It’s been almost a year since Makani Young came to live with her grandmother in landlocked Nebraska, and she’s still adjusting to her new life. And still haunted by her past in Hawaii.

Then, one by one, the students of her small town high school begin to die in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasing and grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and the hunt intensifies for the killer, Makani will be forced to confront her own dark secrets.

Stephanie Perkins, bestselling author of Anna and the French Kiss, returns with a fresh take on the classic teen slasher story that’s fun, quick-witted, and completely impossible to put down.

Review: There’s Someone Inside Your House

Stephanie Perkins’ THERE’S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE has been a highly anticipated novel since its announcement. As an avid Perkins fan myself, I was so excited to read her version of a teen slasher story. While the narrative moved quickly and packed plenty of gore, it lacked the big chills for which I’d hoped. Bloody mayhem is the constant factor in this short, high-speed narrative about a group of high-schoolers who find themselves the target of an unlikely killer.

We meet Makani Young, who moved from Hawaii to small-town Nebraska for her final year in school. There, she finds herself a group of friends she cares about even though she feels like she doesn’t quite fit in. Makani is haunted by a shameful secret from her past, living with the fear that one day everyone will know what happened. Despite her fears, her crush for pink-haired loner Ollie Larsson develops, as they connect on feeling like outsiders.

When word of the first grisly murder spreads, everyone believes it to be a one-off with motive specific to the victim. But when another classmate is found dead, then a third is discovered, it’s clear any one of them could be next.

The murders are many, graphic, gruesome and specific, hinting at the killer’s grand plans, but even that reveal felt rushed and lacked the payoff I wanted to feel. Nonetheless, the book can easily be a fun, fast read to spark your Halloween spirit.