Minnie's Fiction Addiction

👀 First impressions:
Room for Rent wastes no time establishing its central fear. Nya is broke, exhausted, and counting down the days until she can escape her living situation. The rent is cheap, the house is rundown, and her roommate Sidney is unsettling in ways that are hard to articulate until small incidents begin to stack up. Food goes missing. Doors rattle in the night. Personal belongings are disturbed. With nowhere else to go and no safety net to fall back on, Nya’s world steadily closes in as survival becomes her only priority.

✅ What I Liked:
The novel is at its strongest when it leans into psychological unease rather than outright action. The shared house setting is inherently claustrophobic, and Ihli uses it well, turning everyday domestic details into sources of dread. Nya’s vulnerability feels realistic, particularly her financial desperation and reluctance to risk losing housing by overreacting. The tension escalates quickly, and once the story tips into full thriller territory, it becomes difficult to put down. The pacing in the latter half is sharp and urgent, delivering genuine page turning momentum.

❎ What I didn’t Like:
Some character decisions stretch credibility, particularly when warning signs become impossible to ignore. A few twists feel familiar to seasoned thriller readers, and while effective, they lack the shock factor they seem designed to deliver. The psychological depth of the antagonist is more functional than complex, serving the plot rather than adding lasting impact.

📚 Why You Should Read This Book:
If you enjoy fast paced domestic thrillers that play on vulnerability, shared spaces and survival, this is a solid choice. It will particularly appeal to readers who like high tension stories with escalating danger and minimal downtime. This is a book that thrives on momentum rather than subtlety.

💭 Final Thoughts:
Room for Rent is an intense, unsettling thriller that taps into very real fears about safety and stability. While it does not reinvent the genre, it delivers enough tension and atmosphere to keep the pages turning. A gripping read in the moment, even if it does not linger long after finishing.

🛍️ Where to buy
To buy your own copy click HERE and HERE

Final Rating ★★★ – A tense and claustrophobic survival thriller