🏚️ Book Review (Spoilers!): We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer
⭐️ 4 out of 5 stars | Genre: Psychological Horror / Paranormal / Mind-Bendy Fiction
🚨 Spoilers ahead! If you want to unravel this one yourself, stop reading now.
📍 We Used to Live Here — Old House, New Problems, Timelines Messed Up
Imagine LOST crashed into Mulholland Drive and decided to haunt a crumbling house that flips your entire reality upside down. That’s We Used to Live Here in a nutshell.
It started life as a Reddit horror serial (because the internet is a wild place), then blossomed into this debut novel that’s equal parts spooky, confusing, and addictive.
🧵 The Full Plot — Hang on, It Gets Weird
🏡 Eve and Charlie Move In
Meet Eve Palmer and her girlfriend Charlie, a pro house-flipping duo who’ve just bought an ancient, falling-apart house. Their plan? Fix it up, sell it, profit.
But this house? It’s got issues.
Like, “wait, why is the floor creaking on its own?” and “why is the bathroom door locked from the inside?” kind of issues.
👨👩👧👦 The Strange Family That Shows Up
One day, a man named Thomas arrives with his wife Paige and their two kids.
They claim:
➡ “We used to live here years ago.”
➡ They want their kids to see the place.
Eve feels super uncomfortable but, being polite, lets them tour the house.
🕰 Time Gets All Messed Up
What should have been a quick visit turns into a multi-day stay.
Weird things start happening:
-
Doors locking and unlocking themselves.
-
Unexplainable noises.
-
Eve starts seeing strange visions and dreams.
-
Charlie begins acting distant.
😰 Charlie’s Disappearance and The Phone Call
Charlie vanishes.
Eve calls her, but something’s off.
-
Charlie’s voice sounds strange.
-
She says things that don’t make sense.
-
Eve’s gut screams, This is not my girlfriend.
Then, out of nowhere, Charlie returns just as Thomas’s family leaves the house.
🏨 The Motel and the Imposter
Eve persuades Charlie to leave with her for a night at a motel because yeah, that house is definitely haunted.
At the motel, Eve’s suspicions are confirmed: this Charlie is an imposter.
But prove it?
Nope.
🔙 Back to the House — Because That’s Always a Good Idea
Eve knows the real Charlie is trapped in the house somewhere. She goes back alone — because solo ghost hunting is always smart, right?
There, the weird family is back. And things get even stranger:
-
Thomas calls Eve “Emma” — a name Eve doesn’t recognize but seems to have a deeper meaning.
-
Paige is wearing Charlie’s locket — seriously, this is just creepy.
-
Thomas insists this is his house, and “Emma” is not welcome here.
💥 The Violent Showdown
Eve demands answers.
Tensions explode.
-
Eve kills Paige in self-defense.
-
She nearly kills Thomas.
🚓 Arrest and the Psychiatric Hospital
Police arrive and… don’t quite believe Eve’s story.
-
They arrest her.
-
Call her “Emma,” like they don’t know who she really is.
-
She ends up in a psychiatric hospital.
But Eve keeps fighting to figure out what’s real.
🎁 Thomas’s Visit and The Shocking Proof
One day, Thomas visits Eve in the hospital and hands her Charlie’s locket.
That proves one thing for sure:
➡ Eve was telling the truth about the house and the imposter.
But it also means:
➡ There are multiple timelines at play here.
➡ Eve is trapped in a timeline where she is “Emma,” stuck away from her real life.
➡ The house bends time and reality, fracturing the lives of those who enter.
Think The Butterfly Effect meets a haunted house that plays tricks on your past, present, and future.
😂 My Take
✅ Intriguing and atmospheric with that perfect “what the heck is going on” vibe.
✅ If you love piecing together clues and theories, this book is your new obsession.
✅ Written surprisingly well for a debut novel born from Reddit.
❌ The plot can get confusing and a bit frustrating if you want neat answers.
❌ Prepare to read this twice — or discuss it endlessly — to make sense of the timelines.
✨ Final Thoughts
I’m giving We Used to Live Here 4 out of 5 stars.
✔️ A haunting, mind-bending journey you won’t forget.
✔️ Great for fans of psychological horror and reality-warping stories.
✔️ Definitely NOT your average haunted house tale.
📚 If You Liked This, Try:
🏚️ The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager — dark secrets and creepy homes
👻 Home Before Dark by Riley Sager — more ghostly mysteries
🌀 The Butterfly Effect (movie) — chaos theory meets time travel
🛒 Buy We Used to Live Here
👉 Get it on Amazon (affiliate link)
💬 Let’s Chat!
Have you ever read a book that made you question reality? What’s your favorite creepy old house story? Drop your thoughts below!
Comments
Post a Comment