Their interactions feel fragile and able to descend into chaos at any moment.

The dynamics between characters are fascinating and provide stark, bleak and deeply perturbing moments. Instead, these are flawed and often despicable people with self-serving motives and veiled in deadly lies. The characterisation here of every major player is amazing, with none of them being likeable. The secrets surrounding her are suffocating. Her repetitions betray a mind twisted by trauma and years of repression. Guiding us through this tangled maze is Vera, who I could not help but root for. Pay attention to everything because nothing is as it seems. The slower pace masks an array of horrors, with seemingly boring or throwaway details forming a vital part of the overall pictures. I found myself jumping at shadows while reading, caught up in that foreboding sense of something deeply deeply wrong in this story. Gailey keeps the tension razor-sharp with that creeping sense of something watching at all times. There is a clear sense of beauty and power here, but also intimate moments and flashbacks of a traumatic upbringing. The sentences felt decadent and elongated, creating that mesmerising atmosphere. It was mysterious, earthy and so damn Gothic. It poisons your dreams and clouds your senses, keeping you under its beguiling spell.įrom the first sentence, I loved Gailey’s writing style. Just Like Home is an insidious book that crawls under your skin and rattles your bones. TW: murder, torture, blood, verbal abuse, death, gore, assault

Vera must face them and find out for herself just how deep the rot goes. There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there, beneath the house he’d built for his family.Ĭoming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories – she’s come back to the home of a serial killer. ‘Come home.’ Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed.

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey