Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey

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.

Edition:

E-ARC via Net Galley

Trigger Warnings:

My Thoughts:

It’s not often I read something that leaves me thinking, “Oh, holy shit. What did I just read?” But Just Like Home left me doing exactly that. In the best way possible. This story places you dead center in what may very well be the most toxic family outside of Williamson County, Texas. I mean, this family is JACKED UP. Daddy was a notorious serial murderer. There’s almost no way Mama didn’t know (although she claims publicly that she didn’t). Vera’s no peach, and now there’s some lowly parasite living in the guesthouse pilfering bits and pieces of the notorious Crowder house to make his exploitative art.

And then there’s the house itself. I love a story where the house gets the character treatment, and that is certainly the case in Just Like Home. Crowder house is honestly terrifying. It holds more secrets than a high school girl’s hair.

Actually, pretty much all the things that Janice and Ian have to say about Gretchen Weiner in the ‘Katy learns about the Plastics’ scene in Mean Girls kind of applies to Crowder house. Like, she really does know everything about everyone.

“The house swallowed the sound immediately, because it was a house that knew how to stay quiet. Vera breathed in the windows-shut smell of the place where she’d been born. The place where she’d grown up. The place she’d abandoned. The place where her mother was going to die.”

I love how awful Vera’s parents are. And I love even more that they’re nuanced-awful. It’s not that they’re all bad. Even Vera’s dad (who you may recall is a serial murderer) has his high points. He cherishes his daughter. He spends time with her (not killing – they fish and stuff). She loves him endlessly. Her mom comes off to me as having less positive traits, but…I’m sure they’re there. She’s just so bitter and cruel and relentlessly nasty. But sometimes you can sort of see someone who loves her daughter, but is just irreparably broken inside. I swear, it’s sometimes almost visible.

If books with wild endings and shitty people are your thing, I don’t know that you’ll ever find a story more suited to you than Just Like Home. This book is straight bonkerballs in the most gripping, beautifully written and fleshed out (ewww) way possible.

Rating:

I’m not even suggesting you check this out. I’m demanding. Read wacky stuff. Read scary stuff. Icky stuff. Challenging stuff. Read all the books that get really divisive ratings (like this one has). Especially when a large percentage of negative reviews seem to mention that the characters “weren’t likeable.” That is crap reasoning. Not everyone at the center of every story is likeable. Stories would be really boring if they were. Don’t be silly.