We Used to Live Here
A Novel
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3.9 • 832 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
From an author “destined to become a titan of the macabre and unsettling” (Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author), a haunting debut—soon to be a Netflix original movie—about two homeowners whose lives are turned upside down when the house’s previous residents unexpectedly visit.
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, 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?
This unputdownable and spine-tingling novel “is like quicksand: the further you delve into its pages, the more immobilized you become by a spiral of terror. We Used to Live Here will haunt you even after you have finished it” (Agustina Bazterrica, author of Tender Is the Flesh).
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A strange family dropping by a couple’s newly purchased home brings supernatural chills in this spooky horror thriller. House flippers Charlie and Eve are thrilled to get a super deal on a dilapidated old house. But when a stranger claiming to be a former resident shows up asking to show his family around and Eve starts to see disturbing things, she and Charlie have to question reality—and whether their great deal was hiding something much more insidious. Debut author Marcus Kliewer knows how to build a haunting tale, cruising smoothly from one creepy “coincidence” to another and expertly building up to the fateful climax. As he spins his spine-tingling web, we start to question everything, including what dreadful acts we might be capable of when everything we think we know is thrown into chaos.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A young couple's house-flipping hobby turns dangerous in Kliewer's devilish debut. Eve Palmer is alone in the remote Pacific Northwest mansion she and her girlfriend, Charlie, are renovating, when she hears a knock on the door. She opens it to find the Faust family: patriarch Thomas; his wife, Paige; and their three severe-looking children. Thomas explains to Eve that he used to live in the house and would like to show his family around. Despite her misgivings, Eve invites them in, privately hoping the more forthright Charlie will arrive and interrupt the nostalgia tour. When Charlie does show up, a heavy snowstorm follows her, stranding everyone. What begins as mildly uncomfortable grows full-tilt terrifying as one of the Faust children goes missing, Thomas starts calling Eve "Emma," and Charlie seems to transform into a different person entirely. Kliewer nods to the book's origin as a series of Reddit posts by supplementing the main narrative with "documents" examining the paranormal "Old House" phenomenon (which posits certain abandoned buildings connect to a paranormal force), transcripts from subjects who've experienced it, and internet conspiracy theories about its legitimacy. Stringing the whole thing together is Kliewer's gift for atmosphere and wicked sense of humor. This is a winner.
Customer Reviews
Delicious
A very captivating story that was hard to put down, though there was a slight repetition in events that became a bit irritating. All in all it’s a sweet treat for anyone bored by serious books.
Ending. ?????
The book was great throughout , thoroughly enjoyed and right when I thought maybe there’s more of an answer to SOMETHING, it ended … wished it didn’t feel so unfinished
A progression into .. something
This book is a fairly coherent chain of events story with a weird house that may or may not be super haunted. It has a few cool moments but eventually finds itself twisted into its own knots. There’s no clear indication of who the intruders are, and the events leading up to the end don’t really do anything for me. A bit too clever but also not enough.