The Retreat is a spooky, nail biting thriller that will have you hooked, the gripping goes storyline was brilliantly written and what an ending!!!

A brilliantly creepy premise, a perfectly scary setting and just the right amount of twists and turns, not to mention the excellent characters and a nice hint of small town folklore... and the ending was spot on. I predict a(nother) huge hit.

In the two years since her husband drowned trying to save their daughter Lily from drowning in a river, Julia has refused to believe her daughter is dead. Her body was never found, and Julia is convinced the girl is alive…somewhere. Needing a source of income, Julia opens her home in the woods as a sort of writer’s retreat. One of her first customers is a horror novelist. Lucas becomes obsessed with Julia’s story and is determined to find out what really happened to the child. This book is full of things that go bump in the night, the sound of singing from an empty room and other deliciously creepy happenings. A must for Gothic novel lovers

Stumbled across mark edwards quite recently on kindle unlimited and since then have been devouring all of his books. This one also lives up to expectations with enough twists and mystery to keep the reader wanting more

Thanks to author #MarkEdwards , publisher #Thomas&Mercer , and #NetGalley for my digital copy of #TheRetreat. I can honestly say that it is my favorite book of 2018 so far.

This was the third novel I have read by Mark Edwards, and by far my favorite. It genuinely sparked that feeling I had as a teenager when I first developed my love of thrillers. This one was a perfect blend of a "scary" campfire story and the reality that first gets these stories started. The Retreat was so atmospheric, that I felt I was in the forest, by the river, surrounded by fog in the Welsh countryside. The descriptions of these places, and especially of the 200 year old house that housed the writer's Retreat from the title, made the locations characters in and of themselves. The most unique things about this novel are that it makes the reader wonder throughout if they are reading a ghost story or a straight thriller. And the reader won't know for sure until the end.....

The Retreat started with a little girl disappearing while on a hike with her parents by a river hugged by a forest. Police assume she drowned. Her family is dealt two tragedies that day. A couple years later, the girl's mother, Julia comes back to the family home to start a writer's retreat and to do her own investigating into what happened to her daughter as she does not believe the girl to be dead.

Enter Lucas, a horror writer who was born in the countryside where the inn is located, but raised in the city. He is suffering from writer's block and decides the foggy countryside and centuries old houses might give him the spark he needs to get going on his next novel. He stays at the retreat and from locals learns about Julia's tragic past and decides to try to help her.

Very creepy things start happening. Doors are opened in the night. Singing is heard coming from the missing little girl's old room. An old legend about a witch called "The Widow" who demands a child sacrifice every 35 years is told. While ever-rational Lucas doesn't believe in the supernatural, he, Julia, and the other guests of the retreat are finding it difficult to explain the strange occurences of the inn.

Lucas begins trying to get the town locals to give him any information they may have on the missing girl and in that endeavor learns of another young girl who had also mysteriously disappeared 35 years before Julia's daughter. Are these girl's stories related? What does "The Widow" tale have to do with them? What happened to the girls?

There are sinister townspeople, menacing writers, haunting locales, and many opportunities for red herrings. While a reader might think they figure out what happened, he/she is probably wrong. One thing I will guarantee, it is one fun ride beginning to end to figure out the mysteries in The Retreat. There are so many details that I want to write about, but I am afraid they might be spoilery, so I will stop there. Just read this book. If you don't like the gore of horror stories, but like the creepiness and mystery of a Hitchcock movie, this is the book for you.

Bonus that I must mention: Mark Edwards is certainly doing a great job writing for both genders. I think this novel will appeal to everyone. But one thing that stood out as unique to him is that he chose to write a couple of leads who are in their forties. Certainly novels I read seem to imply that sex appeal ends somewhere in the early-to-mid-thirties. Most characters in this novel are in their 40's or older, and it was so nice to read a fun, compelling, sexy-at-times story about characters of an age often neglected or, worse, denegrated by most writers.

Excellent book with a brilliant storyline and great main characters. I would recommend this book.

This was a great, creepy, edge of your seat thriller! The woods is never a good place to go!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I always love Edwards' books - they are creeptastic! This one gave me the chills and thrills as I read it late at night. Such a great mystery to solve revolving around an old town legend about a Red Widow how takes children - scary!! I did think of that movie The Boy when the mystery was solved - had that same voyeuristic creepiness. Another great story!!