My Recommendation
So no lie, I am actually quite proud of myself, I guessed both of the major twists before they happened! But that didn't take away from the story at all, it was still delightful to read. Eerie and unsettling throughout, the story takes place in Scotland and centers on a bridge and old home, where dogs jump to their death willingly. People describe the site as a "thin place."

The protagonist goes to this location initially to learn more about her mysterious mother's past, and try to figure out what connections she made there. On arrival, the character is incredibly moved and she can't help but go back again and again and again, putting her marriage and her unborn child at risk. The main character's obsession with this place is forefront throughout, and overall creates a plot driven story. Towards the end, it becomes a little predictable, but overall I found it to be really enjoyable. I wish there had been a little more discussion on what a thin place is, or how this location came to be a thin place. Less supernatural, more mystery/thriller.

Would recommend for a rainy weekend 🌧

What are Thin Places? Thin places are places of energy. A place where the veil between this world and the eternal world is thin. A thin place is where one can walk in two worlds – the worlds are fused together, knitted loosely where the differences can be discerned or tightly where the two worlds become one. (Definition provided by thinplacestour.com)

Ava Brent is a journalist that takes on the story of Overtoun House and bridge. A spot that locals refer to as a Thin Place. It is believed that in the 1950's upwards of 500 dogs have leaped to their deaths from the bridge. Not only that but dead bodies have been found around the estate with spent guns next to them. Does the bridge have some strange pull that brings both man and beast to their death?

That is what Ava wants to find out.

Once Ava arrives on site she gets a strange feeling. It's as if the house knows she is there and is demanding her to leave. Yet as strange as she felt while there she becomes obsessed and finds herself going back there time and time again. Even breaking into the home to curb her curiosity. Meanwhile, Ava has also discovers that she's pregnant and while she is delighted to be having Frasier's baby she can't seem to focus on her own health and their future together. Overtoun House is the only thing on her mind.

Then we flashback to Marion and Constance both of whom resided in Overtoun house.

Marion, 1929

A poor young woman that is swept off her feet by Hamish. They marry and he brings her back to his families estate. They try and try again for a baby but it isn't meant to be. Miscarriage after miscarriage have left Marion frail and Hamish resentful that she can't carry a baby.

Constance, 1949

A young girl that is locked away in a room at Overtoun House. Her mother tells her that she is very ill and should not be exposed to anyone. Loneliness is the only life she knows. All she has is the view of the bridge from her window and how excited she becomes to see anyone crossing over wishing she could run out there to laugh and play with them.

All three storylines will interconnect and I'll admit that I was surprised by one revelation though in hindsight I'm wondering how I missed the connection. It seems so obvious...now. A slow burn of a novel with rich atmosphere and an intriguing location that kept me turning the pages. The author ends the novel with an historical note and much to my surprise Overtoun House and bridge is, in fact, a real place steeped in mystery. I have much to Google. 4 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for providing me with a digital ARC.

The Thin Place - CD Major. A story in three timelines about a "thin place," a place where the space between worlds is smaller. Ava is a newly pregnant journalist in the present day, investigating a story where dogs are compelled to jump from a bridge; Constance is a sickly little girl in the 1940s, locked in her room; and Marion is a young bride in the 1920s who has come to live at her new husband's foreboding estate, while he is never home. This was good. I wasn't too surprised by anything that happened, but it was a pretty good read. Four stars.

*I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

The Thin Place centered around the dark history of the foreboding Scottish estate, Overtoun. It follows the story of three women from different times whose lives will somehow intersect.

The story starts with Ava, a television journalist, who decided to investigate a bridge near the Overtoun estate where many dogs have jumped to their death.  She soon obsessed to uncover Overtoun's dark history, putting a strain on her relationship with her family, partner, and her job.
We're also introduced to two other women — Marion and Constance. Marion, in 1929, she married the lord of the manor. It tells her story of courtship and marriage plagued by loneliness, misery, and tragedy. Constance, a sickly young girl who lived in the manor in 1949 with a devoted mother.

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A compelling and gripping thriller with its gothic and creepy atmosphere. The Thin Place is slow paced with realistic and well-written characters. Told by multiple narrators, Ava is not a likeable character. She makes a lot of bad decisions. I found myself drawn to Marion and Constance. Both of their stories are heartbreaking and sometimes uncomfortable to read. A book filled with intrigue and secrets, some were predictable. The slow build up of tension was so satisfying!
Overall, The Thin Place is a captivating read with a perfect mixed of mystery and suspense.

The Thin Place has three stories woven together that take place at various times throughout history. As you read on, you eventually discover the connection between the three. This book also takes advantage of the ever-popular somewhat unreliable narrator combined with some subtle thriller vibes.
The story takes place in Scotland and explores a bridge there where many dogs have jumped to their death (this is a real place in Scotland) and a house near the Bridge called Overtoun. The author tells the tale of the thin place where - the place where the world of the living and the world of the dead has a thin barrier.
The book is filled with intrigue and turns - even toward the end when you think you’ve solved it, there’s still another twist. Not only does the author delve into the mystery, but also familial relationships, which makes it more interesting than a standard thriller. I will say in the beginning, it was a bit slow to start and hard to keep track of who the three characters were, but once it takes off, I finished reading it within a few hours because I couldn’t put it down. Overall, it’s worth a read!
Thanks to Net Galley for a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

A <b>BIG THANK YOU</b> to Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley for the ARC of The Thin Place
by C.D. Major. For fans of The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, C.D. Major delivers an eerie and evocative page-turner. The Thin Place is a mystery with the lasting power to stay with you long after the book is closed. ★★★★★

From the publisher: She has to know the truth about Overtoun Estate, but there is a reason it has stayed buried for so long. When journalist Ava Brent decides to investigate the dark mystery of Overtoun Estate—a ‘thin place’, steeped in myth—she has no idea how dangerous this story will be for her. Overtoun looms over the town, watching, waiting: the locals fearful of the strange building and the secrets it keeps. When Ava starts to ask questions, the warm welcome she first receives turns to a cold shoulder. And before she knows it, Ava is caught in the house’s grasp too.

After she discovers the history of a sick young girl who lived there, she starts to understand the sadness that shrouds it. But when she finds an ominous old message etched into a windowsill, she is forced to wonder—what horrors is the house protecting? And what will it cost her to find out? With her own first child on the way, Ava knows she should stay away. But even as her life starts to unravel, and she receives chilling threats, the house and the bridge keep pulling her back…

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

5 of 5 Stars
Pub Date 15 Apr 2021
#TheThinPlace #NetGalley

The Thin Place is an incredibly captivating story of family secrets. CD Major uses multiple narrators to tell a harrowing tale of a manor home and the bridge nearby that has claimed the lives of upwards of 500 since 1950.

This novel was spellbinding and I could not put it down once I started reading. A clever balance of horror and mystery, this book will surely hold you captive as you learn the secrets of Overtoun.

This book tells the story from three characters' viewpoints and three different points in time. It focuses on the Overtoun Estate and the history of life there, as well as the mysterious dog suicide pattern at the nearby bridge. Ava is a journalist and decides to investigate further. She can tell that the house has a mystery that it is hiding and starts to receive threats herself. Her obsession with the house begins to put a strain on the relationships in her life.

To me, this book was trying to touch on a lot of things at once, mystery, relationships, family history, the supernatural - and it never really came together well for me.

The Thin Place tells its story through 3 characters from 3 different points in time. Set around Overtoun House and bridge near Dumbarton in Scotland, modern day journalist Ava sets out to investigate a story surrounding the property whereby hundreds of dogs have leapt to their death from the bridge, with no reasoning ever being discovered. She finds herself increasingly attracted to the house and begins to investigate its past, to the detriment of her own relationship. Intertwined with Ava’a story are Marion and Constance’s. Marion moved from London to Overtoun after marrying the lord of the manor in 1929. Her expectations of a lavish new lifestyle were never met, her life plagued with tragedy, sadness and loneliness. Constance is introduced to us from 1949, a young sickly girl who also lives at Overtoun.

I found it hard to put this book down! I haven’t read anything by CD Major before and didn’t really know what it was going to be about. It was fast paced and had a gothic vibe that I loved. It was chilling and spooky; even more so once I found that the house and bridge really exist and that the bridge does have a reputation for dogs jumping from it into a gorge below. I found both Marion and Constance’s stories to be heartbreaking in completely different ways. I think Ava was just a good way for the author to be able to tell the reader Constance’s life before and after Overtoun. I would say that as the story is set in Scotland that I would have liked to have seen a little bit more in the way of Scottish dialect.

This book was perfect for winter’s nights, with its gothic atmosphere mixed in with the contemporary world. I couldn’t put it down, even though its content meant that it was hard to read in places. If you’re a sentimental dog-lover like me, be warned that it’s a difficult read, but well worth it for the gripping plot.

'Heaven and earth are only three feet apart, but in think places that distance is even shorter.'

The Thin Place follows 3 women's stories across the span of decades and generations, yet somehow all connected to Overtoun House. Overtoun House is a real place in Scotland that has been described as a 'thin place'. A bridge exists there where numerous dogs willingly jump to their deaths; some survive only to go back up to the same spot and jump again. This piece of historical fiction is very eerie and left me feeling really unsettled throughout. I guessed one or two twists and yet the execution of them was still brilliant to read. I enjoyed that the chapters were snippets of each woman, quite fragmented rather than allowing the reader to see the full picture which definitely added to the mystery.

The Thin Place is released in April 2021 and it is now available for preorder!
Thank you to Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley for my advanced copy.

A stunning novel that perfectly handles dark twists and turns. Despite it touching on difficult themes, they are all handled very sensitively. I was desperate to find out what secrets the house (and the bridge) held so I raced towards the satisfying end! Very excited to see what else this author has coming up next.

A well-written psychological thriller that I gulped down in a couple of sittings. CD Major captured an undercurrent of dread that gradually built and built with a satisfying and not at all saccharine ending. It was interesting to read in the notes at the end that the setting for the book at Overtoun House was a real one, which further provided intrigue for the book.

Compelling thriller with the backdrop of a creepy country estate? Whats not to like? Told from multiple perspectives I found myself more involved with the 'past' sections than the present day. They were genuinely uncomfortable to read at times, and I found the voices of Marion and Constance more convincing than that of modern day Ava - she's obsessed with the story of this whole house but her reasons for it don't really come across as such, and I found it hard to summon up any sympathy for her. But overall this was a great, atmospheric read. read

This was a slow book. I kept waiting for it to pick up pace during the first quarter. I felt that the multiple perspectives were a bit annoying and distracted from the flow of the story. However, it started to get gripping and I enjoyed the ending overall.

Fantastic read! The Thin Place was such a creepy, twisted, heartfelt read. I couldn't put it down. 5 stars.

CW: miscarriage, child abuse, animal abuse, animal death

"The Thin Place" is three interrelated stories occurring at different points in time, all entering around a house named Overtoun in Scotland. The main story is that of Ava in the present day, a television journalist in her late thirties. Ava’s pregnancy makes her worry about possible unknown genetic issues, as her mother was adopted and has always refused to speak about her past, her biological parents or her adoptive ones. Looking for a story to fill a gap on a slow news day, Ava suggests looking into the bridge at Overtoun, from where since the 1950s dogs have been known to leap to their deaths. On the bridge, Ava feels something that may be supernatural, and she becomes obsessed with finding out the truth about what happened at the house and the bridge, an obsession that strains her relationships with her mother and sister, the father of her child, and her capacity to do her job. The two other stories are that of Marion, a naive young woman who, in 1929, marries a handsome young man who takes her to live at his family’s crumbling estate, and that of Constance, a sick child who lives isolated in a small room of a big house, occasionally visited by her mother.

The title "The Thin Place" refers to a place where the veil that separates the world of the living from that of the dead is particularly thin.

Major weaves a tense, creepy atmosphere, with the large house looming over everything, creeping into Ava’s brain, its darkness infecting her apartment and her relationships. I was at once repulsed by some of the events in the book (see content warnings above), but I also couldn’t put it down. I could see the shape of the thing that would be revealed, but it was hazy enough that I had to keep reading to learn if the characters would get through it. The writing cleverly sticks very close to the characters’ point of view (Ava, Marion, and Constance) so that it is very difficult to decipher what is real from what could be their false interpretation of events and phenomenon. The chapters are short, which makes it even easier to just burn through the whole book by telling yourself “just one more chapter”.

Ava is not entirely likeable as a character for the greater part of the book. I think the greatest accomplishment of the writing is that the reader can see all the bad decisions she is making, but is so engrossed in the mystery that it is difficult to blame her for wanting to know the truth as much as we do (or as much as I did). For all the mystery, and ghostly atmosphere, and strange events, this is at heart a story about mothers and daughters, which makes it very relatable.

I dived right into this strange and spooky tale of three women whose tales will somehow intersect. I loved the use of a real haunted location and the twists and turns of the obsession. This tale of secrets and strange suicides will be highly recommended to my friends.

This story is about a foreboding Scottish home, Overtoun Estate, that holds an eerie power over its grounds and many of the people who cross its path. It starts with Ava, a journalist who becomes obsessed after doing a small news piece on the property after hearing about a particularly spooky bridge on the grounds. It's known as a 'thin place' in Celtic lore, where the line between this world and the next fades away. After feeling unexplainable energy and not trusting what she sees and hears, Ava begins to believe in the otherworldliness and almost immediately becomes obsessed with the estate. And I mean obsessed - her job suffers, her home life suffers, she doesn't even seem interested in her new pregnancy. She spends more time researching the estate than she does anything else and the point is driven home in page after page of her internal ramblings about her obsession. To me, the story would flow better with less.

We're also introduced to two other time periods and occupants of the house - Marion in the 1920s and Constance in the 1940s. Marion is a newlywed who is finding marriage to be lonelier than she expected when her husband is constantly away working. She's left with not much else to do but roam the grounds and long for a child to fill her life. Constance is a sickly young girl who is practically imprisoned in her small room by her mother, worried about her poor health. It soon becomes clear that Constance isn't the only sick one in the home.

Through her constant research, Ava begins to see connections between the generations of people who lived in this house. The question becomes whether her family and career will still be there for her once her obsession is brought to an end. I enjoyed this story, especially the eerie mystery surrounding the bridge - it's a real place, and quite fascinating. I would recommend further reading into that as well, just don't let it become an obsession!

Past And Present Collide...
The Overtoun Estate, a feared and perhaps fearful place? What deep mystery does the Overtoun Estate hold, if any? Journalist Ava Brent decides to investigate just that with little regard for her own safety. She soon becomes drawn into the house, the place, the mystery as well as the people when past and present collide. Compelling suspense with a well drawn and atmospheric plot.