Is there somebody lurking inside your home?: There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins
There’s Someone Inside Your House is a young adult thriller that makes for an exhilarating read. Makani Young moved from her Hawaiian home to her grandma’s house in small town Nebraska, escaping her parents’ divorce and her own secrets. After a year, she has two best friends—a Goth girl and a trans guy—and a crush on a school loner, though she still misses Hawaiian food and the sea. Her senior year is not going to be quiet, though, as students in her high school start to be the victims of gruesome murders. Soon, Makani has to balance the fear of who will be next with her own past, her fledgling romance, and looking after her grandmother.
Perkins’ novel is very recognisable as a YA thriller/horror book, with a classic combination of school cliques, town rumours and secrets, and teenage drama alongside narrative threat. Makani is a stand-out protagonist, a biracial girl far from home who is dealing with issues from her past and how out of place she feels in her new town. Her friends are also outsiders, but though the book uses teen cliques and popularity contests, it also emphasises that people can be better than they seem, regardless of social status. The inclusion of small elements such as internet trolling and rural internet and phone signal stop the location from feeling backward, but instead just another town that teenagers dream of leaving.
The novel is a page turner that will be enjoyable to adults who remember devouring Point Horror novels as well as teenagers. The characters are varied and likeable and the book does not shy away from real danger and high stakes amidst teenage rebellion and small town life.
Fiendfully Reading 