Just Like Home

Sarah Gailey is proving to be an excellent voice in modern horror. Just Like Home is a genuinely scary and disquieting haunted house novel with real emotional weight and a main character you can both empathize with and be repulsed by. There are plenty of twists and turns in the novel, but none of them seem cheap or gimmicky or there for the sake of having a twist. Along with an engaging plot, the writing is compelling and beautiful. This is a book that I feel will stick with me for a long time to come.

This novel is a complete horror thriller with everything you could ask for. I was actually terrified while reading it, and the emotion lingered long after i finished it. It kept me up all night. This is ideal for the upcoming Halloween season. 5 stars

trigger warning
<spoiler> blood, gore, familial rejection, torture, lethal illness, loss of a parent, torture, domestic abuse </spoiler>

As her mother lies dying, Vera is called back, finally, to the home she has been thrown out of years ago. Things need to be sorted.

When we meet Vee, we don't know why she has been thrown out and what's up with her father. He hasn't been living in this house and then he died. Whatever he did left such a lasting impact, that Vee's mother is able to rent out a shed to artists to get some money, and the whole village seems to hate the family. As if that were not enough, strange things are happening in the house, all centering around Vee's bed and a creature living under it.

We have two timelines: Vee sorting through old belongings, so the house can be sold once her mother dies, and Vee as a young teen girl, finding out about what goes on in the basement and what makes her mother snap.

This story is very atmospheric, and that's how I like my horror. While it is not explicitly queer, we also don't have anything to prove it's not, and since I have read other works by this author I am going to go with the latter. There is no romantic sub plot, which I like a lot.

Full recommendations if you want a creepy haunted house story.
The arc was provied by the publisher.

Just Like Home bleeds from the core. It’s a meteorite crashing into your orbit and turning your world upside down. Viscerally intimate.

Just Like Home…Jesus Christ on a burning bike! A story that defied the rules of reality, but do you think it cares? Nope, the rule book was torn up and buried. A story with an original plot, strong characters, and a writing style that could cut glass.

Just Like Home is the living embodiment of a house being the keeper of secrets. It sees all, breathes all, and doesn’t say anything. It soaks up the blood and pumps it into the walls, it doesn’t make a mess anymore but it’s there as a constant reminder of the pain and suffering. A house isn’t just four walls, a house is a home, one that has the ability to keep safe or torment, it’s all a matter of perspective. A bleak tale that has you questioning the darker side of the human condition. Get that life jacket because you going to be treading some very muddy waters!

Vera has returned home, home to her ailing mother, home to the only place she’s felt both safe and destroyed, the place she saw her father for the very last time. Memories of her serial killer father fight against the portrayal of a very good father. It’s strange – when we think of Serial Killers, we don’t categorise them as having positive traits. Vera had a very good relationship with her dad, he took her fishing, he made sure she knew the way of the world, and he also made a point that the only way you learn is to watch…well, Vera would take that advice way too seriously.

Vera’s mother, Daphne, Is a wicked woman. The only way I can describe her is like a shark circling, it’s got the slight taste of blood and it’s ready to zone in for the kill. I feel slightly guilty however, I feel it’s a bit unfair on the shark.

The story is told in two timelines which are slotted in perfectly with the solidity of the story. Vera recounts her childhood with the clarity that only age can make clear. We also see the anguish of coming back to her mother, the house, and the new tenant, James Duvall. A creepy little man who thinks he is communing with the house to create art, all he needs is to spend a little time with Vera.

No denying that the family dynamic was toxic as hell – but so many families are. We can see how actions can turn child and parent against one another, jealousy of how different things are for their child, especially a mother and daughter. It’s not right but Just Like Home makes you question, question, question.

First, let me get my unbridled enthusiasm out of the way. I loved this book. You will love this book. You should just go buy this book. Why waste time with my fancy words? Throw your money at Sarah Gailey as soon as you possibly can.

Right, now we've got that out the way ...

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey is about Vera Crowder returning to her family home because her mother, Daphne, is dying. The house has a certain notoriety as the place where her father, now deceased, murdered dozens of men. Vera has complicated feelings towards her family, her house, and the monsters that live under her bed. The story centres in on complicated family relationships, and how things work when everyone has a little bit of foulness inside of them.

The thing that most struck me as I read Just Like Home were the many twisty reveals that come throughout the book, although they're all handled very casually. There are very few end-of-chapter cliff-hangers, but I almost always felt off-kilter and surprised as I learned about Vera's younger life and her adult self -- not to mention her mother's own secrets.

Vera, for all her sins, is an engaging protagonist who it's easy to love, even as her personality is shown to be more complicated than plain black-and-white. Gailey gets us maybe not rooting for her, but certainly sympathetic towards her situation early on, and it's later hard to let go of that initial affection. Gailey addresses feelings of unlovability, and the pains people might go through in order to feel loved, in her acknowledgements, and these feelings are perfectly and painfully displayed in Vera.

Vera's father might be the draw for many horror fans to this book. I certainly looked forward to maybe getting a voyeuristic intimacy with a murderer on a par with Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates. However, Francis Crowther is oddly silent in this book. All we see of him, we experience through Vera -- through her memories. Any words of his referenced in the text -- his letters, his journal, his written confessions -- are never shared with the reader, which I think is a really interesting choice. The reader might come for a peek at a monster, but what they get instead is Vera, and she doesn't disappoint.

Just Like Home is an absorbing read for anyone who enjoys the forbidden thrill of reading about people who do horrific things, with a side order of empathy, and space for some supernatural weirdness.

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey is out on the 21st July, and follow the link to pre-order from your favourite retailer.

With thanks to Netgalley.co.uk and the publishers, Hodder and Stoughton, for providing and e-advanced reader copy.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC in exchange for the honest review.

When Vera's mother asks her to return to the home where she grew up under a serial killer father and a cold mother, she is forced to confront the secrets that are still unrevealed and confront the old horrors of her childhood and the new horrors of the Crowder House and its inhabitants.

This was hands-down one of the best books I've read all year.

Everything about this book gripped me. Vera's character was mesmerising, haunting, fierce, uncomfortable. The very definition of an unreliable narrator, I was determined not to take her with a grain of salt, but her narrative and thought process was just written in such a real way that I couldn't help myself. Her relationships with the supporting characters were intriguing as well. Her bitter, resentful, genuine relationship with her mother. The looming shadow of her father whom, for all of his faults as a serial killer, kind of seemed like the only decent parent in the family. The tensions lingering in the small town, the spectre of Brandon and what happened to him and how that related to Vera. Gailey has created such a crude, terrifying narrative, I was equal-parts squeamish and eager to keep reading. Also, I would be remiss in pointing out how much I loved Crowder House acting as a metaphor; the way that Gailey creates the house as this thing that keeps pieces of people, builds up around those people, holds secrets and love as well as horror, it was such an imaginative piece of work. I can't say enough about this book. Would hands-down recommend this to anyone.

"The Crowder House clung to the soil the way damp air clings to hot skin."

This is a story about a haunting. A haunted house. A haunted family. A haunted life.

When Vera is called back unexpectedly to her childhood home, Crowder House, by her terminally ill mother, Daphne. She is very quickly eclipsed by memories of her serial killer father and the terrible things that happened in that house.

I know I've said this before but it's most definitely true for this book, don't read any reviews before going into it, actually don't even read this one! The less you know the better. I knew nothing and I'm so glad that I was able to let the whole story unfold without any preconceived ideas.

At the beginning the book wants you to think that the story is all about the house. The way it looks, the way it feels. It is an overbearing part of the tale. I felt like I was in that house, feeling it expand and contract around me. I could smell the damp in the basement. I was hearing the creaks of the floorboards. I knew exactly what it was like to turn the door knob on the front door and enter Crowder House. But slowly bit by bit you learn that there are monsters in that house, monsters that some of us encounter every day and some way more unusual.

This is a slow burn, but don't let that faze you. I consumed every word like it was ambrosia from the God's. Sarah Gailey's writing had me utterly transfixed. She very cleverly drip feeds you information until all the layers of the Crowder family are exposed. There was no let up and I could not get enough! There is blood, there are horrors, there are scares, but there are secrets and hidden desires in there too. And when I finished reading the last line I let out the biggest breath. That's right, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding! 😂 This book was holding me so tight in its clutches and the tension had been raised so high that I was gripping my e-reader like my life depended on it.

I can't wait to see more of you read this once it's released tomorrow, its just so darn fantastic!!!

This book had so much symbolism that usually would mostly go over my head and I’d not appreciate the book fully, but here it was brilliantly done. I liked the dual narrative of past and present where I’d look forward to the suspense in one narrative but also intrigued to see what would happen in the other. There were some paranormal elements that added to the story which made it more interesting. Overall the suspense in the book was great and as the horror elements were in stark contrast to the ‘normal’ scenes, they hit harder. I’d recommend reading this especially if you’re into serial killer documentaries.

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey is a disturbing and dark haunted house story with a twisted thread of body horror running through it. As a fan of the author's previous work I was eager to get my hands on a copy of this book and even more so once I saw that beautiful and striking cover. I am pleased to say it did not disappoint, in fact for me it is their best book to date. As always the writing is polished and precise while being descriptive in a way that really drew me into the book and the story the author was telling.
The setting of the book is the atmospheric Crowther House, the home that protagonist Vera is returning to for the first time in years, summoned back by her dying mother, Daphne. The house has a notorious history as the site where Vera's father murdered dozens of men in the basement and Vera could not wait to escape it, unlike Daphne who has turned it into a ghoulish museum where people can see the home of a serial killer. In fact even now she has rented out part of the property to an artist who has an unhealthy obsession with Vera's father and the house. Though she is reluctant to face the past, she cannot leave Daphne to die alone, but once she returns to the house her father built, strange things start to happen causing Vera to question just how much she can trust her memories and whether there is more to the house than meets the eye.
This is a slower paced book that gradually builds to a strange but strong climax, and there are plenty of surprises along the way to help keep the reader engaged. For me one of the strongest things about the book was the characters. Vera was very sympathetic from the beginning, and even as we learned more of her story, including the less than flattering parts, I still found myself rooting for her. Even though the other characters were unlikeable they were also very interesting.
Overall I really enjoyed this darkly disturbing book and I would definitely recommend it to horror readers. I read an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publishers, all opinions are my own.

You’re returning to your childhood home for the first time in twelve years. Your job is to watch your mother die and then clean out the house. There’s a stranger living in the shed because your mother’s been cashing in on the fact that your father, who built the house, was a serial killer. Everyone in town hates you because of who your father was.

Welcome to Vera’s world.

“The house was the same, but everything everything everything was different.”

This is my first Sarah Gailey book and it was amazing! It was unsettling in the best way possible.

I know what it is to love a ‘monster’. Some of Vera’s responses to hers were scarily familiar. Others were (thankfully) more foreign. The ritual she completed to ensure her safety as a child made complete sense to me, as did its reappearance when she returned to Crowder House.

“They remembered what they were supposed to do to keep her safe, remembered from when she was young enough to develop a superstition without reasoning herself out of it.”

This book introduced me to a mother-daughter relationship that has been twisted and contaminated by their shared history. This is a story that explores the power of secrets to change you and a past that no longer wants to remain in the shadows.

It’s about loneliness and belonging, what makes a house a home and the inexplicable loudness of the things have been left unsaid in our lives.

Lemonade will never be the same.

“I want to see.”

Content warnings include domestic abuse.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the opportunity to read this book.

Vera Crowder hasn't been home in over a decade, not since her mother told her to go and never come back. But it appears that she's had a change of heart since she called her and asked her to come home to sort out the house because she's dying and cannot do it herself. And then, things happen.

This is a horror novel but it's definitely not fast paced, and I loved that. From beginning to end, it was deeply unsettling and even a bit confusing at times and that was truly perfect. The two timelines were also masterful, I thought that was so smartly done. Because not knowing for certain what happened before kept me guessing the entire time and kept me reading too. I could not stop reading and it's been a while since I've been this engrossed in a book I was reading with my eyes. (instead of with my ears)
I really stayed glued to the page from beginning to end, completely enthralled.
I don't even do horror usually cause I'm a bit of a wimp but this was Sarah Gailey so I had to and I'm so glad I did. I was deeply unsettled and yet loved every second of it. The characters felt as true in a very weird way.
But yes, I definitely recommend this weird book and will dive into more by Sarah Gailey for sure.

Wow, I loved this book. First off all, that cover is stunning! And what's inside absolutely captivated me from the first page to the last.
This is definitely a slow burn, which some people may find off putting, but this kept me engaged throughout and by the end I found myself feeling a great attachment to what the story represents.
The dual timelines worked well and if anything I felt it really added to the story and helped propel the plot forward.
The writing is absolutely beautiful and I was fully invested in Vera and was on her side throughout.
The atmosphere, bad vibes, setting and general darkness pours out from the page, this book with stick with me for a long time.
Highly recommend!