We used to live here by Marcus Kliewer was the next one on the list to read and I’ve finished this in a day just like his book The Caretaker which is a newer one. With these books Marcus brings tension to a whole new level but just like the other book, the ending is open and gives you the room to figure it out or picture the ending it deserves. For me, I like it when a book has a solid ending if there won’t be a sequel.

Eve and Charley are a couple that flip houses for a living, buying the ugly ducklings and reno them themselves and flip with profit. Their newest project is a different one though, it’s a big house that needs a lot of TLC – maybe even to much in which case they will tear the place down and build something new from the ground up but they haven’t decided yet. Charley has gone to town to pick up some bits and pieces while Eve is working on stripping things in the house when she hears someone at the door.

A family of five huddled together at Eve’s front door – Eve being anxious as always in social situations doesn’t know what to do and decides on brushing the family off and go back to work. The man of the family though called Thomas isn’t easily persuaded, telling Eve he grew up in the house and he would love to give his family a tour and look what has become of his childhood home. Where is her partner when she needs her the most? Not here that’s where. Eventually she lets them in and walking with them through the house. Thomas takes the lead and tells his family all about how it looked when he lived here and shows them all the nooks and cranny’s whilst the youngest child called Jenny is writing it all down in her little notebook and asks questions along the way.

When the family is done with the tour and making their way out the door, Jenny has gone missing. Jenny has the tendency to play hide and seek but if you find her and she doesn’t come out, you’ll need to back away because she’ll only emerge when left alone. The moment the family set foot in the house, Eve had this weird feeling, like something wrong has entered the house. When the family finally takes their leave it’s like that something has been left behind. A storm warning and a closed bridge brings the family right back to her door though.

It’s as if Eve and Charley are guests in their own home – the first night they find Thomas standing out in a snowstorm without a coat on, completely oblivious to the cold. When Eve and Charley call for him, he looks like he’s lost in thought or sleepwalking. When Thomas finally ‘awakes’ and they go inside he tells them about the inexplainable things that have happened in the house when he lived there. Putting Eve more on edge. Seeing things that might not be there at least that’s what Charley tells her when she investigates something Eve has seen.

What Eve doesn’t know is, when you let them in they will never leave and that over time you’ll start misremembering things. Your mind warping to what Thomas tells you what happened until eventually you snap, holding on to your own truth and trying to fight this danger.

I’m giving this book a ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 star rating. Loved the tension but didn’t like the ending because of the interpretation.