I received a free e-copy of The visitor by K.L. Slater from Netgalley for my review. A psychological thriller that will keep you guessing. A young woman, Holly who lived in a town with her Aunt and his boyfriend. Holly couldn't stand to be around her Aunt's boyfriend any long and decided to leave town with her friend Markus to Manchester. She wanted nothing more than an fresh start. Holly once though life with her Aunt was rough, never fitting in at school, always being the odd one out, etc. Now she find that things are going to get a lot tougher. In Manchester she gets herself in a very bad situation that she needs to get out of. She returns back to her home town with no money and nowhere to go. A woman, Cora, takes Holly in and helps her by giving her room and food for her companionship since she has lost her husband. Holly soon finds that you can't hide from your past. Holly's past has come back to haunt her and it seems everyone has secrets. Cora has secrets, the man next door, David has secrets, Holly has secrets and others in town do as well. So many twists and turns in this book that keep you reading till the very end. Wonderfully written novel that keeps you guessing.

The Visitor by K.L.Slater is a psychological thriller that is bound to be well received. This is the fifth psychological thriller by this author, and the fourth book I have read… and her novels just get better and better. This is a fabulous read, that will reel you in …one line at a time…

Everyone has a secret in their past.

Everyone pretends to be something they’re not.

But someone is always watching… and that someone is closer than you think.

Holly Newman is a “visitor” following a bad experience in Manchester returns to her home town, Nottingham, 10 years later. She has been through something terrible and now she needs a safe haven in which to recover and build a new future. She finds a room in a quiet suburban area, in the home of Cora Barrett, a lonely old woman who is looking for company and someone to talk to.

“I’m always just a visitor in everyone’s life…I come and go, but nothing ever changes.”

David is a “little different” but a kind person who lives at home with his mother, next door to Cora, and observes everything that happens on the street. David occasionally does the odd job for Cora. He is considered “odd” by society… an outsider, non-sociable who stays at home and will not go out after dark. He works part time as a car park attendant. In his spare time, he watches and records all activity on the street through the use of hidden video cameras.

Holly and David gradually begin to strike up a friendship... both lonely and vulnerable. But Holly can’t shake the feeling that someone from her past might have tracked her down. And David is always watching…

Both Holly and David have dark secrets they would like to keep hidden.

Each short chapter is devoted to one of the above characters, to allow the reader to get to know all three characters in greater depth. They all play a part in the overall picture. The different stories all come together.

This is a fast-paced mystery that is sure to please. I did not expect the most surprising twist at the end of the book…OMG I didn’t see it coming. I was probably too engrossed in the story line. This really is an excellent read and I highly recommend it.

Many thanks to my favourite publisher, Bookouture via Netgalley for my copy.

Grab your coffee and get ready for a completely entertaining and captivating novel!

K.L. Slater has become one of my favorite authors that I can depend on for a great story with some jaw dropping twists and a satisfying end! This is my favorite type of psychological thriller. Just plain fun. I never have to worry about overly graphic scenes or gory descriptions with her novels.

This one is well plotted with interesting characters.  I wouldn't say it is fast-paced or unputdownable , BUT it is one that held my interest and I looked forward to picking it up.  It was like watching an addictive series that you couldn't wait to get back too.  I liked the build up of the suspense and the atmospheric tension and anxiety that were a tease to continue.
Alternating POV from the two main characters worked beautifully and I was trying to decide between the two of them just which one would drop the ball first! I had sympathy for both of them for different reasons, but I also wanted to scream at both of them at various times.  I could feel that something bad was going to happen, but couldn't figure out what it was.  I wasn't able to guess the ending and believe me I was trying, but I didn't know which way to look! That's my definition of a great twist.

If you enjoy getting into the minds of some twisted characters (including the creepy) and trying to figure out which shoe will drop next, you should give this one a go!  Loved it!

Summary:
EVERYONE HAS A SECRET IN THEIR PAST.
EVERYONE PRETENDS TO BE SOMETHING THEY’RE NOT.
BUT SOMEONE IS ALWAYS WATCHING… AND THAT SOMEONE IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK.
HOLLY RETURNS TO HER HOME TOWN AFTER SOME TIME AWAY – SHE HAS BEEN THROUGH SOMETHING TERRIBLE AND NOW SHE NEEDS A SAFE HAVEN IN WHICH TO RECOVER, AND TO PLAN THE REST OF HER LIFE. SHE FINDS A ROOM IN A QUIET AND LEAFY SUBURBAN STREET, IN THE HOME OF CORA BARRETT.
DAVID LIVES NEXT DOOR TO CORA BARRETT AND HE SEES EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS ON BAKER CRESCENT. DAVID STAYS AT HOME, AND HE WATCHES: HE LIKES TO FEEL SAFE AND HE DOESN’T LIKE TO LEAVE THE HOUSE. HE WANTS TO KEEP HIS FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS SAFE TOO. SO HE OBSERVES THEM, AND HE RECORDS EVERY TINY DETAIL OF THEIR LIVES, JUST IN CASE THE INFORMATION IS EVER NEEDED.
BOTH LONELY AND VULNERABLE, HOLLY AND DAVID GRADUALLY BEGIN TO STRIKE UP A FRIENDSHIP. BUT HOLLY CAN’T SHAKE THE FEELING THAT SOMEONE FROM HER PAST MIGHT HAVE TRACKED HER DOWN. AND DAVID IS ALWAYS WATCHING… BUT UNCOVERING THE SECRET THAT COULD SAVE HIS NEW FRIEND AND NEIGHBOUR COULD BE THE ONE THING THAT DESTROYS HIM.
Our Review:
OMG! K.L Slater has done it again! The Visitor is a psychological thriller with so many twists and secrets you don’t know what‘s real and what‘ s a “story” (as it were…hehe).

Holly seems like a young girl down on her luck with a terrible past…Running back home for safety and security after a devastating experience. What has she really done and what is she willing to do?

David seems to be a man set in his ways. Due to an unknown event, he has severe anxiety and a need for complete control and routine. Looking out for everyone and only trying to do what is right and help. What is this event no one talks about and what is he really capable of?

Cora seems sweet but she too is hiding something as is Mr. Brown who everyone seems to keep at arms length. What are all these people hiding and what will happen when events bring all these people and their secrets together. We absolutely loved this book! K.L Slater is an amazing author, we’ve loved all her books and this is no different! Everyone will want to read this book!!!

Wow ! What a superb book by K L Slater,having read all her previous books i knew what to expect but The Visitor is the best yet.Told through the eyes of Holly,David and Cora the book had me gripped from the first page,after a chequered past Holly and with huge secrets to keep buried finally finds solace in moving in with Cora back in Nottingham,she then meets David the strange man next door who has secrets of his own to keep,throw Cora who also has her own secrets to hide and you do get a book which you will not be able to put down.The story bounds along and had me gripped from page to page and the ending when it came !! just wow i never guessed that ! A 5 star read yet again from Kim Slater.

EXCERPT: ...she was in no rush. She could wait.

When Holly was prepared to open up a bit and trust her with her personal history, then Cora would tell her the truth.

That was, the truth about what Harold was really like.

Not the other truth.

She didn’t intend telling anyone about that until she'd made up her mind exactly what to do.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Everyone has a secret in their past.

Everyone pretends to be something they’re not.

But someone is always watching… and that someone is closer than you think.

Holly returns to her home town after some time away – she has been through something terrible and now she needs a safe haven in which to recover, and to plan the rest of her life. She finds a room in a quiet and leafy suburban street, in the home of Cora Barrett.

David lives next door to Cora Barrett and he sees everything that happens on Baker Crescent. David stays at home, and he watches: he likes to feel safe and he doesn’t like to leave the house. He wants to keep his friends and neighbours safe too. So he observes them, and he records every tiny detail of their lives, just in case the information is ever needed.

Both lonely and vulnerable, Holly and David gradually begin to strike up a friendship. But Holly can’t shake the feeling that someone from her past might have tracked her down. And David is always watching… But uncovering the secret that could save his new friend and neighbour could be the one thing that destroys him.

MY THOUGHTS: The Visitor by K.L. Slater had me sitting up until 1am doing the 'just one more chapter, then I'll go to sleep' routine. Once started, I couldn't bear to put it down. So be warned, if you plan on reading this, and you should, clear your diary.

This is a slow burner of a book, but from the start you can feel that something isn't right. My grandmother used to say 'I can feel it in my water', and I could. There are veiled references to what has happened in the past, and Slater slowly removes the veils one by one to reveal the truth. In fact, the dance of the seven veils is a wonderful parallel for The Visitor. It is a mesmerising read. It took over my mind so that I could think of little else but this cast of misfits, their secrets and machinations. Because none of them are what they seem. They all have secrets, things to hide. Some you will guess, some you won't. But I defy anyone to guess the ending.

5 mesmerising stars ☆☆☆☆☆

Thank you to Bookouture via Netgalley for providing a digital copy of The Visitor for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system.

This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

A great story with a chilling and really unexpected twist. Highly recommended. I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture!

Fantastic novel, very Harlan Cobenesque! I look forward to reading many more as there is nothing better than a good old psychological thriller.

One of those books that packs a punch at the end. Totally unexpected and totally worth it. I never saw it coming and it just helped me love the book so much more. It was certainly not boring before and I like I am sure a lot of people did kept reading into the night. Its a story about people first of all and their interactions with other people both in their family circle but also how they deal with strangers. There are some very different characters and we get to know them all sometimes not until the end. I will happily recommend this book to all mystery fans. It is a great read and I look forward more from this author. A totally delightful book that I received from #NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.

Nice twists, nice surprises, but the entire book was a bit too heavy on the foreshadowing for my liking. Holly is running from something in her past and is not at all what she seems. She meets a kind older lady who takes her into her own home. Next door is David, a 40 year-old who has some mental issues that have caused him some problems in the past. He starts to become obsessed with Holly. While I enjoyed the book by the end, I would have preferred less of the "wait until you see what happens next" type comments at the end of several chapters. Instead of adding to the suspense it feels cheap. If you can ignore that, The Visitor is a well thought out thriller.

I really like this author and was loooobg forwarc to reading her latest book . I read this in one sitting and found it an easy read but one which seemed to hold all the excitement to the last few chapters making the majority of the book a very long build up . 3.5 stars and my thanks to netgalley and bookouture for my chance to read

Holly escapes her past from Manchester and and arrives back in her hometown 10 years later where she boards with Cora. Cora’s neighbor David is a 40 year old who still lives with his mom. He works as a part time car park attendant and the rest of the afternoon watches people in his neighborhood. Holly and David strike an odd friendship where each have their secrets that they want protected for if revealed can have deadly results.

The Visitor was a slow building psychological thriller with a completely unexpected outcome with quite a bit of twists and turns. An exciting read with intriguing characters that I thoroughly enjoyed and cannot wait to read the next one by K.L.Slater

I would like to thank Bookouture & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

I have read this author's 4 previous books and mostly enjoyed them. This one was just average for me. I just didn't like the characters and I think that inhibited my ability to get engaged in the book. I didn't find anything that happened in the first 90% of the book to be that entertaining and when the reveal came in the last 10%, it was not what I expected and I appreciated that, but I think I also wasn't really guessing too much because I think I didn't really care. I also thought the flashbacks were pretty uneventful and knew something had gone on in the past that was significant to the story, but again it just all moved too slowly for me. I received a free copy from Net galley in exchange for a review.

"I'm always just a visitor in everyone's life...I come and go, but nothing ever changes."

Holly grew up in Nottingham but ran off to Manchester for a better life. Things happened and she's now returned to try and make a new start. She's been taken in as a "visitor" by elderly Cora Bennett and soon gets a job selling furniture. But, poor Holly, nothing ever seems to go right. Has her past caught up with her?

David is an odd duck who's had his share of problems -- and he still lives at home with mom at age 40. Although he's on meds and has a job of sorts, he's consumed with monitoring all that is going on in the neighborhood. Keeping everyone safe. He lives right next door to Holly and can't help but notice that she seems to need his help. Is he offering friendly protection or is he a stalker?

The chapters are told in the alternating point of view of Holly and David. Also shifting back and forth in time for the history of each, we finally come to present day and some interesting revelations. It seems that neither of these two are really the people they pretended to be.

I had a hard time dredging up any empathy for either of the main characters, nor did I identify with them. There was a huge sense of menace as the reader knew something was off and that bad things were coming, but not quite from which direction. After all the hints that were dropped, it was not so much a twisty or surprising conclusion as it was a relief to finally have the salient points exposed. I don't really like when dangled snippets and then have an abrupt shift just when the truth is about to be revealed! Regardless of these annoyances, I did enjoy this pscyholgical drama and am glad that I'll never meet Holly or David.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this e-book ARC to read and review. I enjoy the titles by K.L. Slater and will definitely read more from her.

The Visitor follows Holly, David and Cora. David and Cora are next door neighbours and Holly is renting out a room from Cora. David likes to watch over the street and know what is happening at all times. Holly is trying to get away from recent events and wants to be safe and alone.

I found the first 50 pages to be boring. They were too descriptive for my taste and I was getting tired of David watching over the street and Holly being super secretive.

The novel picks up and you get a glimpse of what happened to Holly in the past. You also get to see the secrets that the 3 individuals are hiding and of course not everything is what it seems. I wanted to know what was going to happen, but once I got to the ending it wasn’t anything special and I thought, really that’s it?

Wouldn’t recommend as it just had too slow of a start and I wasn’t a fan of any of the characters.

Another winner from an author that has fast become one of my favourites.
Shame I cannot give it more than just five stars as it really was that good and more.
This was one of those books that I literally could not leave alone and I read it in just two sittings. I look forward to reading more books by this author in the future as you know when you pick one up you are in for a rollercoaster of a ride.

I always feel I'm in a safe pair of hands when I pick up a K L Slater book. She can be relied upon to write a gripping psychological thriller with a twist you never see coming, and she's done it again with the Visitor.
Holly is escaping her past when she takes up the offer of living in with the elderly Cora. Both are strangers to each other but Holly wants to start afresh and so gets a job and tries to settle down. But Cora has a secret to hide from Holly, and then there is Cora's neighbour David who is also acting strangely. Told from each point of view it keeps you guessing right to the end.
Loved it.

The Visitor a newly published psychological thriller by author K.L. Slater, now where to start. I’m sure Kim strategically placed The Visitor on my kindle because she knew I had a terrible infatuation for psychological thrillers that dig into the very depths of your consciousness. Okay lets dig in there, lay it all out and get this review on the road.

There are three main characters in The Visitor, Holly, David and Cora, alternating between each one, telling their story, each keeping secrets, can they be trusted.

Holly, a young woman has returned to her hometown after fleeing ten years previously. Holly has secrets, what is she running from or to, what has Holly experienced that she needs to hide in plain sight. As the story unfolds, snippets of Holly’s past materialises and the tension of feeling watched increases, but who is watching who and why?

David a shy retiring man with anxiety issues still stays at home with his mother, he befriends Holly when she moves in next door and begins work with the same company as him. There is something about David a hidden past, an incident that everyone has hushed up and nobody talks about, will his ‘neighbourhood hobby’ be his downfall.

Cora an elderly woman has taken pity on Holly, inviting her to stay in her home while she finds her feet. Cora has troubles of her own seemingly innocent memory lapses but can Cora be trusted.

Could I possibly be deceived, did Kim weave a suspenseful twist that threw me in a totally different direction?

Yes Kim Did! Am I still reeling from the ending, Yes I Am!

The Visitor compounded every ounce of fibre in my body with a tangle of suspicions and a relentless parody of theories parading through my mind. As my mind aches with the tension and twists, mulling over the ending, my crushing thought is I’m finished, when’s the next, hurry Kim I’ll wait with anticipation.

Thanks go to K.L. Slater, Bookouture and Kim Nash for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of this very soul seeping psychological thriller The Visitor in exchange for an honest review.

Well. What can I say about this book? If there is one thing I have come to rely upon when reading a book by KL Slater, it is that I am going to be taken on quite a journey, full of twists and surprises and edged with tension and suspense. When I started reading The Visitor I had high hopes and I was delighted to find that I was offered all of the above and more.

Now it is very hard to expand upon what is given in the blurb as I think to do so would risk spoilers. In very basic terms Holly has recently moved back to her home town, offered board and, in a way, sanctuary by Cora Barrett, a woman she meets in town when she is down on her luck and looking for a new start. Her new landlady is nice, but somewhat lonely, but to Holly she is a lifeline. It is clear from the start that Holly is hiding something and that her past has been far from a bed of roses, but as to what has brought her home and what her secret may be, you will need to read the book to find out. 

Holly is an intriguing character and one who I was never quite sure what to make of. You do learn a lot about her and her story, from childhood to the time after she leaves her parents home is quite traumatic and toe curling, but not told in an overly gratuitous way. As an outsider looking in, it is apparent where her path is leading her, however you are powerless to stop it and often I found myself cursing Holly's naivety. She is a character I did feel some sympathy for but perhaps only in a measure way as I was never quite sure.

Cora is the exact opposite of Holly. Where Holly is reticent, Cora is open and giving. And yet KL Slater has added a touch of uncertainty to the way in which the character is portrayed which you need to read to understand. It's actually quite effective in creating more suspense within and already twisty story. The final character, and the third voice in the multi voice narration style, is Holly and Cora's neighbour David. Now he is what his neighbours would, and do, describe as odd. A grown man still living with his mother, nothing unusual in that these days you might argue, there is just something about him, about his obsession with what happens in the street and in particular with Holly that makes you kind of nervous when reading his story. It's not skin crawling nervous, more a kind of ... hesitation perhaps.

The slow build of the story fits the narrative perfectly and as the tale progresses and Holly's past is uncovered, you start to see the subtle signs which you may have missed before. There are no end of characters with seemingly hidden agendas, so much so that at times it is hard to know who, if anyone, you can truly trust, and the facts of that may actually surprise you. All of it builds to one corker of an ending, one which highlights the authors talents for crafting a beautifully effective story. I love her books and can't wait for the next to be announced as each one is a revelation. Brilliant stuff.

The Visitor is a totally compelling and insidiously creepy psychological thriller with an intriguing story-line and a great conclusion.

“Don’t you just wish you could rewind it all and start over again?”

The marvellous K.L. Slater has a gripping and very accessible writing style and I was immediately drawn into this story and curious about what had happened to each of the characters. From early on, it is clear that almost everyone in this story has a difficult and mysterious past or is trying to escape from something.

I do love a story with multiple narrators and that device works really well here. The book is really well plotted and there is a palpable sense of anxiety as the story goes on, as you know that some terrible things are going to be revealed, and you are on tenterhooks throughout while waiting for the full details. I felt, at various times, both sympathetic and frustrated towards the main characters and even the more minor characters had the power to generate really strong emotions.

The twist is great because you don’t really know what it is that you’re waiting for (i.e. it’s not really a ‘whodunit’) so I personally didn’t find it possible to guess how it was all going to end.

This is another great book by K.L. Slater and I am grateful to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of The Visitor.