Eve and Charlie are a queer couple who renovate houses for a living, with their current project being an old house in the Northwestern United States. When a man appears at their front door with his wife and three children, claiming to have lived in this house during his childhood, Eve can’t help but let him in to show his family around his previous home, saying it will take ten minutes, 15 tops.
“We Used to Live Here” by Marcus Kliewer is a psychological thriller that I could not put down. With a unique format involving mixed media and a fast-paced narrative, I finished this book almost as soon as I started it. I don’t want to give too much away, but once the family enters Eve and Charlie’s home, the storyline takes off into a series of creepy, haunting events. As I was reading into the night, I had to put the book down a few times and look around me — that’s how terrifying it was. Kliewer is excellent at creating this strange atmosphere where something is not quite right, which really hooked me.
While I loved the majority of the book, the ending was unfortunately lacking for me, which dropped my overall rating. It was somewhat open-ended and ambiguous, and after building so much suspense, I expected a more cohesive resolution or sense of closure that we never really got. That being said, Kliewer is coming out with another novel, “The Caretaker,” in April 2026, which is to be set in the same universe as “We Used to Live Here.” You best believe I will be reading it and looking for answers to some questions I still have from reading “We Used to Live Here.” In all, I would give it 4 out of 5 Big Oles.
