The Amazing Literary Adventures of Amber & Eleanor the Cat / “We Use to Live Here,” By Marcus Kliewer

The Mountain Times, By Amber Ford

Having just come off of some seriously in-depth critical thinking reads, Eleanor and I decided it was time to visit some easy-to-read thrillers. Picking up Marcus Kliewer’s “We Used To Live Here” seemed like a natural course of action. Set in rural Oregon on a fictitious mountain (a little close to home for Eleanor), a young couple purchase a home in hopes of renovating and flipping. Unfortunately, those hopes become but a bitter memory for the young ladies when a knock at the door changes everything.

Although this book checked all of Eleanor’s favorite boxes right out of the gate, we can’t say for certain it was superb in content. Unlike many thrillers, Kliewer’s ability to move fast was apparent within the first few chapters. Unlike similar novels in this genre, “We Used To Live Here” began fast, with not much of a backstory. The reader was moving at the same pace, picking up the same cues as the characters. And while this plan of attack in a novel can sometimes be appreciated (anyone who’s ever read a Stephen King novel will agree), there still needs to be some substance, some sketching of a past that dictates a character’s movements and thoughts. 

We learn pretty quickly that while the main character, Charlie, is at work in a nearby city, main character Eve is tasked with organizing the renovation and unpacking their belongings. All seems to be working out well for the couple until a knock on the door in the early evening hours and on the heels of a strong winter storm. Standing on their porch is a family: three children, mom, and dad, with the dad explaining that he grew up in the home and would love nothing more than to show his family the place he had lived. A stereotypical “yes woman,” Eve nonetheless feels compelled to tell the family “no,” but her overwhelming kindness wins out over her anxieties, and she allows the family passage. What befalls the characters throughout the remainder of the novel is nothing short of terrifying.

A fast moving novel from start to finish, “We Used To Live Here” offers the page-turning experience when it comes to the actions of the characters and the bizarre web they’re all entangled in, but clarity was one prominent missing piece. The book jumps back and forth from psychiatric and police reports and encounters, alluding to a troubled family, torn between worlds – even a tease of another realm. 

Overall, Eleanor did enjoy the pace of the read, but she also found the story lacked substance. We’re always going to read books set in Oregon or the Pacific Northwest because we are suckers for anything that hits close to home, but at the end of the day, this book really didn’t provide the thrills we were hoping for. Netflix is currently making this book into a film starring Blake Lively, and while I’m sure the movie adaption will be well-produced, you should, like Eleanor always says, read the book first.