There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Scare Factor: 💀💀💀
Plot: 📕📕📕📕
Format: 🎧
POV: Third Person


🕊️ ➞ Tropes:

👻No One’s Safe
👤Hooded Killer👤
👹😵‍💫Crazed Motive😵‍💫👹
👩🏻 Final Girl Vibes👩🏻
🔪🩸Slasher🩸🔪
⚔️ Known Killer ⚔️


🕊️ ➞ Summary Breakdown & Commentary:

The plot followed Makani, the new girl in a small Nebraskan town, who moved from Hawaii six months prior after an incident at her former high school. Her parents shipped her off to her maternal grandmother’s to finish high school while they proceeded with a divorce. The fall semester of Makani’s senior year was just starting when her classmates began dropping dead. Murdered in gruesome and vicious ways, each bloodier than the last. Our opening scene kicked off with the typical popular scream queen getting violently gutted when she was home alone in a house in the middle of nowhere.



Except… no phone call, text, etc. Instead, our deliciously violent and knife-happy killer decided to play games with his prey. He enjoyed messing with them by moving things around the house to instill fear into his prey. He considered himself funny and loved watching them panic.



Makani was joined by her friends – Alex and Darby as well as her love interest, Ollie – who began taking it upon themselves to find out who the killer was. (Scooby gang unite!) Especially after Makani was attacked… halfway through the book…. where the author revealed the killer… halfway through the novel… Can you tell I prefer the big ending reveal?



Makani and Ollie were secretly dating over the summer but unfortunately, Ollie had a “bad reputation” around town because, wait for it, he dyed his hair pink. In this town, sir?! HOW DARE YOU.



Ollie’s appearance and bad-boy background brought a lot of tension among Makani and her friends who didn’t like or trust him. So they spent a good part of the novel thinking he was behind the murders.

Eventually, our killer racked up a total of six victims, half of which happened after he was unmasked. The killer also wounded another five people, including our Final Girl, Makani, and her poor grandma, Mrs. Young. The group lost some of their own before the killer was eventually stopped in the book’s final fight scene.


🕊️ ➞ Character Thoughts:

🐦‍⬛ ↳ The Final Girl:

Makani Young was an interesting lead character. The author played this whole secret past of hers surrounding the “incident” at her former school in Hawaii. In reality, this big secret was so incredibly anticlimactic. After the school’s popular kids/bullies were murdered, Makani was like “That’s it! I’m a bully for what I did back in Hawaii and this is my karma.” Are you ready for the big bad thing she did?? I don’t think you are…

During a hazing ritual from her teammates, Makani chopped off her ex-best friend’s ponytail after the team’s senior players force-fed them alcohol and pitted them against each other. She cut off a ponytail… Send her to the guillotine!



Jesus. 🙄🙄



Ridding the town of bullies wasn’t the motive, although she was still a target. Makani began a romantic fling with the town’s outcast, Oliver “Ollie” Larsson, who as mentioned before was the number one suspect among the gang. But that’d be too easy… Although many Ghostface killers have been significant others…

Makani’s character arc was very demure. She was a fighter, yes, but the incident humbled her a lot and she became more focused on herself as well as her small group of friends. I also felt like she wallowed a lot about her past as if she horribly maimed or injured the girl. Felt a little self-involved and dramatic. Otherwise, she was a decent Final Girl who fought till the end.


🕊️ ➞ The Killer & His Motive:

During the attack on Makani, the killer was revealed to be David Ware. David was a stoner outcast who felt trapped in a small town with no way out. That enraged him so he took it out on all the kids who had a chance at leaving. Are you ready for this boy-math?? This GENIUS equation swirling around this BOY’S brain??? Ready or not… Here it is:

(David – ability to leave) • rage – those who can leave = arrest + conviction = Jail = David gets to leave town



This child killed those who could leave and had a chance out in the world because he was stuck there feeling talentless. He wanted to get caught too! That’s the kicker! He wanted to get taken in alive because their town didn’t have a jail so he’d be transferred to another county and thus leaving his hometown.

I just… I just feel like there were so many other steps/options that he could’ve taken. I mean, get a job? Save? Move out? But no, no, I get it. Murder is naturally the go-to solution. Do you.



Mans over here got me like:



Threw a whole a$$ murderous temper tantrum. Jesus f@#king Christ. How does Makani play into this since she’s not a local? He was pissed at how “easily she fit in.” ICK. Hate him.


🕊️ ➞ Closing Thoughts:

I found the book entertaining. This was an audiobook listen and I was definitely at the end of my seat in the office hoping no one interrupted me with a task. Haha. The anticipation was real. The author was great at world-building and the imagery of the murder scenes. Definitely a bit graphic but most definitely not the most graphic out there. My only negative was I wished we got a big finale reveal instead of the reveal halfway through the book. But I guess I understand the deviation from basic tropes. In conclusion, I definitely recommend it! If you’re a slasher fan, this one’s for you!

Check out my Book vs. Movie comparison of There’s Someone Insider Your House here on my blog:

Read the Book, Watch the Movie: There’s Someone Inside Your House

View all my reviews

— ♡ G&P