Anybody Home?

What came first, the home or the desire to invade? A seasoned invader with multiple home invasions under their belt recounts their dark victories while offering tutelage to a new generation of ambitious home invaders eager to make their mark on the annals of criminal history. From initial canvasing to home entry, the reader is complicit in every strangling and shattered window. The fear is inescapable. Examining the sanctuary of the home and one of the horror genre's most frightening tropes, Anybody Home? points the camera lens onto the quiet suburbs and its unsuspecting abodes, any of which are potential stages for an invader ambitious enough to make it the scene of the next big crime sensation. Who knows? Their performance just might make it to the silver screen.

Danielle Trussoni, New York Times Book Review

"Do not, under any circumstance, read when you’re alone. One of the most disturbing novels I've read in years."

Library Journal (Starred Review)

“This book makes Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay look like a cakewalk. This is THE MOST intense psychological horror you have ever read. Seriously. It makes Out by Natsuo Kirino look tame.”

Foreword Reviews (Starred Review)

“Anybody Home? is an immersive novel that deconstructs home invasions for sport, resulting in addictive commentary on the horror genre itself.”

Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke"Anybody Home? is Natural Born Killers for a generation that grew up on Funny Games, The Purge, and Twitter. An incisive commentary on how, in our culture, everything eventually gets mediatized

“Harrowing and tremendously upsetting, Anybody Home? flips the home invasion genre on its head for a new generation of readers. I felt like I was reading something I shouldn’t have been reading. You’ll be checking your locks regularly after reading this nasty little morsel.”

Kathy Koja, author of Dark Factory"This addictive deconstruction of the home invasion is so thorough and chilling, Seidlinger may as well have slammed the door on the entire genre. But beyond the torture and violation, Anybody Home? is a nuanced study of the creative process, exploring what it takes to create art that truly resonates."

“An ice cold, deadpan zeitgeist nightmare, Michael J. Seidlinger knows, and shows, that even in a lockdown moment, home is the most dangerous place of all. Watch out. Too late. They’re watching you.”

or maybe Seidlinger himself.”

“In Anybody Home?, Michael J. Seidlinger so masterfully crafts an atmosphere of pure terror that it had me checking to make sure my front door was locked, for fear of home invaders

Jeff Jackson, author of Destroy All Monsters"Anybody Home? is a literal and metaphorical dissection of the nuclear family, executed with panache and filled with cutting insights. Seidlinger knows precisely how to make the reader complicit. These pages will bloody your hands, and it’ll be a long time before the stains wash clean."

“With this sinister and alluring story of home invasions, Michael Seidlinger has invented a new type of horror novel, one that simultaneously chronicles the characters’ transgressions and the audience’s reactions. It’s a searing commentary on voyeurism and mass media, as well as a riff on Michael Haneke’s Funny Games that outdoes the original. Read it with the doors locked.”

About the Author

MICHAEL J. SEIDLINGER is a Filipino American author of Runaways: A Writer's Dilemma, Scream (part of Bloomsbury's Object Lessons series), and other books. He has written for, among others, Wired, Buzzfeed, Thrillist, Goodreads, The Observer, Polygon, The Believer, and Publishers Weekly. He teaches at Portland State University and has led workshops at Catapult, Kettle Pond Writer's Conference, and Sarah Lawrence.

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