Anybody Home?

Let's talk about entertainment.

Can violence be entertaining? Can horror? Can we make the suffering of others into a self-referential form of enjoyment for consumption? That is the question Anybody Home? raises, and purports to answer. Our narrator is a veteran of home invasions, a proud monster now placing others under their tutelage. Their goal?

To leave a mark. To be remembered as monsters. They are named as "Invader #", barely mattering to the narrator save for the mark this narrator intends to leave through them. They are not human. They are irrelevant in that respect. They are the manifestation of the narrator's will.

Far more dehumanizing are the victims. Victims 1, 2, 3 and 4. People with names, backgrounds, a family reduced to nothing more than a set piece for the entertainment of the monsters. As well as the masses. Never are we allowed to forget of the voyeuristic tone of his novel, where suffering is presented in death and torture.

And we are invited to wonderful how culpable we, the readers are. The novel is a difficult and harrowing one. I cannot say the execution is flawless, but i makes us think, demands a sense of ruthless participation from the audience. Can monsters function without an approving audience? What is the price of entertainment in horror?

The humanization of the victims is all the more terrifying, for we cannot simply enjoy it as they are tormented. The novel turns the reader into a participant in the crime and is all the more affecting for it. There is simply no way out in this, for the victims or the reader. We can stop reading at any time and pretend suburbia is safe, but...

It isn't. Safety is just a set of circumstances we agree upon and can be breached at any time. For such a simple setting, this is harrowing from start to finish. Sometimes, the set pieces can wear too long, draining a touch of suspense, but this is minor to the full execution.

Like Man Bites Dog, The Last Horror Movie and Funny Games, it's referential and smart and leaves no escape.

This is the first book in a long time that’s actually genuinely frightened me.

Anybody Home? Turns you, the reader, into the antagonist. A home intruder learning from a more experienced home intruder tricks of the trade to get away with gruesome crimes. It read like a mix of Funny Games and The Strangers - two of my favorites. The home invasion trope of horror has always terrified me and this one was no different. I couldn’t read this book at night and when I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about this excellent piece of work. I’m completely obsessed with the idea of turning the reader into the villain and I wish I could see that in more books!

I don’t even know how to review this book. It left me wanting to take a shower and Brillo some of the scenes from my mind. It was excellent and kept you wanting to know more, kept you flipping the pages faster and faster. At one point I felt like I had to just get to the end to let those involved be through with the ordeal. I will definitely get a copy of this book and revisit it. I got a copy on NetGalley for review. If you like your books disturbing and keep you up at night wondering if you locked the door and wanting to go and check but then are scared of looking out the windows then this is the book for you.

Home invasion has always been one of my favorite subgenres of horror simply because it is a common real fear that we all experience at some point in our lives.

Have you ever considered how safe you are home? Have you ever felt scared after hearing weird noises in your home? Did you ever think that a stranger could simply break in and change your life forever in a matter of minutes?

This was such a different experience as a reader. The horror in this book felt so real, so close to home. A perfect exploration of a home invasion story that will have you hooked, terrified and disgusted all at the same time.

We follow a group of people that are experts in home invasions and we have the displeasure to follow them in their daily job.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an ARC to review.

3 stars!

I was really engaged in the story at first with how this is written. It is literally a guide how to do an home invasion and you as the reader are being some what guided on what to do, how to do something, what to say, what to reply with.

The characters within the story aren’t given any names despite victim 1, victim 2, etc and the invaders are simply known as invader 1, invader 2, etc

It’s a disturbing read as you are given a more deeper and in-depth look into the preparation of a home invasion, the planning, the reasoning, which in this case is just because which what’s makes it terrifying.

Wow. WOW. I posted on social media that I only meant to read the first few pages of Anybody Home? and ended up reading the whole thing over the course of an afternoon... this wasn't hyperbole. AH sucks the reader in and doesn't let go. The premise is queasy and voyeuristic - the reader is party to a conversation between two home invaders, one experienced, one a first-timer, as they plot and then carry out extended surveillance then torture of a typical American suburban family. Seidlinger's refusal to call any of the victims by name (they're Victim #1 and so on) offers the narrative distance needed for the reader to be swept up in this can't-look-away, creep-inducing detailed breakdown of a nightmare - and end up rooting for the invaders even as they sink further into depravity (there's a scene with a drill and an eye which proves particularly memorable, and as for the dazed, hazy grasp which the young daughter has on proceedings, including who's an ally and who isn't... brrr). A chilling commentary on torture-as-entertainment, playful and ghastly all at once. Fantastic.

I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. I will update Netgalley once I read & review a physical copy.

My review will be based on the physical ARC I read.