This is one of the first times I’ve ever needed Goodreads to have a ten stars option. Or eleven.

I read this book in five frantic hours - staying up much too late at night because I couldn’t stop reading, then forcing myself to try to get some sleep, tossing and turning, and then giving up at 4:30 am and picking it straight up to finish it. I read like 150+ books a year and NOTHING has compared to this book.

This story was not even close to what I was expecting. The writing is gorgeous perfection. The plot is dark and twisty and brutal and uncomfortable and scary and sad and creepy and then weirdly funny and then there’s another layer and another and another and it will make you have ALL OF THE FEELINGS AT THE SAME TIME.

Fancy author reviewers have called it “a true nerve-shredder” and “breathless” and “agonizing” and it is all of those things. I cannot stop thinking about this book and am ordering a UK edition because I need a hard copy in my hands NOW.

This is probably the hardest book review I've ever had to write. In the book we have Ted who lives with a teenage daughter and his cat Olivia. We get to see Ted as a child and how he was raised by his mother who is a nurse and his father who is more interested in drink. We meet Dee who's 6 year old sister, Lulu, was kidnapped at the lake close to Ted's house 11 years ago. And we spend a lot of time with Lauren and Olivia. I'm afraid to say much about the characters as I don't want to give anything away.

This book was everything I was not expecting. By the description, I expected more of a horror story but what I got was a story that was dark and sad. I can't recommend this book enough. I finished it last night and it is still twirling around in my mind. Very few books stick with me like this has. Do yourself a favor and pick this book up. If you do, you're in for a heck of a ride..

Holy cow, this book. I’ve been left with a lot to process and not in ways that I ever expected.

The blurb for the book simply describes it as a story of a serial killer, a stolen child, death, revenge, and an ordinary house on an ordinary street. It IS a story of all these things but none of it is what it appears.

I received an early review copy of the soon-to-be-published U. S. edition from Netgalley, and what interested me most was the general premise and it being advertised as both horror and mystery/thriller. I didn’t realize what I would get here, and while it ended up being very different than what I expected, it was an incredible read that ultimately left me processing and reflecting even more, not so much on the general plot or characters but on bigger ideas (like trauma, abuse, and survival, especially as it all relates to the brain).

And yes, you will find aspects of this novel to fit firmly within the horror genre. But then to say that this was not a fast-paced “twisty psychological mystery” would also be a lie, because it is that, too. I didn’t see all the subtle twists coming, but when I did, what a revelation.

If you tend to enjoy very twisty psychological thrillers, this will be a good one for you, but only as long as you can handle some tougher situations as well (situations that are more of what we see in horror novels ... not necessarily in the form of gore or scary beings but instead a quiet and uneasy violence all its own).

Content Warnings:
Graphic — child abuse, kidnapping, physics abuse, confinement, and mental illness
Moderate — child death, murder, violence, and medical trauma
Minor — animal death, death, death of parent, suicide, suicidal thoughts, and suicide attempt

Amazing. My type of horror! The writing was also great it provides a very atmospheric read that I enjoy all night long. Captivating and scary. I didn't know of this author, but I will look up for her in the future and look back to see if she ever did something else!! I highly recommend it!

The house is creepy, that’s all there is to it. It sits alone, abandoned at the end of a dead end street, surrounded by untamed forest. The inhabitants consist of a man who sits blankly, staring at a television, a teenage girl who is not allowed outside after dark and a cat. Ted is a shadow of himself these days and isn’t sure whether he looks forward to visits from his boisterous teenage daughter, or dreads them. Ted gets a new neighbor, Dee, who is sure that Ted is responsible for the disappearance of her little sister 11 years before. And Dee intends to make Ted confess to his crimes, no matter what it takes. A darkly told, thrilling contemporary Gothic