We Came to Welcome You by Vincent Tirado [Horror Review]

Summary 💬

Where beauty lies, secrets are held…ugly ones.

Sol Reyes has had a rough year. After a series of workplace incidents at her university lab culminates in a plagiarism accusation, Sol is put on probation. Dutiful visits to her homophobic father aren’t helping her mental health, and she finds her nightly glass of wine becoming more of an all-day—and all-bottle—event. Her wife, Alice Song, is far more optimistic. After all, the two finally managed to buy a house in the beautiful, gated community of Maneless Grove.

However, the neighbors are a little too friendly in Sol’s opinion. She has no interest in the pushy Homeowners Association, their bizarrely detailed contract, or their never-ending microaggressions. But Alice simply attributes their pursuit to the community “Invest in a neighborly spirit”…which only serves to irritate Sol more.

Suddenly, a number of strange occurrences—doors and stairs disappearing, roots growing inside the house—cause Sol to wonder if her social paranoia isn’t built on something more sinister. Yet Sol’s fears are dismissed as Alice embraces their new home and becomes increasingly worried instead about Sol’s drinking and manic behavior. When Sol finds a journal in the property from a resident that went missing a few years ago, she realizes why they were able to buy the house so easily…

Through Sol’s razor-sharp tongue and macabre sense of humor, Tirado explores the very real pressures to assimilate with one’s surroundings to “survive,” while also asking the question: Is it survival when you’re no longer your true self? Because in Maneless Grove, either you become a good neighbor—or you die.

Goodreads

Review ✍🏻

We Came to Welcome You gets off to a somewhat rocky start. That “razor-sharp tongue and macabre sense of humour” from protagonist and narrator Sol initially comes off as annoying and paranoid. However, as Sol’s world is established and explored, I came to understand that she’s right to be a little paranoid and a lot annoyed. While it takes some time to establish the settings and characters, building that foundation pays off once the creepiness begins to unfold roughly 25% in. Sol felt more real (if still a little irritating) to me than a lot of horror protagonists, because of the care put into establishing her personality and relationships.

We Came to Welcome You has a lot going on as a social critique. The story digs into systemic racism and processes of assimilation. Sol deals with a lot of everyday crap as she lives in white American society. The speculative horror genre works well to illuminate everyday horrors. You think the horror is the supernatural entity, but really it’s the human beings around you.

The story does a great job at building a sense dread. Sol grapples with essential horror story questions of “WHAT is wrong here? Am I the crazy one?” etc. One evening I spent too much time reading the book right before bed. I fretted that it was going to give me nightmares… thankfully this did not happen! (Probably because I live on the second floor and there are no trees near my bedroom, lol.) Some introduced elements remain underexplored, but that didn’t bother me much as I enjoyed the elements that did get greater attention.

I have recently developed the opinion that, of all genres, horror is the most difficult for which to write a satisfing conclusion. I liked the ending for We Came to Welcome You. It made sense to me, despite being perhaps a liiiiittle abrupt. I suppose a bit more foreshadowing wouldn’t have hurt. Still, the conclusion fits into the world that Tirado established on page. The conclusion has just the right amount of ambiguity for my tastes. Which is to say, it’s not that ambiguous at all and appeared to be going in one clear direction… or did it?? (One aspect I remain unsure about is Alice’s place in everything, at the end.) (As per Tirado, the story’s ending went through the most changes over the course of writing – see interview linked below for details.)

The Bottom Line 💭

While Sol may initially seem to be a difficult POV character to follow, delving into her world and perspective lets We Came to Welcome You deveop into a solidly creepy horror read, despite a few underdeveloped elements.

Further Reading 📰

🍂 Author website
🍂 Read an excerpt
🍂 Interview @ Writer’s Digest
🍂 Reviews: Vicky @ Goodreads, The Bookish Elf (I think this review is perfect lol I wish I wrote it and I will be taking notes on how it’s laid out)

Since we’re near the end of the year – what’s your standout 2024 horror read?