Once upon a time, fifteen-year-old Joseph Flowers shot dead his parents and baby brother, while his younger sister Celestine ran and hid. The family home became known as “The Red House”, the story becoming the source of much speculation, especially about Joseph’s motives. Because the following day, Joseph crashed his car and has been in a coma for the past twenty years. And Celestine disappeared…

Now Eve, the former Celestine, finds herself drawn back to the Red House. Her grandmother, Joseph’s carer, is dying and Eve finds herself forced to revisit the events. Is it possible that she was wrong about what she saw? But if Joseph was innocent, then the real killer has escaped justice for twenty years – and presumably wants to keep it that way.

I’ve been looking forward to this book for a while – Roz Watkins wrote three great novels pre-pandemic, The Devil’s Dice, Dead Man’s Daughter and Cut To The Bone, but this is the first book since then. It’s a standalone – the first three feature DI Meg Dalton – and my goodness, it’s dark.

The first half of the book is somewhat hard going. Eve’s life is incredibly bleak, isolated, struggling with life due to her inability to distinguish faces, determined to hide her identity from the true crime enthusiasts. On top of that, it does take a little while for the shape of the book to take form, for there to be a genuine reason to suspect that Joseph might not be the killer. I’m not really in a place where I want to be reading something that’s too dark at the moment, and if it wasn’t for my faith in what Roz had written before, I’m not entirely sure that I’d have persevered.

But I did, and thank goodness that I did. Not that it gets much lighter, although Eve’s life does get a little more light in it in the second half, but what becomes clear is what a exquisitely constructed thriller this is. There was one point in particular when I thought I had everything figured out only for the author to, perfectly fairly given the rules that had been laid out, pull the rug out from under me. In fact, I’m struggling to remember the last time a final chapter revealed that I had been well and truly outwitted.

So, dark, but definitely worth persevering with as the end result is rather marvellous.

Hugest of thanks to HQ Stories for sending me a copy of The Red House to review.

This is the first book I've read by Roz Watkins and it is an absolute BELTER!

The story revolves around a family tragedy, and we follow up some 20 years later when Eve is forced to investigate and look into what happened. In fact, her world is turned upon its head with the revelations that she uncovers and she also becomes a target for someone from the past.

The Red House is absolutely gripping and a superb page-turner, I was obsessed and read it over 2 days! The way Roz has written this book from several people's points of view is impeccable. How on earth she could write about Eve's Brother Joseph, who lies in a vegetative state, but we hear his thoughts and feelings and to be honest it really was so well written.... there's more here but I don't want to give anything away!

Eve is a likeable and complex character and the whole cast all sync so well together. The book is emotional, gripping, creepy and anxiety-inducing as well as thought-provoking! There are some massive twists that I certainly did not see coming and in fact, the last few chapters need to be read with no interruptions!

A huge 5-star rating from me, and I cannot recommend The Red House enough, it's truly memorable and superb!

I found the storyline didn`t flow easily for me.
Eve was the only survivor when her brother Joseph murdered their parents and baby brother, escaping in a car Joseph was in a car accident and ended up in a coma.
Twenty years later Eve changed her name and moved away.
Just before Joseph`s accident he created a computer game with a secret part that says why he committed the crime, though Eve doesn`t believe he committed the crime and gets help to try and find out the truth.
I just didn`t believe the storyline and if it wasn`t Joseph how would a stranger know what was on the video and how to kill the family.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC

Posted on Goodreads

A really good read but took me some time to read as it wasn’t my usual genre and the characters were well written but I wasn’t keen on them. That being said I did read it all and felt it was worth my time.

I had the opportunity to read The Red House, a murder mystery based upon a possible incorrect eye-witness testimony. We revisit the crime over 20 years on, a teenage son who has killed his parents and baby brother, and later that night has a car accident which leads to him being in a coma. His younger sister Eve was able to escape the house on that dreadful night and informs police her brother is the murderer. As time passes, she realises she may have got it wrong...
This is my first read of Roz Watkins and personally I don't think I gelled with her writing style but there is no reason I can pinpoint. The setting was incredible, gross yes, but extremely well described and it was very atmospheric.
This book is full of untrustworthy and unlikeable characters. I did like the representation of prosopagnosia which is a disorder related to recognising faces and one I studied at university during my psychology degree.
The plot was full of twists and turns, but in my opinion it was too convoluted, especially the ending. It was shocking and some revelations I completely didn't see coming but it was just too over the top for me.
It is a classic whodunnit murder mystery and an enjoyable read but unfortunately not for me.
⭐⭐⭐ 3/5

Thank you to NetGalley, HQ and Roz Watkins for the opportunity to read this advanced reader copy.

Review posted to Goodreads and Amazon,

This is a great mystery thriller.
Eve has tried to put her past behind her, and has taken on a new identity.
When she was five years old she saw most of her family murdered but now she’s older she’s starting to question what really happened.
Her older brother Joseph was accused of being the killer but after crashing his car, he has been in a coma for twenty years.
When her grandmother tells her she’s dying, she asks Eve to look after Joseph and ensure he is cared for. When she visits him she is torn as she’s asked if she’d like to help him die as he’s unresponsive. However the next time she sees him, Joseph responds to her voice so Eve knows she can’t let him die. Her uncle on the other hand has other ideas.
With the news about Joseph reaching the press things start to happen to those linked to the family and more than one death is suspicious.
Eve knows she needs to prove Joseph’s innocence, but her life is now in danger too.
This is a great read that I really enjoyed.
Thanks to HQ and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

15 year old Joseph has been in a coma, since crashing his car shortly after gunning down his parents. His 5 year old sister Celestine was the only survivor. She ran away and hid with the snakes. Later sent to live with her aunt and uncle.

After growing up in the shadow of her families tragedy Celestine leaves town, changes her name and starts a new life. Rarely returning to The Red House (her family home), however she does stay in contact with her beloved Grandmother, who until recently has cared for Joseph who remains in a coma at the family home.

There is some doubt as to whether Joseph was really the perpetrator. Rumours are there was another person involved and Joseph, who designed a video game left clues to their identity in a hidden level of the game.
Recently there has been a lot of interest and a gamer has offered a reward to anyone who can locate the level. This has renewed interest in the case and now Eve feels her life is unraveling. She then learns of her Grandmother’s sudden death and the possibility that Jospeh may well be more alert than anticipated. Suddenly her life is in danger, someone does not want her to find out what happened that fateful night..

I enjoyed this book, I didn’t trust all of the characters and had my suspicions about some. Some of which were unfounded, some not so.

I liked the way the author told the story and having not read any books by this author before I am keen to explore more.
Highly recommend

Thanks go to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this title

The Red House is notorious. The scene of a crime that shocked the nation twenty years ago.

Celestine was just five years old when she witnessed the shooting of her parents and baby brother. The crime was committed by her older brother, Joseph, who fled the scene and crashed his car, himself ending up in a coma, where he's been ever since.

Now known as Eve, when her Grandmother calls her with some terrible news, she is forced to make a decision that she doesn't want to make. But she loves her Grandmother, and she loved her Brother once. Didn't she?

Eve reluctantly agrees to become her Brother's legal guardian. In truth she isn't sure that she wants anything to do with him, but she promised her Grandmother ... Her remaining family think that she should remove all of the resources that are keeping him alive, and she almost agrees.

But after moving Joseph in to specialist care, Eve realises that he is conscious, and knows that she cannot consent to his death. Having gleaned some new information, Eve understands that she must ask the Police to reopen their investigation.

Of course they are reluctant to do so. Especially as it such a cut and dry case.

Or was it?

Does Eve really know what happened that night? She was only five years old after all. Hardly a reliable witness.

One thing is for certain, that she must get to the bottom of it, if she's ever to gain closure and allow herself to live a normal life.

Honestly, I thought I had it sussed until the very end, which made me want to start reading it again immediately to see what clues I'd missed.

A brilliantly written (and very original) thriller. I can't wait for the authors next!

This is my first novel by this author and I wasn't disappointed.

The story revolves around a murdered couple with the suspect being their son who is consequently in a coma, the only witness was his five year old sister. Years later it appears this were not as they appeared. There are so many twists and turns in this story that I did not know who to believe. I certainly did not predict the ending, although I did work out who did it.

When I read the reviews of this book I couldn’t wait to read it. It has received some really great reviews.

The first 25% of the book I found to be slow and not remotely gripping. At about that stage I became a bit intrigued as to what really happened that day when almost an entire family was wiped out by a shotgun. It had appeared to be cut and dried, the wayward, drug taking teenager shot his Mum, Dad and baby brother before driving off to his mates house to play computer games, then crashing car into a tree on the way back and ending up comatose for two decades. He’s covered in the blood of the victims and the shotgun is in the car with him. He is looked after at home in the Red House by his grandmother.

Celestine, his little sister, was the only one who survived unharmed. She is found hiding amongst her brother’s snakes screaming that he killed them all. She is now grown up and known as Eve. But Eve has a rare condition where she cannot recognise faces, even family, unless they have a distinguishing feature like a tattoo or unusual shaped nose or ears or memorable hair. Proposagnosia it’s called - I had to look it up. For some inexplicable reason no-one knows she has this condition and she’s never thought to tell anyone………like the police!

That was the first part of the book that made me go……’Really????’. There were many more that would be spoilers if I listed them.

There were no likeable characters in this book at all………..not one. And the setting of the Red House sounds absolutely hideous. I did read till the end because I was curious enough as to who really did kill the family but it was so complex and twisty at the end that I read the last bit twice.

The author definitely has the ability to write a twisty, turny suspenseful book but I hope in the future, the characters are more likeable and the storyline a little more believable.

My thanks go to the author, the publishers and NetGalley for an advanced e.reader copy of this book however the opinions expressed are entirely voluntary and my own. (I think you could guess that!). Sorry, not for me.

WOW, just wow! What a great book, one that I just could not put down. An extremely clever plot with so many twists and turns that kept me in suspense right to the final pages ...... and what brilliant last pages they were! Thank you so much NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advance copy of 'The Red House' which I think may be my best read of 2023 so far.

I enjoyed this book and the concept of not being able to recognise people's faces made it an interesting read along with the good story plot. What did annoy me however, was that Eve never spoke up about not being able to recognise faces for a long while and for me it just seemed a bit far fetched. Other than that though, it was a good read with plenty of twists and turns.

I enjoyed this book, the writing in two different times helped the narrative and once I got used to the narrators's'voice' I could swap between the two without having to think too much about who was telling the story. A couple of twists I wasn't expecting kept me thinking.

The Red House by Roz Watkins is an absolutely gripping contemporary psychological suspense that I just could not put down. My attention was grabbed from the start.
Roz Watkins has spun a marvellous tale. Her plotline is well thought out and executed. I, wrongly, believed I had worked out the conclusion – nope! How wrong was I? I followed where Roz Watkins pen led, ending up in a dead end as Roz Watkins constructed her fabulous tale.
The conclusion was superb. My heart rate rose and my jaw dropped in an ‘oh wow!’ moment.
All the characters were well drawn and realistic, eliciting a variety of emotional responses from me. I loved the leading lady as she tenaciously searched for the truth from that traumatic night when she was just five years old.
The action is told from alternating points of view, enabling the reader to draw as close to the characters as we want to.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Red House and read it in just two sittings. It is an extremely well planned tale that definitely makes you think as you read.
I always enjoy Roz Watkins books and The Red House was cracking. It would make a nail-bitingly good Netfix series – any producers out there please take note!
I received a free copy from the publishers. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

A super-twisty thriller. There are some brilliant characters in this book, but hardly any of them are what they seem. They all have secrets linked to the creepy titular house, so-called because because of a bloody murder there .years ago. There's even an escape game based on it. A gripping tale you won't want to put down.

Celestine witnessed the massacre of her parents and baby brother. They were shot down by her older brother, Joseph. Twenty years later Celestine is now known as Eve and Joseph has been in a coma since that terrible night. But there are still questions about the murders that have been left unanswered.

I really enjoyed this cleverly plotted story. The dual timelines work well to carefully unravel the events of the murder of Celestine's family. I loved the spooky and creepy descriptions of the marsh that surrounds The Red House. I found the writing to be atmospheric and set the perfect foreboding tone

The pacing of the story was well done and didn't feel like it was dragging at any point. The tension builds to a dramatic and epic finale that left me stunned, especially the final chapter. You know its a good book when you think all the twists have been unravelled but there's still one final one left.

Roz Watkins is a new author to me and after reading The Red House I will definitely be checking out more of her work.

WOW what a book! This was such a lovely, nice book for the first third and then the pace and peril picked up, I became suspicious of everyone Eve had any contact with and I just couldn't put it down again until I knew what had happened!
Although there was no way I could have seen this twistiest of twisty endings coming, I did kind of guess part of it at one point so it did all make sense as being plausible but OMG at the skill of the author in burying the hints I must have picked up on to suspect some of it while keeping so much hidden so that the surprises just kept coming in the last section!
The characters are all well written and mostly likeable, even the unreliable ones! The locations were described nicely so I could 'see' them as I was reading and it was great to have an animal sanctuary involved.
I've found some more books by this author and after reading this one, I'm just going to have to hunt them down as well!

I have read a lot of psychological thrillers and it seems that the plot twists are getting more and more ridiculous. I was actually quite enjoying this book but then I got to the last chapter where you get the inevitable final twist and all I could think was, why couldn't you have just left it a few pages earlier. It just really annoys and frustrates me. It's a shame as I was enjoying it. The facial recognition issues made for an interesting plot but the ending spoiled it for me I'm afraid.

What a great little book this was , it started off really well with the tension and the plot got more intriguing as time went on . I’m not a gamer so was a bit bored with that bit but it was central to the plot . After the half way mark it really got going and the ending was totally unexpected. I will definitely be recommending this book to my audience and can’t wait to read more from this author. 5 stars from me

First ARC in a while and this is a goody! The Flowers were the perfect family. Until the day fifteen-year-old Joseph shot dead his parents and baby brother whilst his younger sister Eve hid. The family home became known as ‘The Red House’, the place where the walls were covered in blood. A super twisty thriller with great characters - definitely recommend this one! Thanks @netgalley @roz.watkins