A very intriguing concept – a young girl who lives out her days in hiding, living in the walls of the house she shared with her parents before their death. A new family lives there now, and Elise exists silently among them, inching her way through crawl spaces and scavenging for food in their kitchen. The author does a great job of capturing that strange sense of is-someone-else-here you sometimes get when you're alone in the house (or when you think you're alone). It is quite slow moving and occasionally hard to believe, but the sense of claustrophobia, of the walls closing in, both literally and figuratively, is impressive. And it has one of the best-imagined villains I've read in a long time.

Houses creak and shift. They make noises. Things sometimes get moved, food gets eaten, and you’re not quite sure which member of your family is responsible. But then, what if it’s not a member of your family after all? What if there’s someone living inside your house, unseen? This is the pretty creepy premise behind Girl in the Walls by A. J. Gnuse.

Another book that was totally not was I was expecting, and I’m still not 100% sure how I felt about it. It’s an atmospheric read that unravels very slowly until perhaps three quarters of the way through. The concept is original, if a little bizarre and slightly unbelievable, but it definitely had moments of tugging at my heartstrings.

It’s a novel that asks the reader to consider what makes a home. Do you feel as though your memories are linked inextricably with the four walls in which you live? How attached are you to that house? It also looks at childhood grief and trauma, something that I found very sad to read.

This is not a traditional thriller, though it does have sections which are thrilling. It’s an interesting read, one which I did enjoy but perhaps not as much as I’d hoped.

With thanks to 4th Estate for gifting me a digital copy to review.

What a different and at times heartwrenching read!
This is a story of a girl seeking the comfort of what is known to her; a place where she felt loved and nurtured. The only thing the girl wants is to feel close to her parents, to hang on to their memories......
"Other houses were brick, and wood, and glass, and tile. This house was more. Each day the house woke her, held her, cradled her."
Its a story of a girl hiding in the walls of her old house, watching and observing.
It is a story of family, love and loss told beautifully.
But it is not only the girl's story. It's also the story of a family; a story of two brothers who finally connects through traumatic events.

Thank you to NetGalley and 4th Estate for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book really captured my imagination, and I was constantly questioning whether what I was reading was supposed to be real or paranormal. To me, it read like a ghost story for pretty much the entire book. This is a good thing, by the way.
A young girl has the ability to disappear into the walls of a house and live alongside the people who live there without their knowledge. Now if that doesn’t sound like a ghost story, then what is she? I think that the girl wanted to be like a ghost - themes such as grief and belonging are prominent in this novel. The only attachment the girl has, is to the house itself - she seems to have no family or friends.
There is such an eerie feeling to this book that really unsettled me, and as the boys who live in the house start to realise that someone else is living there with them and look for outside help, the anxiety is tangible. Frankly, there were some breathtaking moments of the “Oh no!” variety.
I honestly can’t believe that this is the authors debut novel - it’s really that good.

From the blurb I was expecting a gothic/ghost story. But this book in my opinion was definatley not that. It was far too modern for me with characters eating pop tarts whilst the girl was within the walls.
I found the initial part if the sort very slow and mundane & I had to make myself finish this book. Thus book just wasn't for me.

I really don't know what to make of this book.

Elise, an orphan, has returned to her family home after her parents die. The only problem being, a new family, The Masons, have moved in. Elise has been living with The Masons for quite some time, only they don't know. Elise lives in the walls and sleeps in a little nook in the attic.

Now, this book is really well written. I could picture Elise in my head moving within the walls and the first night, after reading this book, I was aware of every noise in my house😂

The thing that lacked for me, was the plot. I felt like it dragged on at the start and then when things started to happen, it tailed off again. I really struggled to finish it to be honest.

I have seen a few rave reviews about this book and I maybe wonder if it was wrong book at the wrong time?

Thank you to Netgalley and 4th estate for allowing me to review this book.

After the death of her parents young Elise makes her way back to her childhood home to live in the walls. Knowing every nook and cranny, every creaking floorboard Elise makes her way around in the background always just outside of the new families imagination. Eddie dismisses the things he sees out the corner of his eye the sounds he can't explain but when his brother mentions them too they get more than the bargained for trying to uncover the truth.

I don't know what I expected when reading the blurb, but it wasn't this.
What a unique story, unlike anything I've read before

I absolutely adored Elsie so young coping with such tragedy alone. Gnuse really captures the imagination with his writing, the way he created atmosphere I could picture Elise moving around undetected, feel her heartbreak.

The story itself is very detailed and slow paced but kept me engage throughout. Its extremely well written, with some complex character building.

Thanks you NetGalley Fourth Estate for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Set in modern day, we follow Elise (also known as the ‘girl in the walls’) and her adventures within the Mason’s house. Elise knows every inch of the house, every gap in the walls and which floorboards creak and which do not. For Elise knows how to silently live within the Mason’s house, because it was once her own too…

From the onset, I was hooked. Who is Elise? Is she a ghost? Something paranormal? I had so many questions about the girl in the walls and how she lived. It’s such an original and gripping story, with a multitude of themes running through it, including loneliness, fear and friendship. I’m not too sure what I expected before reading. From the NetGalley synopsis, it suggests that there would be some mystery and thriller elements which there definitely was! I loved discovering more about Elise, her background and her future.

The characterisation was interesting and unique. It’s soon revealed that Elise is human, and that she is in fact an orphaned girl who ran away from her temporary foster home. At a young age, she ran away to the only place that she felt any emotional connection to: her childhood home. Only trouble is, the Mason family live there now. The parents Nick and Laura, and two brothers Eddie and Marshall don’t know about Elise. Yet after Eddie starts to notice his toys moving and the cereal levels depleting, he and his brother begin to question if they’re really alone.

I loved the relationship between Eddie and Marshall. Eddie is the younger and timid boy of the two, while Marshall is more confident and daring. Yet despite their differences, they both unite to discover what (or who) is causing the mysterious noises in the night. Marshall decides to put his concerns on an online forum, where Mr Traust offers to “resolve” the problem. Once their parents are out for the night and Mr Traust visits the Mason house, the brothers discover that Mr Traust may not have the best intentions after all. The character development and relationship between Eddie and Marshall is sweet and heart-warming, which I really loved.

I found A.J. Gnuse’s writing style gripping. There’s so many cliff-hangers and dramatic turns that keep you reading, especially after Mr Traust arrives! Despite being named as a ‘gothic’ novel, I don’t actually feel that it was as it was set in modern day and didn’t particularly feature any gothic tropes. Yet it definitely works as a mystery/thriller book as it’s full of suspense and wonder.

I really enjoyed this book and would rate it four stars overall, as I feel that the ending could have been explored a little further. I’m not going to reveal any spoilers, but I feel it had a very sudden end and I would have preferred to know more. Also, I found the layout of the house (and its walls!) confusing at times, so perhaps a floor plan / image would be helpful and make it easier for the reader to imagine what’s happening – particularly when Mr Traust visits. Overall though, I did enjoy it and would recommend this book to thriller and mystery fans as it’s an engaging read with an interesting storyline.

Thank you again to the author A.J. Gnuse and Netgalley for this opportunity.

Girl in the Walls is a thriller, it describes as being rather gothic a comparison I understand but I am not entirely sure is true. The novel follows Elise who has returned to her childhood home after the death of her parents and now lives in the walls, she sneaks around when the unaware family who now lives there, the Masons, are out or asleep and now considers herself to be a part of the house. We follow Elise, and the Masons as their lives coexist with one party completely unaware.

Girl in the Walls had a fantastic atmosphere, Elise's perspective truly made me feel like I myself was inside the walls. It was surprisingly easy to picture this little girl living inside this house, really inside it out of sight. In fact the atmosphere was so brilliantly done that I found myself struggling to sleep the first night after I started this.

I also feel this is such an interesting concept, something you would not typically consider but feels somewhat realistic none the less. I wouldn't describe this as a mystery, you know it is Elise inside of the walls and you know more or less why she is there, and I am unsure if it is exactly a thriller. This kind of escapes the confines of a genre, what it is is atmospheric and suspenseful and beautifully crafted. The characters are believable, and I feel I understand even the characters we don't spend much time with such as the adult Masons.

The main area where this book let me down was plot. I felt that plot was lacking, particularly in the beginning and as a result I found this book very difficult to get into. When the plot did pick up it felt a little like it happened in short bursts where suddenly everything happened and then we'd have another section of relative nothingness. My main improvement for this book would be to improve the pacing a little bit, to perhaps accelerate to the 'drama' and then let us enjoy it for a little bit longer.

None the less this is a very solid and very original debut that I think many people may enjoy.

A weird, enthralling and well written gothic novel, it's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
I was fascinated by the world building, the well written characters and the excellent storytelling.
It's recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A girl looses her parents and rather than end up in care she escapes to the house she grew up in. Elise lives in the walls. Hidden from sight. A new family move to the house and are seemingly unaware. However, Eddie a teenager in the house senses her presence.
This is certainly not the usual book I would pick to read. However, I was certainly not disappointed. Well written and great charcaters
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I really wanted to love this book as I think the concept of it is brilliant. Imagine having someone living in your walls? With modern day houses that is quite impossible to imagine but I presume that with old victorian houses or houses in America (this is set in New Orleans) there is more room between walls; in fact I read about someone in America who discovered a whole new room behind a mirror!!
The descriptions of New Orleans were wonderful and you could imagine the heat and the storm and the levee there to protect.
I know lots of people will love this book but for me, it was slow paced and too detailed. Not a lot seemed to happen and then towards the end we rushed on with the story.
It was good in that I couldn't' predict what was going to happen, but i didn't feel that engaged with the book.

My thanks to Fourth Estate for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Girl in the Walls’ by A.J. Gnuse in exchange for an honest review.

This modern Gothic novel, set in Louisiana, has received a great deal of prepublication excitement and having been totally gripped by it from start to finish, I certainly can understand why.

The girl of the title is eleven-year-old Elise. After her parents are killed in a road accident she is placed in a foster home. Yet Elise runs away and makes her way back to the large old house where she and her family had previously lived. There she hides within the walls and lives secretly alongside the Mason family, who have recently moved in.

The youngest son, Eddie, is suspicious when he notices odd things missing and catches glimpses of Elise out of the corner of his eye. Yet his parents and older brother, Marshall, dismiss his claims. I won’t say more about the plot in order to avoid spoilers but this novel was so original and constantly surprised me.

A.J. Gnuse’s writing was excellent - focusing on a small number of well realised characters. I felt that he did especially well in portraying the world views of his younger protagonists. In that sense it is also an evocative coming-of-age story alongside its Gothic and suspense elements.

In addition, his descriptions of the house and its surrounding landscape and local wildlife were so vivid that I felt completely immersed in the narrative. It was clear that he not only feels a deep connection with Louisiana but was able to capture that in prose. Some scenes were pure poetry.

Throughout the novel the reader accompanies Elise as she moves carefully through the house that she knows so well, avoiding the family. She also gains comfort from an old book of Norse myths, and creates a bond with Odin, whom she dubs the patron god of “nonexistent girls and all that’s hidden and lost and stuffed-up-in-someoneelse’s-crawl-space-somewhere.”

This is a novel that I expect will prove popular with reading groups given the quality of the writing, deeply immersive story, and the scope for discussion. It is a remarkable debut novel and I certainly will be watching out for news of his future projects.

Very highly recommended.

Elise knows every inch of the house. She knows which boards will creak. She knows where the gaps are in the walls. She knows which parts can take her in, hide her away. It’s home, after all. The home her parents made for her before they were taken from her in a car crash. And home is where you stay, no matter what.

Imagine someone residing in your house, you can't see them, but you feel something eerie going on. It took me a while to get into the story, but once it had me it wouldn't let go and I read all through the night to finish it.
The ending is heartfelt and brings this highly believable read to a very satisfying conclusion.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

A tragic car accident claims the lives of Elise's parents, making her an orphan at 11 years old. She's placed into foster care but runs away — returning to her childhood home where she felt safe and happy. But the house has new owners, the Masons, and needing to hide, she conceals herself inside the walls.

The Mason boys, Eddie and Marshall, sense a presence within their home; a figure creeping among the shadows while the family sleeps. Elder brother Marshall researches the phenomenon online and exchanges emails with a man who claims he can rid the house of its unwanted guest. Little do the brothers know what they're getting into and what the consequences will be.

Girl in the Walls is a beautifully written book which deals with loss and grief in a highly originally way. You can't help but be moved by it. However, the story is slow-paced and not at all what I expected. Billed as a 'gothic tale', I wasn't prepared for its contemporary setting. I envisioned flickering candlelight and bumps in the night but what I got was Pop Tarts and Raisin Bran. Yes, I was little disappointed. By 60% not a lot had actually happened.

Whilst I enjoyed the wonderful writing and the gradual bonding of the brothers, I felt bogged down by the weight of a story that took such a long time to go anywhere.

At the start of the book I was confused by how it was possible for the girl to be in the walls, but the more I read, the more I understood. I was sad to discover more about the main character and why she was living the way she was. This book certainly peaked my interest, but is a bit of a slow burner. I recommend you stick with it though as you won’t be disappointed. The book is well written, if you are looking for something a little bit different, this might just be it. Thank you #netgalley

Set in south Louisiana, Girl in the Walls wasn’t quite what I expected from the book description, but I did enjoy its sense of strangeness and ‘the other’. It’s set in an old house that’s full of strange creaks and scary noises as though someone or some thing is creeping around. It’s a house like no other that I know or have read about. It’s a balloon frame house – that is a house with a timber frame within its outer walls, so there are spaces between the inner and outer walls, beneath the floor and in the attic. Spaces where a young person can crawl and exist. So, Elise is not a ghost but a real eleven year old girl, who lives in these spaces, only coming out when the Masons, the family who live in the house, are asleep or out of the house. And she manages to keep her presence in the house a secret, at least for a while.

Elise is an orphan and has returned to her family home, having escaped from the foster care system. At first, Eddie, the younger son, is the only one of the Masons who senses her presence, feeling that he is being watched and almost catching glimpses of Elise out of the corner of his eye. Eventually his older brother, Marshall too feels that there is some one else in the house, raiding the pantry, taking things and moving things and they decide they have to do something about it. First of all they can’t believe she is actually real and fear what they will find. Elise fears that they will find her.

Their fear is intense as the story takes a terrifying turn, and to make matters worse it is the hurricane season. From a slow start it builds up to a intense nightmare scenario. I think that to say much more would spoil the plot. The characterisation is good, the house is integral to the plot and the setting is brilliantly described. But you do have to suspend your disbelief to enjoy this book – I did!

This is a story about loss, and grief, about safety and security, intermingled with the strange beauty of the landscape and the fears and hopes we all experience. I loved the references to Norse mythology and legends that Elise reads about – Odin, the One-Eyed and how he became the wisest of the gods and about his sons, Thor and Loki.

A J Gnuse explains at the end of the book that he was inspired to write this story after talking to a friend about the strange noises his friend had heard in his apartment and remembered that he had spent much of his childhood in an old creaky house wondering whether someone was sneaking around at night, feeling scared and vulnerable. The house in the book is based on his parents’ house in South Louisiana, where he grew up, where the sea levels are rising as the coast is eroding and the coast is hit by hurricanes,

I wasn’t surprised that he lists Charles Dickens as one of the authors who have influenced his work – there is one particular character in his book who I haven’t mentioned, the monstrous villain who is larger than life and very scary, who wouldn’t have been out of place in a Dickens’ novel. He also lists other authors including, Daphne du Maurier and the Bronte sisters whose descriptive writing captured the eerie beauty of an old house.

Girl in the Walls is described as a ‘gothic’ tale. Gnuse explains that he has been influenced by the literary tradition of the Southern Gothic novel – which is largely unknown to me – referring to writers like Flannery O’Connor – describing its ‘uniquely Gothic sense of the strangeness of decay, of the past latched onto people like vines grown around their legs.‘ I think I need to find out more about this genre of fiction.

My thanks to the publishers and to NetGalley for my advance review copy.

Girl in the Walls by AJ Knuse is a compelling story of grief and loss, of people and things.

The Girl in the Walls is Elise, a young girl tragically orphaned when her family is in a car crash. She runs away from a foster home and back to the house she lived in with her parents when she was young. There is another family living there, so she sneaks in and creates a living space for herself in the walls and attic. This is an act of remembrance for her, holding onto memories and seeking out small reminders of her parents. When a doodle she drew on the wall as a child gets painted over, she feels that loss keenly, even while remembering how upset her mother had been to see what she had done. Now it's just a memory, the physical reminder gone.

The Masons live in the house now, with their kids Marshall and Eddie. The boys begrudgingly help their parents with the "projects" around the home, the renovating and redecorating that seems endless. They begin to notice that things aren't quite right and suspect there is a secret interloper in their home. They take drastic, and disastrous action for their home and Elise.

Most of us will know what it is to be struck by grief and loss, though not perhaps as horrifically as Elise. Grief reshapes us in ways that we cannot predict and that certainly happens with Elise. Her actions are not those of a rational person, and I just wanted to reach out to her and hold her.

Then there are the smaller losses, of the belongings that we as humans invest with sentimental value. The Masons, the parents in particular, have to deal with this type of grief as a hurricane sweeps away much of the things they hold dear, a piano, a granddaughter clock. The items we choose for our homes, which tell people who we are, suddenly gone, and taking a little piece of us with them.

For me, the overall theme of the book is one of confronting adversity and loss. Knuse doesn't ever say "At least you've still got each other" or compare the grief Elise feels for her parents to the losses of possessions in the hurricane. Each thing is a loss and a tragedy in itself, which needs to be acknowledged and felt before moving on. There is no superiority of feeling. There was as much empathy in the writing for the Masons, confronted with rebuilding their home as there was for Elise who was rebuilding herself as a parentless child.

I really like this book, the characters felt alive and real. The house and its hidey holes that Elise maps so cautiously feels like a character in itself. Would recommend

This dnf is a victim of false advertisement.

I was promised gothic fiction, possibly a ghost story, about a girl that lives in the walls of a house. This book was compared to books I loved, so I requested it, I got it, I started it... and realised the mistake.
This is about a girl who lives in the house she lived in with her late parents. They died, she got into the foster system and ran away. She has no money, but some reason can get a balanced diet out of scraps nobody misses. She lives behind the dryer and in the crawlspace, yet dust and insects and allergies are not a problem. Or orthopedic issues from living a cramped life.

As you can guess, suspension of disbelief was not working for me.
I read some reviews and this seems to be something I actively don't want to read, so I don't. Dear publisher, this one is on you.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

This debut is an unusual and highly effective thriller. There’s been good buzz about it pre-publication. This was one of the titles I highlighted to watch out for in my Looking Back Looking Forward post. We were promised a Gothic spooky house novel with comparisons made to Shirley Jackson. I’m not sure I am on board with the comparison although it was this which attracted me to the title. It is, however, highly enjoyable with a more original feel than the comparison might suggest.
Set in 2005 (judging by songs mentioned playing on the radio) just south of New Orleans, main character 11 year old Elise, having lost both her parents in an accident, escapes from her foster carers to return to a house her family formerly lived in now owned by the Mason family with two teenage boys. There, unbeknownst to them she resides in the house, within gaps between walls, in hidden chutes and in the attic emerging when the family are not around or otherwise occupied. This is working chillingly well until a younger boy turns up unannounced at the house and the teenagers in the family begin to have suspicions about the things going bump in the night.
I found the premise fascinating but did struggle with the geography of the house which would allow such a thing to be possible. The tension is cranked up incredibly well when the boys begin to act on their suspicions and then environmental factors, particular to the region, begin to play a part.
As I was reading it I was aware of an easy option Texan author Gnuse could have taken and I was hoping he wouldn’t (he doesn’t) which means the story-telling is satisfactory throughout. There are lots of unusual touches, including Elise’s fondness for Norse mythology and the characters of the neighbourhood boy and Eddie, the younger of the teenagers both give the novel a quirky feel (as does one character I don’t even want to talk about here in the interest of not revealing too much plot). I was pulled in to the story, rather like Elise being pulled into the walls, found some section breath-takingly tense and all in all this ends up a quality commercial thriller with good literary touches which could also work splendidly as a TV or film adaptation.
Girl In The Walls will be published by 4th Estate in the UK on 18th March 2021. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.