I loved this debut Pschological Thriller! I never knew who to trust, so many hidden secrets and lies which are kept from one another.
A very cleverly woven story which kept me glued to my phones pages for a pleasurable few days. Highly recommended and I cannot wait to see its cover in October!

Per the publisher's request, all detailed reviews are being held until Halloween. It just adds to the intensity of this book. Love it.

Good easy read with a few twists in it . Unusual ending with an even bigger twist left me still wondering

Creepy, Wow! Wild ride of a book. When Caro returns to her childhood home after the death of her mother, she tries to unravel the mystery of why she was hated so much as a child. As repressed memories return she learns how evil her family really was. Suspenseful read, roller coaster ending. Loved it.

Since this is supposed to be a secret I’ll
Wait and share my review at release time.
What I can say..is I didn’t like this book at all. Boring. Anti climatic.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved how descriptive the author was regarding the location, surroundings and overall atmosphere. I didn’t love how the story dragged at times.
The reveals and the ending were well done and very satisfying.

I just don’t like the title ‘Cuckoo’. I hope it is changed for release.

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

Oh dear this one. I read a lot of your psychological thrillers that are of the self published variety and some of them are very good as entertainment. Some of them just make you sad the trees had to die. This one is in that category

I liked the idea of going in blind to a book not knowing it's title or who wrote it... I now know both and it hasn't changed my opinion at all.
This was ok... there were some good bits where the pace really picked up,but equally there were slow bits and predictable bits.
I'd guessed who did it by about half way through....

Entertaining enough,but not hugely memorable to me.

Crikey! I've just finished reading this and it has to be one of my favourite psychological reads this year.
It starts at a slow pace but the build up of suspense just grabs you and really gets to you and you have to keep reading. I couldn't work out which characters could be trusted and who was telling the truth, and by the end I felt wrung out with all the twists and turns!
I loved it. More from this author please!

WOW!!! One of the best reads of the year! Caro and Steph were both in attendance at their stepmother's funeral. The two had been estranged and Steph (the elder sister) wanted to speak with Caro in private. They went to a café where Caro learned that the two of them had inherited their dad's house. Steph had money and a life in New York - not England (where the house was)- so she offered the house to Caro. Steph also wanted them to "start again" as sisters. Caro agreed. While at the café, Caro received an email that had offered her an art commission to illustrate Dark Fairy Tales. . What a strange day.

Although leery, Caro mostly decided that due to financial constraints (and a little curiosity) she would try to live at the large house. Once there, she has flash-backs, rats, hallucinations (of sorts) and hears scary sounds. She learns that Craig Atherton, who lives in the cottage just down the road, is actually her tenant. He helps her out by doing some handiwork, cooking and becomes much more than a tenant, after a while, and they begin to see each other quite a bit. He is the anthesis of Paul, Caro's former love and controlling abuser. Craig is handsome, charming and actually interested in Caro's work. Steph skypes Caro regularly. Caro begins the dark fairy tale illustrations. . In the meantime, Caro learns that she had a half-brother, Danny, who died at an early age.

Eventually, Craig tells Caro that he needs to do work at his workshop. He sees her less and less. He did have Christmas with her and they both attended the town Wassail festival, where Caro saw Craig fight with Angus - a rather surly man. She befriended a woman, Mary Beth, at the festival, also. Mart Beth, later that week, told Caro that Angus owed Craig $20,000.

A day later, Caro decides to walk to the place where her sister used to go with her. Remembering a bench far down in the quarry, she climbs down to see if it was still there. What she does find is Angus, dead. She also finds a key -this turns out to be her spare front door key. Caro makes a police report - leaving out the key and the fight with Craig (after all, she loves him). A skype from Steph insists that Caro see Elizabeth's (step-
mother) best friend, Sarah. Sarah gives Caro some startling information.

Craig returns back to Caro to explain everything that has been happening with him. Before he can tell her all, the police arrive and question both Craig and Caro about Elizabeth's car. Craig told them that he believed Steph had taken it. Caro was not aware of this at all. Or even aware of a car!

Things still don't look so good for Craig when the cops tell him how they've delved into Angus' business and personal bank accounts.

I never use the term "jaw -dropping" but it best describes the rest of this spectacular read !!! Guaranteed suspenseful twists that make this book a masterpiece!!!

MANY thanks to both AVON Books, UK & Netgalley for a wild ride !

Thank you so much to Avon books for the opportunity to read and review this book. A tale of mystery and family secrets that captures the reader's attention all the way through. Is blood always thicker than water; can this family find a way forward and heal over past mistakes? Meet Caro and Steph, who meet up again after their stepmother passes away. Their childhood home hides secrets that Caro tries to unearth, so she can find peace. Is all that it seems. This book will leave you guessing until the final page.

A stunning debut novel, I loved it from beginning till end. I love British thrillers and have a hard time putting them down and this book was no exception! Plot twists and turns and keeps you intrigued right until the very last page. Can't wait to see what the author comes up with next! Thanks for the advance read.

After finishing this wonderfully gripping and twisting psychological thriller I immediately turned back to the beginning and reread the prologue and suddenly everything in that previously confusing prologue now made sense. I have read numerous psychological thrillers over the last couple of years and I must admit that this certainly stands up there near to of the top of the pile with other such first person narratives of females who are in immediate danger as they struggle to confront the past such as "The Woman in the Window" and of course "The Girl on the Train". This is not a simple straight forward read as the story is narrated by Caro who we quickly discover is haunted by the past and has been so trumatised by the physical and psychological abuse that she has received during her upbringing by her stepmother that she now struggles to separate reality from illusion.

After the sudden and prognosed accidental death of her step mother in the secluded old farm house situated in the wilds of Derbyshire, Caro goes to stay there hoping to start a new life away from London and her previous abusive boyfriend. Caro is an illustrator and she has now received a commission which will return her back to the nightmare memories of her childhood.

Her sister who is entitled to half the inheritance is not interested in returning to the creaky old house from which she escaped when 16 years old and declines the forthcoming inheritance to return to the new glamorous life that she has in New York.

Now living alone at the house Caro experiences strange occurrences that would suggest that something or someone is haunting her. Are these incidents a product of hallucinations, the supernatural or is there a rational and far more deadly explanation available. The description of the bleak winter countryside is very descriptive and adds to the ever increasing sense of foreboding. You can almost sense the atmosphere when Caro first visits the local village and is met by open hostility. It increasingly appears that something has happened in her past that Caro is not remembering. For the reader It is somewhat like looking through a mist at a picture as little by little the mist thins and eventually with twists and turns we get nearer to the shocking truth and what we know from the prologue is coming.

I really liked this book and believe that Sophie Draper should be congratulated on producing a page turning chiller of the highest order which begs to be turned into a film or televisoin drama.

Well, since I have to keep a secret, the only thing I really need to say is this book is awesome. I am buying a few copies myself for friends and family. It has been a very long time since I have read a book with the ability to keep me intrigued the entire time. The author has done an amazing job “keeping a secret” and also writing a book like this. It is an easy read and you feel as though you are part of the story.

I give it 5+++ stars ⭐️ out of 5

Thanks to netgalley as well as the author/publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review!

Yes I can keep a secret! Look forward to sharing my reviews come November! Sneak preview........ Must read!

This wasn't my cup of tea. I had a hard time keeping focus or even enjoying the characters. I felt that they didn't do anything to engage me to keep reading. The synopsis from Net Galley is what grabbed me but I didn't really find it that secretive. Maybe it's just me, but the storyline was just ok. It's seemed to jump from one spot to the next randomly. One minute she's in the living room and then she's driving down the road. The writing didn't flow for me. However, great job on the synopsis, it was a very clever way to get people to read the novel.

Not sure where to start with this one! While I enjoyed the overall storyline, the main character's personality annoyed me. I found myself constantly thinking she was way to self-conscious, paranoid, and dramatic. I couldn't decide if she was crazy or not, which in a way kept me intrigued. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that every time something happened to her I found myself thinking "stand up for your self" or "fight back!!" For a while there was a sense of urgency and a build-up that ending up leading to nothing. The book was...strange in that way. I really liked the ending though. I had pretty much figured out it was one of the two of them. I also thought the pear drum was a good way to keep the suspense going and it tied into the story well. However, I couldn't find a picture of one anywhere and the picture the author painted for me at the beginning was kind of lost on me. Thank you so much for the opportunity!! I love how you guys kept the name of the book/author a secret! I am not sure about others but it definitely made it more fun for me!

A slow start but picks up about 40% of the way through. A compelling read from then on. Really enjoyed it.

No spoilers here but this is a true page turning thriller that lives up to the marketing. It is atmospheric, psychological, and scary. Plus, nothing comes at you out of left field like the plots of a lot of other thrillers.

Eek! Of course I can keep a secret but I wish I didn’t have to! I can’t wait to tell everyone about this novel! In a world where thriller books reign supreme, this one truly stands out. I’ve never read anything like it. It was an original story that hasn’t been done time and time again. The ending? BLEW. ME. AWAY. I feel like I’m going to have a book hangover now. SO, SO GOOD,