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The Man In My Basement Takes One Step Closer Every Week
When Brandon Miller moves into his new home, he discovers a list of rules on his doorstep claiming to be the only way to protect himself from the supernatural entity living in his basement.
- GenresHorrorHorror Thriller
161 pages, Unknown Binding
Published September 14, 2020
About the author
Marcus Kliewer
4 books5,416 followersMarcus Kliewer is a writer and stop-motion animator. His debut novel We Used to Live Here began life as a serialized short story on Reddit, where it won the Scariest Story of 2021 award on the NoSleep forum. Film rights were snapped up by Netflix, and it was acquired by Simon & Schuster for publication even before it had been extended into a full-length novel. He lives in Vancouver, Canada.
Follow him on Instagram @marcus_kliewer for exclusive book updates / writing things / stop motion animation & a lot of pet videos.
Follow him on Instagram @marcus_kliewer for exclusive book updates / writing things / stop motion animation & a lot of pet videos.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 28, 2026
I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS!!!
oh man. this was SO good. i was hooked from the beginning. our characters were well thought out & intriguing. i genuinely cared about each one in a different way. & contemplated whether i trusted ALL of them throughout the story. there was at one point where i trusted nobody, not even Brandon.
at no point did i know where this story was going. the plot was fantastic & constantly had me guessing & theorizing.
now, is the intruder real? in the story, i believe so. yes. it’s hard not to think he was real due to the circumstances & all the weird coincidences happening throughout. but i think he’s a great analogy of mental health.
& the idea of this story revolving around mental health & the different ways people cope was phenomenal. our characters are all dealing with forms of OCD, mania, paranoia, PTSD & it manifested in different ways for each of them. Brandon showing his way of coping is moving away, moving on, accepting his fate. Mitch’s way to cope for his father is obsessing & never moving on, constantly needing an excuse or an explanation as to why his father is the way he is.
some possible spoilers:
Howie? what the fuck was his deal in all this? Zach? how did he become a victim of all this? was it simply wrong place, wrong time? i find that hard to believe. it’s obvious Paul was compromised by the intruder, but what caused it to come after him? is Brandon actually dead? or was that just another “version” of him that died?
Brandon coming face to face with the bear at the end was a beautiful full circle moment. & the last few sentences… did he mean that by possibly exposing others to the intruder that their life might get better if they live to experience it & learn to move on from it? which is why he is leaving the story posted?
maybe im thinking into it too much but i have so many questions. & we have so many unanswered questions. i love an open ended end to a story, where we can theorize & discuss what we think. this is a 4.5 star story, its only not 5 because it wasn’t as heavy as a hitter as PenPal. but SO good & highly recommended.
I listened to this through the CreepCast podcast with Papa Meat & Wendigoon.
oh man. this was SO good. i was hooked from the beginning. our characters were well thought out & intriguing. i genuinely cared about each one in a different way. & contemplated whether i trusted ALL of them throughout the story. there was at one point where i trusted nobody, not even Brandon.
at no point did i know where this story was going. the plot was fantastic & constantly had me guessing & theorizing.
now, is the intruder real? in the story, i believe so. yes. it’s hard not to think he was real due to the circumstances & all the weird coincidences happening throughout. but i think he’s a great analogy of mental health.
& the idea of this story revolving around mental health & the different ways people cope was phenomenal. our characters are all dealing with forms of OCD, mania, paranoia, PTSD & it manifested in different ways for each of them. Brandon showing his way of coping is moving away, moving on, accepting his fate. Mitch’s way to cope for his father is obsessing & never moving on, constantly needing an excuse or an explanation as to why his father is the way he is.
some possible spoilers:
Howie? what the fuck was his deal in all this? Zach? how did he become a victim of all this? was it simply wrong place, wrong time? i find that hard to believe. it’s obvious Paul was compromised by the intruder, but what caused it to come after him? is Brandon actually dead? or was that just another “version” of him that died?
Brandon coming face to face with the bear at the end was a beautiful full circle moment. & the last few sentences… did he mean that by possibly exposing others to the intruder that their life might get better if they live to experience it & learn to move on from it? which is why he is leaving the story posted?
maybe im thinking into it too much but i have so many questions. & we have so many unanswered questions. i love an open ended end to a story, where we can theorize & discuss what we think. this is a 4.5 star story, its only not 5 because it wasn’t as heavy as a hitter as PenPal. but SO good & highly recommended.
I listened to this through the CreepCast podcast with Papa Meat & Wendigoon.
July 28, 2026
Watched a podcast where they read this
August 2, 2026
“The first time you see me will be in long forgotten memories remembered. Each week one step"
July 24, 2026
This book is an amazing representation of trauma and obsession that I feel is not represented often in the media. Very refreshing and spooky scary! I feel like there were a couple moments that I thought dang he had to make that choice for the horrors to occur but they still felt not like the character. I also feel like the writing got better as the book continued. Definitely worth the read if you're interested in mental illness and how trauma can feel for many people.
August 4, 2026
I audio booked this on accident from a creepy pasta podcast and it was great. Had no idea this was on Goodreads or that the author also wrote the Caretaker. But good stuff
July 29, 2026
Holy Crap. This one was sooo good. Reminds me of like the bronze age of Creepcasts with titles like Penpal, Borrasca, Left Right Game.
The dialogue and descriptions were witty and can be silly but it somehow never detracted from the horror or the plot.
The ambiguity of our narrator's perspective wasn't inconsequential in a way that loosened tension like in the moon aflame narrative.
Every end of a part, the writing is hype moments. Like they said "DUN DUN DUNNN" in the most effective way.
One of the most creative scares written ever like ever.
One of the most unique ending to the story with how a resolution was achieved. How all the little moments in the story like Paul's instructions on how to survive a bear and his story of the circus contortionist, the flashbacks in different equally unreliable perspectives. The red herrings thrown everywhere. Even seeing our protoganist's final doom.
Spoiler alert: And the ending, in order to get past this representation of trauma is to just keep moving forward, don't built a court case against the axe, recognize how deep it has embedded itself into your trunk and move on, keep growing one step every week. That's powerful.
Hall of famer
8.5/10
The dialogue and descriptions were witty and can be silly but it somehow never detracted from the horror or the plot.
The ambiguity of our narrator's perspective wasn't inconsequential in a way that loosened tension like in the moon aflame narrative.
Every end of a part, the writing is hype moments. Like they said "DUN DUN DUNNN" in the most effective way.
One of the most creative scares written ever like ever.
One of the most unique ending to the story with how a resolution was achieved. How all the little moments in the story like Paul's instructions on how to survive a bear and his story of the circus contortionist, the flashbacks in different equally unreliable perspectives. The red herrings thrown everywhere. Even seeing our protoganist's final doom.
Spoiler alert: And the ending, in order to get past this representation of trauma is to just keep moving forward, don't built a court case against the axe, recognize how deep it has embedded itself into your trunk and move on, keep growing one step every week. That's powerful.
Hall of famer
8.5/10
July 27, 2026
This author really has a talent for writing truly bone chilling and heart pumping horror. This was so good! Im not sure how We Used to Live Here was born from this because this had an even creepier and dreadful vibe than that. I never knew what was happening but had to keep reading the parts to know what would happen and what secrets I could unfold. I watched the creep cast podcast read this and it was a fun experience hearing others thoughts during those creepy moments.
This author at this point is an auto read for me because the way his stories are crafted are so eerie and inevitable. This was truly one of the scariest things I've read in a while and made me so uneasy in my house. I kept waiting to turn around and see something frozen standing there. Amazing story?
This author at this point is an auto read for me because the way his stories are crafted are so eerie and inevitable. This was truly one of the scariest things I've read in a while and made me so uneasy in my house. I kept waiting to turn around and see something frozen standing there. Amazing story?
July 22, 2026
The horrific prison of obsession over trauma, and the freedom of working through it and learning to live with it. One step at a time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 24, 2026
How is this so good and we used to live here so bad?
July 24, 2026
4.5 ⭐️
This was fun!! I enjoyed it a lot :)
This was fun!! I enjoyed it a lot :)
July 24, 2026
5⭐️, creeped my cast to this exponentially.
July 25, 2026
The scariest thing that someone could find in their basement is a coatrack.
July 28, 2026
Broski to bylo dobre
August 2, 2026
Wait this is on here?? That’s awesome holy this is a legit 4/5 I’m not joking.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews