Sarah Gailey has a way of creating characters and plots that creep up behind you and lay a shiveringly cold finger on your shoulder.

For fans of the Haunting of Hill House (netflix show!) and other horror that deals with generational trauma, this is like...the perfect book. An engaging and fast read (I read it on the beach, though I definitely would not classify it as a beach read!)

While this book was not for me personally because I just could not vibe with the storyline, I can see many who enjoy mystery/thrillers with a lot of plot twists.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this e-arc.

From the first chapter, Sarah Gailey will make you feel uneasy and like you absolutely cannot stop reading this book. Readers will be hooked from the very beginning of Just Like Home. After loving The Echo Wife, I knew I had to pick up Just Like Home to fall into another thriller world. This domestic horror novel will take you on a wild ride that will have you second-guessing everything. Gailey's writing is so engrossing and chilling. Perfect for fans of Mexican Gothic and A Flicker in the Dark.

The bubblegum pink cover is so eye-catching and just matches the eerie feeling of the novel perfectly.

I really wanted this book to be more. I liked the writing and the characters and he pacing but it kind of fell flat for me at the end.

I usually love a supernatural or paranormal element in books, but it didn’t work for me here. The “there’s something under the bed” scare is easily relatable, but it felt like it was trying too hard for me. I didn’t get that suspenseful dread that I felt in the Prologue of Echo by Thomas Olde Heuvelt, another scare while in bed, though not of the “under” variety.

However, the physical feature that was actually underneath Vera’s bed from childhood was horrifically fascinating. I really enjoyed the daughter of a serial killer and dysfunctional family aspects of this book. Told in first person in dual timelines, the story follows Vera in the present as she returns to pack up her childhood home (that her father built) as her mother is dying while the former timeline provides a window into Vera’s childhood leading up to her father’s arrest. I was fascinated with the relationship between Vera and her father, that trust that he knew best and could fix everything. Vera’s relationship with her mother, Daphne, was more complicated and entwined with guilt and blame. I also enjoyed watching her awkwardly try to reconnect with her childhood best friend, Brandon, while anticipating what happened that caused their rift. I found the ending abrupt as I wanted to know more about Vera’s plans for the future of the house that her father built. Did I mention that her father built the house? LOL

Thank you to Netgalley and Tor Books for a copy provided for an honest review.

Book review :

This book is a CREEPY, BIZARRE, BLEAK, INTENSE, CLAUSTROPHOBIC and EERIE. No words to express what an elusive story.

Vera’s mother is dying, and asks her to come home to the house she grew up in, the house her father built with his own two hands—the same hands he used to torture and murder men in the basement. Vera’s feelings about her father are deeply conflicted, as he may have been a notorious serial killer, but they shared a loving, close relationship. Her mother, on the other hand, was a cold, hard, unloving woman, and even now, near death, her heart has not thawed.

Making matters worse is the fact that Vera's mother has a tenant living on the property, some sort of artist whose interest in the house makes Vera very uncomfortable.

The way the story gets depicted and the secrets starts unravelling was really interesting. I was really intrigued from the first page. The way Veera survives and fights with the circumstances was worth reading .

I loved reading this thrilling story. I am thankful to netgalley for giving me this book to read in return of an honest review.
Happy Reading!

Thanks #netgalley for this book in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed this book. Great buildup and suspense. I loved the creepy aspects of the story even though this isn't my typical read. Highly recommend.

I thought The Echo Wife was one of the best books of the last few years, and this one surpasses it. It's maybe the best Shirley Jackson-esque book I've read, period.

Vera's been called home by her dying mother to help get their old house in order, but of course, there are a lot of family secrets. I'm going to avoid being too spoilery, though it's known from the beginning that they revolve at least partially around her late father, and made her and her family notorious..

The book does an amazing job of never going where you quite expect, while always being logical. It's a haunted house book, yes, but it's also just an incredibly dark character study. Gailey makes Vera and her mother's broken relationship into something unnerving in a wholly original way, and the mix of Southern gothic family drama and modern gothic horror, tied together with a great mix of flashbacks and contemporary settings, is fantastic.

Just read this book if you like horror or Gailey's other books. Period.

Thanks very much for the opportunity to read this one.

Unfortunately this was a DNF at the 25% mark. I just could not get in to the story and kept waiting for something to happen.

I thought the writing was well done however I didn't really know anything about the character or what was really going on.

I'd try something else from the author in the future but unfortunately this one wasn't for me

WOW!!!!! Hooked from the first page and read this book in one sitting… Full of tension and suspense. A real page turner, a domestic noir but OMG so much more!!!!!

Dark, eerie and spooky. It’s hard to say too much about this book without giving something away and ruining another readers experience. If you liked Rose Red and books of that sort this book is for you!

Incredibly spooky and creepy throughout the entirety of the book. This is a great read for those that don’t mind unrealistic outcomes. If spooky paranormal endings are your thing pick this book up!

For having an incredible premise, this book was slooooow. But not slow in a cool gothic way, but simply slow and filled with boring mundane things every little thing the protagonist did. And the protagonist wasn't even that interesting. I didn't like this one all that much.

A little bit scary and a LOT troubling, Just Like Home hits all the markers of chilling horror. With twists that were eerie and characters that were heartbreaking, this story had me reading well past bedtime.

There were moments, as a mom, that were a bit too intense for me, but the story was still wonderfully paced and so well done.

Okay, go with me here—you know how in The Exorcist movie, each time the camera pans up the staircase (the one in the living room where the spider walk happens, not the one outside that features in the end of the movie), stopping at the closed bedroom door Regan is ensconced behind? You know the overwhelming feeling of oppressive dread that accompanies that camera, not knowing what you’re about to see behind that bedroom door?

Yeah. Sarah Gailey absolutely nails that feeling with Just Like Home. This is an oppressive, claustrophobic, deeply unsettling gothic masterpiece that is unlike anything else I’ve read by Gailey, except of course in terms of writing excellence.

Vera’s mother is dying, and asks her to come home to the house she grew up in, the house her father built with his own two hands—the same hands he used to torture and murder men in the basement. Vera’s feelings about her father are deeply conflicted, as he may have been a notorious serial killer, but they shared a loving, close relationship. Her mother, on the other hand, was a cold, hard, unloving woman, and even now, near death, her heart has not thawed.

Vera has conflicted feelings about the house as well, a place where unspeakable atrocities happened. Her homecoming is haunted by the horrors that have seeped into the walls and foundation, by the hostile townspeople with long memories who still hate her for what her father did, and by the latest in a long line of artists living in the guesthouse, parasites looking for inspiration and leeching off the soul of the serial killer.

Gailey excels at putting us inside Vera’s troubled mind, a dark place, and forcefully keeping us there, never letting us look away. Vera’s childhood home is a prison of sorts to her, and her mind mirrors that, a malignant coffin box of memories and trauma. Just Like Home is unrelenting, sometimes punishing, but always mesmerizing.

I mentioned earlier that this is unlike anything else by Gailey, and that’s true. Their last novel, The Echo Wife, was a tour de force science fiction drama about cloning. Now, having read this, I hope they play in the gothic horror sandbox again. Just Like Home is absolutely brilliant.

Okay so thank you to the publishers for the arc of this!
I enjoyed this greatly. This is a horror book(didn’t realize from the cover tbh) I spent the first bit of the book trying to piece together the past and I spent the last half not being able to look away!
Vera has had to return to her family home which she was kicked out of at 17 or so and I honestly don’t want to give more details than that. I enjoyed trying to piece together what had happened and the story gives so many good gag worthy reveals and even if you piece all of the mystery together the writing is good so I think it’s super enjoyable.
Also I liked Vera, I was so on her side through the whole book and I loved the story from her perspective.
Definitely recommend this, it’s a perfect read if you’re ready to transition into spooky season.
Reviewed at, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4614053766

This was a wild ride that I would gladly take again. It perfectly balances classic horror with an exploration of family, trauma and returning home to face the demons of the past. I had no idea if this was really a true crime or haunted house story, but Gailey grabs both plots by the throat and binds them together in an unsettling, deliberate way that left me guessing till the very last page. Listening to the audiobook, also really enhanced the building dread of this story. I love the writing style and the pacing was perfect. I think a movie or mini series would really bring this story to live on screen. I would recommend to those who loved The Haunting of Hill House and Sharp Objects. Overall, a great horror addition.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This fell a little flat for me, which is a shame because the writing was gorgeous but the plot was too long winded and drawn out. I thought that there were some suitably creepy moments, but they were few and far between and I honestly think that this would have worked better as a novella. I loved the setting and the premise was interesting, with a particularly fascinating relationship between Vera and her mother. I thought that James Duvall was fairly one dimensional and didn't add a great deal to the story overall. As I say, had this been a novella focused on the toxic relationship between the two women, I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more, but as it is, it just felt too long.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.