Publisher's Weekly Review
Vera Crowder, the protagonist of this superior novel of psychological suspense from Gailey (The Echo Wife), returns to her childhood home, Crowder House, after 12 years to reunite with her dying mother, a fraught visit that reawakens dark memories. It gradually emerges that Vera's father, who frequently reassured her as a child that there were neither monsters nor murderers under her bed, and told her their basement was off-limits, was himself a murderer. (Bodies were found buried in the basement.) Years after her father's arrest, Vera still believes the house has secrets to reveal, a belief supported by the chance discoveries of fragments from his journal. Suggestive prose ("The stairs that led from the entryway to the second level of the house always seemed to have too many shadows") enhances the twisty plot as Vera tries to better understand the killings her father was accused of. The counterintuitive choice to have flashbacks recounted in present tense, while using past tense for present-day events, along with ominous foreshadowing ("Three years from now, when there are policemen at the door, she will feel afraid") helps to create an unsettling atmosphere. Minette Walters fans will be captivated. (July)
Booklist Review
Vera's mother disowned her long ago, but she's headed home anyway to take care of the place before her mother dies. Home, to the old house that her father built with his own hands--her notorious, hated, much-written-about serial-killer father, whom Vera loved, dearly, whose approval she longed for, and who she ultimately betrayed. As Vera cleans out closets and cabinets, she deals with her cruel, sharp-tongued mother, as well as with one of a long line of parasitic artists taking up residence in the guesthouse in order to get "inspired" by her father's legacy. Vera begins to wake up with grease in her throat and something lurking under her rickety childhood bed. Someone is messing with her. But who? Vera's childhood splinters in her hands as she pries back the floorboards to uncover the mysteries still lurking in the house's woodwork. Gailey's newest gothic novel is painfully suspenseful and richly dark, their rushing, intoxicating writing in peak form. Delightfully creepy and heartbreakingly tragic, Just Like Home is equal parts raw terror of a dark childhood bedroom, creeping revelations of a true-crime podcast, and searing hurt of resentment within a family. It's a must-read for all gothic horror fans.
Library Journal Review
Gailey's (The Echo Wife) latest introduces listeners to the Crowder House, home to a family whose patriarch is an infamous serial killer. Vera Crowder never expected she'd have to return to the house she grew up in, not after her mother, Daphne, made sure her feelings about her daughter were known. But Daphne is dying, and there's an artist who seeks inspiration, and perhaps more, from the house that had once sheltered Vera and had been the scene of unspeakable horrors. As Vera searches through her past and tries to rediscover who her father, Francis, was--beyond his body count--she must also decide who she is and who she wants to be. Listeners will be absorbed as they learn the details of Vera's relationship with her family, its various sins, and ultimately, what connects them all. Xe Sands's narration appropriately characterizes Vera as perpetually exhausted by her life and her legacy. When scenes call for more powerful emotions, such as despair or fury--particularly as Vera discovers that some connections are worth fighting for--Sands shows she's able to deliver. VERDICT Gailey wisely unfurls this story at a delightfully excruciating pace. Accompanied by Sands's versatile narration, this is a captivating listen.--James Gardner
