Are Your Parents Home?
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...
WARNING: This book contains graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.
Published: September 26, 2024
Pages: 262
ISBN: 9798327524972
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Available in: Paperback
Reader Reviews
2 ratings
Jolene C.
Don’t be fooled by the calm beginning: a teenage girl, Ella, left to watch her siblings at a quiet lake house. A few friends over, a normal night. Then the stranger arrive. He doesn’t break in all at once. He seeps in. Knock. Talk. Knock. Talk. Each sound like a hammer on your nerves. His nonsense babble twists into threats, his fixation curdles into obsession and suddenly you realize the nightmare has only just begun.
Athan doesn’t flinch. He doesn’t cut away. He makes you sit in the violence, the obsession, the depravity, until it crawls under your skin. The brutality here is unrelenting, almost punishing, and that’s exactly what makes it effective.
If you’re squeamish or have triggers stay far away. If you crave horror that leaves you shaken, sickened, and unable to sleep, this one will do it.
Lock your doors. And maybe your windows, too.
Cheyenne Joy .
Are Your Parents Home by Jon Athan
Alright, so let me start with a friendly PSA: Warning! Murder, rape, kids. Yes, it’s that kind of book. The kind where you double-check your own browser history afterwards just to make sure no one thinks you’re researching a career change.
To me, this felt like a classic slasher movie — the kind with the grainy lighting, the creepy house, the “why are you going towards the noise???” energy. I could practically see the entire thing unfolding like some deranged Netflix special. And honestly? I truly enjoyed it. Horrific in a deeply disturbing yet weirdly satisfying way. I know. I KNOW. I question my own sanity daily, so don’t even bother raising an eyebrow — it’s already raised internally.
The victims… ugh. They were just kids. That part genuinely got me. My heart cracked a bit, and then I kept reading anyway because apparently I treat emotional distress as cardio.
Mixed feelings about Ella though. Half the time I was like, “Girl, please.” The other half I was rooting for her like she was in the final round of a very morally questionable talent show.
Anyway. If you’re into that whole slasher movie but written down vibe — gore, chaos, questionable decision-making and all — then yeah, this is most certainly your book. Just don’t read it right before bed unless you enjoy your dreams starring as a low-budget horror reboot.
Three stars because it did what it promised: it messed me up a little, entertained me a lot, and had me diagnosing myself somewhere in between.