Are Your Parents Home?

Are Your Parents Home?

Are Your Parents Home?Title: Are Your Parents Home?
Author: Jon Athan
First Published: October 3, 2024
Publisher: Self-Published
Pages: 195
Genre: Extreme Horror, Horror, Splatterpunk
Format: Ebook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Rating:


Synopsis:

While her parents attend a work party, eighteen-year-old Ella Romero is left in charge of her two siblings—thirteen-year-old Nicholas and eight-year-old Arianna—at their secluded lake house. In her usual fashion, Ella invites her friends to hang out while her parents are away, too. It was supposed to be an easy, quiet, normal night.

But then a grizzled stranger arrives at the home. Although no one answers the front door, he knocks and talks, knocks and talks—knocks and talks. Not before long, the man’s bizarre, nonsensical ramblings turn into nasty threats.

He wants to get inside the house. He believes he’s meant to be with Ella. And he won’t let anything or anyone stop him from fulfilling his ‘destiny.’

Jon Athan, the author of Blender Babies and The Groomer, brings you a white-knuckle, high-tension, “one-shot” home invasion novel. Don't forget to lock your doors before reading...

Buy the Book: Amazon

Review

I was really intrigued by this book, home invasion is one of my greatest fears and I had so much fun reading Blender Babies by Jon Athan. The stranger in this story is terrifying, every scene where he appeared especially in the early chapters made me anxious. Athan has a genuine skill in writing villains that are horrifying, savagely funny, and incredibly memorable.

That being said, I struggled with this book. Every character was like a helpless NPC without any survival instinct or situational awareness, even the adults. I can’t imagine a parent shrugging off a stranger coming to the door threatening to rape, kill, and eat my children and then gaslighting them for being worried. Not a single character took the stranger seriously, and every action that the characters made was like choosing the obviously bad route every time.

The story also after a while felt tiring and repetitive to read. Ella would move from one fellow victim to the next, hiding and watching the torture in extreme detail one by one. Then she would circle back to check on the aftermath of each one by one, all while making no reasonable moves to get help. It made me feel like I was on the tracks of a train circling at each stop, unable to do anything but passively witness, which wasn’t very engaging.

At some point, I was tempted to DNF the book, especially at the height of some of the torture. I pushed through and did at least end up really enjoying the ending, it was nerve-wracking and in a way haunting. I think if some of the repetitive qualities of this story were trimmed down to improve pacing and the characters were slightly more interesting this would have been a home run. This book is definitely as extreme as extreme horror gets, no one is safe, so tread lightly.

Quote

“I knew you were the one the moment I saw you. Can you answer something for me? You can? Good. Great. Tell me: Are your parents home? Hmm? How many of you little piggies are in there?”

Content Warnings

View Spoiler »

About the Authors

About Jon Athan

Jon Athan is an author from California. Jon was born on September 12, 1992 during a stormy night. As a child, he enjoyed writing and telling scary short stories. Some of these stories got him into some serious trouble with his teachers, but he persevered through the detentions and therapy sessions.


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2 Comments

  1. irratebass

    I don’t care I still want to read it. I loved Blender Babies. Great review as always though.

    • Jamie

      Thank you! And I definitely don’t want to discourage anyone from reading a book, never my intent. I can see this one appealing to the right reader, Athan is very skilled. As noted, the stranger in this one is really scary, and the ending is a banger. I’m a firm believer that different books are right for different readers, and I will typically read a few books by an author before deciding whether or not they are for me. I know that many books that I love are low-rated, or I sometimes find a book I don’t like by an author that is otherwise a favorite.

      I was so bummed that I felt so bleh about this one because I really loved Blender Babies (I want a sequel with the King of Flesh TBH and I don’t usually care for sequels/series). I’m definitely not discouraged from reading more of his books though and want to read more. Athan has so many books it’s hard to pick! I’ve taken notes from recs I’ve seen, but I’m always open to more recs.
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