Closing Costs by Bracken MacLeod is filled with edge of your set moments. Fair warning, this is an intense nail biter! I am looking forward to reading more by this author. I want to thank NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company for an early copy to review.

Closing Costs by Bracken MacLeod had a lot of potential. It is a fairly good suspense story but it falls short because it seems like there are just too many unnecessary and extraneous details that really don’t further the primary story much. The novel starts when Evan and Nelle decided to move from the city out to their dream home in the country. It’s a secluded house that backs up the woods. As they adjust to their new and quieter life, Nelle, accidentally finds a drive in a corpse, that she had been working on at her mortuary job. She and Evan decide to find out what is on the drive and keep what they find. Enter, Mack, previous owner of their house and a sadistic psychopath on a murder spree. Enter other thugs who speak Russian and have their own agenda. Multiple dead bodies and grievous injuries later, Nelle is running for her life and searching for help. In the end, she takes matters into her own hands and is able to find closure. I would have given the novel three and a half stars but that wasn’t an option. Thank-you to the author and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

The first chapter left me with an uncomfortable feeling of fear just before bed. I closed it and haven't picked it up again. It might be a great story, but it was strangely uncomfortable for me so I did not read it.
thank you NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

Nelle and Evan are looking to buy their first house. They desperately wants to get out of the city and live a quieter life. They find the house of their dreams with one neighbor and the house backs up to some forest and trails.
Evan is fixing breakfast for Nelle but has to run out and get a few things while she is showering. Then an intruder comes into the house and ties Nelle up in the basement. Then Evan gets home and he ends up tied up in the basement also. Is the intruder there for the money that they came by? What does he wants. The intruder beat Evan so bad that Nelle knew she had to get away. No more details you need to read the book. I am telling you I was scared a couple of nights to go down to my basement.

I received this ARC for free from Netgalley, so I am leaving this rev

Oh my goodness! This is definitely an action packed book. It also, is not for the faint of heart. Well written, I couldn't put it down.

Although I felt the story was a bit of a stretch with some unrealistic twists, I found the book suspenseful and easy to read. Makes you think about changing the locks in your new house!

An excellent premise marred by way too many unnecessary and boring secondary plotlines. It started off strong but quickly became boring unfortunately. I realized I didn’t care about it enough to finish

Closing Costs by Bracken MacLeod is a psychological suspense thriller about a couple who purchase their first house. It’s a secluded house where neighbors aren’t right next door, and their backyard is a state forest in Massachusetts. Evan Pereira goes out on a Saturday morning to purchase some breakfast, and some Prosecco, for some mimosas for his wife Nelle. When Nelle gets out of the shower, she doesn’t know where Evan went, but is captured by an intruder who quickly overpowers her. Nelle is forced into the basement and tied to a chair, the intruder’s only command is that she makes a phone call. Once Evan returns homes, he is surprised by the intruder and knocked out quickly. Things go from bad to worse in their secluded house, where no one can hear them, with a vaguely familiar intruder, and a dangerous secret between Nelle and her husband Evan that is could mean the death of them both.

The premise of this story was so interesting. It was full of suspense, you can picture the sprawling house in the secluded neighborhood, feel the violence reigning down on Evan and Nelle. Talk about secrets and lies between a married couple and what happens when the truth is found out! The book starts off great, it draws you in and gets you hooked. But then, there seems to be a lot of fluff. It quickly became the story that never ends, and I was waiting for it to just end. There was so much going on, almost as if there were two different stories thrown together to add pages to a book. I felt it should have been a little more simple, and a lot less words. There was the potential for a really good suspense thriller, but it just lost steam along the way.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I give it 2.5 to 3 stars because the potential was there, and I like the overall storyline.

Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book.

The beginning of the story had me flipping through quickly (I was also super freaked out in the initial pages!) MacLeod is a great writer. The graphic violence (at times) was a little much for me but I was able to skim through those parts to continue the thrill and suspense. At first I thought this would be similar to the plot line of the movie Cellular but I was pleasantly surprised at the originality. I'd read more from this author and recommend to friends that also enjoy this genre.

A fabulous premise, with a beginning and ending that portray the very definition of suspense; however, I think the bones of the story were a bit muddled by filler content regarding secondary plots and daily, house hunting humdrum. Definitely would give another book by this author a try!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: July 20, 2021
Nelle and Evan Pereira have finally purchased their dream home, a secluded house in the woods of Massachusetts. But a few weeks later, Nelle is accosted and tied up in her home, with the perpetrator insisting she make one phone call, or he will kill her. Desperate to survive, Nelle agrees to do whatever her captor asks for, but when Evan returns home and he, too, is tied up, Nelle sees her chances of survival diminishing. Who is the man and what does he want? Is it possible that the secret Nelle and Evan have been keeping has gotten out? Will they survive?
Bracken McLeod’s newest novel, “Closing Costs”, is a tantalizingly addictive tale, told from the perspective of Nelle and Evan, before and after the closing date of their new home, as well as the suspect’s perspective, both before and after the event. Each segment and chapter is clearly marked, with the closing date as the baseline (“six weeks before closing”, “twelve days after closing”, etc) so it is easy to follow the plot.
Right off the bat, it is obvious that Nelle and Evan are keeping a secret, but the details aren’t revealed until about halfway through the book, and it’s obvious from this point on that no good will come of it. The story did not immediately capture my interest, but once I had reached this point, it quickly picked up and soon became page after page of action and suspense.
Anything that can go wrong for Nelle and Evan do, as one captor comes for them, followed by two more (who are there for another entirely different reason). Soon Nelle and Evan are battling two completely separate groups of intruders, and the plot holds a Hollywood-action-movie level of unrealism and lacks believability. However, there is no shortage of action, with gun fights, physical altercations and escape attempts- “Closing Costs” definitely has an exciting plot.
The conclusion provided the right amount of closure, and I was grateful that it held some realism in that it was not an entirely happy or positive ending.
I am a new reader of McLeod’s, although he has several novels, novellas, and short story collections under his belt. He definitely has writing chops, and I appreciated his developed writing style, realistic characters and action-packed plot. “Closing Costs” is definitely a suspenseful page- turner!

I was interested in this after reading the summary, but it just didn't work for me. The pacing was inconsistent. Parts were way too wordy, and other parts way too vague. Some parts were totally unbelievable, even for fiction. These combined to take away from the thriller impact and stressful situations and scenes that had potential but failed.

DNF
Read 38%, not my cut of tea.
Will not leave review on any site
Thank you for granting me access to this book

Good strong story, fell flat half way through. Not my favorite from this author, but will not denture me from reading others.

Nelle and Evan Periera come into a large amount of money – illegally. They don’t believe they will ever get caught and decide to finally buy their dream house out in the wilderness. All is going well until Nelle finds a stranger in the home and ends up tied to a chair in her basement, with Evan soon beside her. This must be the price for the lies, secrets, and mistakes they have made. They must now figure out how to stay alive and why they are being held captive. Flashbacks show us happier days in their lives, which is a welcome break from the unbelievable tension of this tale. There is graphic violence throughout the story, along with many twists and turns right up to the end. All in all, a satisfying read!

Thank you Netgally for this copy of Closing Costs; unfortunately, it either wasn't for me or it's not ready yet for print. The pacing was incredibly awkward and inconsistent, and, on top of that, it feels like the writer said too little in way too many words. The play by play was over the top and it took away from the suspense that could have built up in the stressful hostage situations and torture scenes presented. I went into this book thinking it would have a creepy House Hunters vibe, but from what I can tell, it's mostly just a home invasion story. The main characters clearly have a dark past and have made some questionable choices that then put them the lucky position of owning a beautiful country home. Now their shady choices are catching up to them and they're being asked to pay. It all sounds so good, but this book just didn't grip me enough to stay engaged.

Nelle is a mortician and married to the love of her life Evan Pereira. Nelle finds a memory stick in the rectum of a body on her table. After she and Evan open the contents of this stick she comes into lots of money. Due to their new financial status they move from the city and purchase a home in a secluded area which is the start of their most horrific nightmare.

What I liked most about this book is the authors description of the characters and their back grounds which brings them to life so you actually get to know them. What I didn’t like was this book left me unable to read anything else for a few days until I digested what I read. This book is not for the faint at heart, this is a thriller and will leave you making sure your home is SECURED!

Nell and Evan have found and purchased the home of their dreams. They seem to have gone from living hand to mouth to a more relaxed financial situation. When Nell finds herself hostage in her own basement, she wonders what could have led to this? Evan arrives home and he is subdued and becomes the second hostage. Can either one of them escape?

This story has lots of secrets. As each comes to light the circumstances Nell and Evan are in make much more sense. The main characters are interesting but need more development. This is an interest look at big lies, little lies, and the people caught in them.

Nelle and Evan Pereira are living the dream in their new quiet and somewhat isolated house. Although they came up with the money in a not so honest way, they feel like they made the right decision and are living a simple life.

One day Nelle wakes up to find Evan is not at home, but she is not alone in the house. An intruder marches her down to the basement and ties her up, and when Evan finally returns home from a quick trip to the store, he is tied up too. Although they think this may be related to the money, they soon discover the intruder is the former owner of the house, and he has a strange request.

This is a very unique and intriguing story, and although the ending was not to my liking, this was a very good read.

Thank you, NetGalley for an advance read of this thriller......which seemed like a combo of a lost chunk of 'Pulp Fiction' (minus the snappy dialogue) and a house-flipping episode on one of those home improvement cable channels.
So what we have here is an attractive young couple, newly upscale, who move out to a spacious suburban home in the middle of freakin' nowhere. Their upscale-ness comes from a vast stash of ill-gotten funds they've stumbled into......and illegally helped themselves to. (At this point, the reader would start silently muttering..."this will not bode well...")
And sure enough it doesn't. The new house, exhaustively refurbished by the previous owners, proves to be ground zero for a whole variety of brutal home invaders.. They may have varying motives and agendas, but they've got this much in common - they're all lethal, violent, well armed, short-tempered. and stage their home invasions more or less at the same time.
Wow, talk about bad timing.....and the nearest neighbor is away on vacation.
What a bummer for our young couple.......whom, as you might expect, endure chapter after chapter of terrifying, extreme physical punishment at the hands of their variety of tormentors.
While the first half of the book engages in some backstory time-shifting, by the time you're halfway into it , the story becomes a drawn out survive-against-impossible=odds ordeal. And the last third settles into a very, very long hunt-chase-fight-escape duel that might leave you as exhausted as the participants.
I''ll have to admit though, author MacLeod had me racing through these chapters to see how things go for this hapless couple, even if these characters aren't particularly sympathetic or well=developed. His suspense and action sequences do the job of making your heart race faster.
As long as you don't expect all sorts of twists and surprises (it's not that kind of thriller)) "Closing Costs" is moderately entertaining. And for anyone who loves a prolonged, extended and gory showdown with an especially loathsome, villain, then this book does deliver that, with a vengeance..