I know there are people who can only get interested in a book if they find the characters to be likeable, and that is really the only thing that is difficult to find in Kaira Rouda’s latest thriller, Somebody’s Home. There is suspense from the beginning to the end, shifting points of view throughout the book, story lines that both run parallel and also intersect each other, class struggles, religion being used in nefarious ways, and teenagers not thinking about the consequences of their actions (well, truthfully, adults as well!) Rouda checks all these boxes in this tightly wound, intricately plotted domestic thriller.
In search of a new start, Julie has left her very wealthy husband Roger and purchased a home, on the other side of town, from Doug and Sandi. Julie did not tell her teenage daughter Jess about this upheaval and, being a senior in high school, Jess is far from excited. Doug and Sandi are needing to sell the house quickly and quietly, but Doug’s adult son Tom has been living in the carriage house out back and, to make everything work according to the timeline she has created, Julie agrees to give Tom until the following weekend to move out. Tom has other plans.
Everything (with the exception of an epilogue) takes place over just one weekend, and the tension is non-stop. Jess makes every mistake a teenager who has known nothing but wealth and privilege is likely to make. There are uncomfortable, unsavoury reasons behind Doug and Sandi’s need for a quick, quiet move. By telling the story through each of their perspectives, however, Rouda allows them all to be more than stereotypes or caricatures. Whether they are narrating their own events, or their actions and motivations are being described by the person that knows them best, we get to peek into the heads of each of these characters. In some cases we get to see them as their best selves, and in some cases they are truly the stuff of nightmares.
Get ready for your nerves to be frazzled and to be a little jumpy as you get into this unsettling story!
Somebody’s Home is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
A quiet neighborhood. A lovely home. A promising new beginning. In a heartbeat everything can change in this propulsive novel of suspense by USA Today bestselling author Kaira Rouda.
Julie Jones has left her suffocating marriage. With her teenage daughter, Jess, she’s starting over. Their new house in Oceanside is the first step toward a new life. Even if it does come with the unexpected. The previous owners, a pastor and his wife, have left something—or rather someone—behind…
Tom Dean has a bitter hatred for the father who considers him a lost cause, and for the woman who’s moved into their family’s house. The only home he’s ever known. He’s never going to leave. She thinks he’ll be gone in three days, but Tom has the perfect plan.
For a newly single mother and her daughter, a fresh start is the beginning of a nightmare. Before the weekend is over, somebody is going to get exactly what they deserve.
