There's Someone inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Date of publication:  September 2017

Love hurts...

Makani Young thought she'd left her dark past behind her in Hawaii, settling in with her grandmother in landlocked Nebraska. She's found new friends and has even started to fall for mysterious outsider Ollie Larsson. But her past isn't far behind.

Then, one by one, the students of Osborne Hugh begin to die in a series f gruesome murders, each with increasingly grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and her feelings for Ollie intensify, Makani is forced to confront her own dark secrets.

I picked this one up because I saw it on a top 10 scariest YA books you should read this fall.  Unfortunately for me, I found nothing remotely scary about this book.  There's Someone Inside Your House really tries to be scary like the movie Scream.  But it kind of fails.  I could see this as a teen scream movie with lots of jump scares, but it would end up being like every other teen horror/suspense you have seen lately.

I have a few reasons I didn't end up caring much for this book.  First, the killer is revealed a little over halfway through the book.  It really ruined the rest of the story.  There was no suspense after that and I have to question the author's reason for doing so.  The motivation for the killings makes no sense as there was no great character development.  The ending was also abrupt and left me hanging.

Makani's "secret" was blown way out of proportion.  Yes, she was treated horribly after by her peers, but really, in the grand scheme of things it was kind of laughable.   One of the big things that drove me nuts was the mistrust of a loner guy with pink hair (Ollie) and  another loner kid since they didn't fit in.  Yet, they willingly accept a girl who has been living as a boy since ninth grade.  Not one bats an eye.  I found that very strange and unrealistic.  

I can say that the one thing I did like about the story was the relationship between Ollie and Makani.  They were really cute together.   I can't even really say that I liked Makani's friends.  They were kind of crappy to her at times and a bit over the top. 

So, if you are looking for a scary YA, you won't find it here. It had a lot of great potential, but you've probably seen or read it before.