telling you.

The original ones, not the awful 2011 remake.

Like what most people who read There’s Someone Inside Your House said, the book relied heavily on the romance between Makani and Ollie, the pink-haired rebel. Not that I minded, because Stephanie Perkins is good at writing swoon-worthy romances. If anything, I wish she had played it up and made it more dramatic. Just for kicks.

The thing about these “whodunnit” stories is that the suspense is what compels the readers to read on and discover who the killer is and what’s his/her motives behind mutilating people.

However, I thought that There’s Someone Inside Your House lacked in a few areas, namely plot and structure.

The first half did build up the story to a suspenseful climax, only to reveal who the murderer is. That itself, was quite a disappointment already since I was really hoping to be shocked when I discovered who was behind the gruesome murders.

On the other hand, I liked that the pacing was good and the writing was easy to read, minus the bells and whistles, where Stephanie Perkins focused on delivering devastating and gory murders, one after another.

I am not joking. Trigger warning to those who are easily affected by violence, blood and gore. Most of the murders were quite graphic, so you've been warned!

There’s Someone Inside Your House pays homage to those 90s slasher flicks and it is a story you could sink your teeth into and it would promise you a few hours of entertaining, gory fun. Though it lacked some depth and some parts of the novel were glossed over, it was enjoyable enough for me to finish it.