We Came to Welcome You

YA author Tirado (We Don’t Swim Here) probes the horrors of homeownership for scares and satire in their clever if rushed adult debut. Married couple Sol Reyes and Alice Song have just closed on a new house in the gated community of Maneless Grove, Conn. As one of the only queer couples in the neighborhood and definitely the only Afro-Dominican and Korean interracial couple, the two are a little put off by the community’s strict conformity, enforced by a friendly but endlessly pushy Home Owners Association. Sol, who is struggling with alcohol addiction and a plagiarism accusation at her job as a Yale professor, especially finds Maneless Grove oppressive—and soon her irritation turns into paranoia as she begins to see strange things. Oddly behaving children, shape-shifting neighbors, and parts of the house disappearing all become part of her day-to-day, with Alice unaware and unwilling to see the truth. As Sol unravels the mystery of their new community, the HOA waits in the shadows for her to slip up. Tirado mines gold from the complexities of property ownership, creating effective commentary on the role of class, sexuality, and race in suburban life. Unfortunately, the climax hastily introduces some unexpected new elements that will leave readers feeling disoriented. Still, there’s plenty here to suck in millennial and Gen Z readers. Agent: Kristina Perez, Perez Literary. (Sept.)