This was another really cut and dry kinda book for me, nothing was surprising or shocking to me, I was pretty much able to piece everything today so while it was a good read for me, it didn’t leave me feeling wow’d or really amazed. To me, it doesn’t give off that “horror”feeling/vibe.

It's hard to really talk about this book without spoilers but I will say the brutal horrific twists are going to blow your mind.

This is set during the pandemic and after her parents are murdered in a viscious home invasive, Amber along with her husband and two small children move into their house. Yes, some weird terrifying things are going to happen. Because this is a haunted house story but quite unlike any other.

Sections of the novel are in the past as we see Amber, her sister Hannah, and her mom and dad living their lives and slowly becoming antagonist towards each other. You'll have to read about why and it's an important freaky part of what takes place. And you'll probably think you know some things but, you won't.

So while the majority of this book reads like a good well written supernatural horror story, the last third or so is going to raise your adrenaline and leave your jaw hanging open.

This novel is bold, frightening, and surprising and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was a little cut and dry for me plot wise, nothing really jumped out and surprised me in terms of the haunted house genre, though the premise was interesting, living in her parents house after a tragedy. I think I just too desensitized to similar stories so it didn't work as well as it could have.

This book did something novels rarely do for this long-time reader: caught me by surprise! I mean really, this one's a doozy of a read, filled with chills, unexpected turns, and terrifying characters. The writing is top notch too, the settings atmospheric and fully visualized (for those of us that see it in our heads as we go).

I've been puzzling over how to write a review that won't give too much away: seriously, even that hint could ruin the surprises! So just trust me, if you love twisted tales with flawed characters and unsettling situations, These Familiar Walls is perfect!

The book's summary does plenty to tell you the plot, so I'm not going to do that here. OH, and this book sets us in the Covid 19 pandemic in a superbly natural manner. It is a background, but it also a major player in a very subtle way. Thank you for that CJ Dotson!

Thank you to St. Martins and NetGalley for the chance to read an advance copy of CJ Dotson's latest.

THESE FAMILIAR WALLS was a contemporary horror, and if you’re asking me if i’d recommend it, i’d say yeah. if you enjoy freda mcfadden and characters with questionable mindsets, you’d enjoy this. here are some thoughts i had while reading.

this book is written in 3rd person limited, past tense. it flips back and forth between two timelines, 1998 and 2020, our present day. we follow Amber, a sales woman, mom of two, and recently, an orphan as she deals with the throws of life and a long lived house haunted by— something. but the house having three bodies on its own is no laughing matter.
most of the horror elements are settled in the present timeline, the supernatural with efforts that would’ve made me leave the house myself a long time ago.
amber as our main character is a generally detailed woman, carrying most of the child labor while her husband works, and it being set in 2020 is furthering the notion of staying home, which makes sense. in present, she’s always conflicting with herself, but the childhood flashbacks do carry a weight to them that i like. it’s like watching a snowball double in size as it rolls down a hill. you know it’ll end up crashing into dust.
the correlations or foreshadowing between the past and present is very enjoyable. i’m very invested and i have an idea for what the ending might be (i was right).

overall the story was well written! it set a nice tone for a spooky read and i think the dichotomy of our main character from past to present was cool to see develop. i thought the husbands demeanor seemed a little lacking initially, and i think i would’ve gotten a better result for the rest of the characters if we had more time with them. overall, this was a fun and quick story about inner turmoil and how the people around you only effect you the way you allow them to. i’d check this to a mcfadden book honestly any day, everything flowed much smoother and made a lot more sense overall.

I really enjoyed this, it had that element of tension and not knowing what was going on in this surburban horror novel. It uses that concept to keep the reader engaged and was invested in how this was going in this plot. I was invested in what was happening with the characters and thought the overall feel worked in the genre with them. C. J. Dotson has a strong writing style and thought it was so well written in this type of book. I thought it was great that twenty-two years later after trying to kill the main character only to be betrayed, it left questions and worked so well in this plot.

I really could not get into this book at all, and I absolutely could not connect to the characters at all.