Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey

Just Like Home

By Sarah Gailey

Genre: Horror, Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Gothic, Paranormal

Publication Date: July 2022

Pages: 352

My Rating:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Synopsis:

“Come home.” Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories -- she's come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there.

Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back, and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting… but who else could it possibly be?

There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House. Vera must face them, and find out for herself just how deep the rot goes.

My Thoughts:

I was excited to read this book from the cover alone! The description just further interested me in it.

Serial killer ✅

Creepy messages ✅

Large and daunting house ✅

Estranged family ✅

When I first started reading I was a little unsure, things were kind of confusing. We didn’t know much about the dad accused of all these crimes or why Vera doesn’t want to go home and see her dying mom. If this is something that you struggle with, trust me and push on with this book. It’s confusing for a reason and makes you think.

I absolutely loved the idea of the house itself and how dark and creepy it was made out to be. The character of Vera was odd to me and I will say she’s not my favorite character. The elusiveness of Francis fits the book perfectly as it unfolds what crimes he committed.

The plot of the book itself was good along with the author’s writing style. I kept thinking I was going to be able to guess the ending and can honestly say I never saw it coming.

Overall, it’s a 4-star read for me. I wasn’t blown away by how things wrapped up and the characters weren’t that memorable to me. I wish we would have had a little more information about the how/why Francis did what he did and some closure with what Vera was going to do. I will say that I do recommend this for thriller/horror lovers and that it’s got interesting components to the story itself.

Thanks to NetGalley and TorBooks for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.