This book is spine tingling. You will not be able to put this down. I devoured this book. It stands out among the pack, in a world of cookie cutter books... This one is so refreshing. Once you pick this up, you're not going to do anything until you're done.

I have been a fan of Chris Merritt’s Detective Lockhart and Green series, so I was looking forward to reading his latest novel The New Home.
Freya and Jack move into a new home in the quite street of Sunnydale Road. It needs a lot of work done to it, but they are committed to doing it up. When they meet their new neighbours Emily and Michael and their daughter Thea they are impressed with their renovations and hope that they house will be similar, with an extension at the back like theirs.
Four months later, Emily and Thea go missing and her husband Michael and the Police don’t seem to be worried about them, so Freya decides on herself to search for them. Even going as far as setting up a webpage to see if anyone has information on their disappearance. But for Freya it seems to become an obsession and starts thinking the worse of the people around her. Jack is worried that history is repeating itself as Freya was like this before and was sectioned because of it. But Freya is determined to find them.
Thank you Bookoutre for a copy of The New Home. I really enjoy the author’s book, but I am afraid I have some mixed feelings for this one. Don’t get me wrong, this is still worth reading but I found the first half of the book just went on and on and on. I found the protagonist Freya quite irritating. I was only fully invested in it through the second half of this book, which had great twists and turns and a satisfactory ending. 3.5 stars from me.

I received a free ARC e-book copy of ‘The New Home’ by Chris Merritt through NetGalley from the publisher @Bookouture. I am grateful for the publisher approving my request and I was excited to read as I have seen this advertised a lot on twitter. The publication date for 'The New Home' is: 07/09/21.

This book is set at Sunningdale Road in the London suburb of Weybridge. Freya a documentary maker and her cardiologist husband Jack move into their new home. Although it needs a lot of work Freya dreams this will be their forever home.

Freya makes friends with the next-door neighbours Emily and Cathy as she tries to settle into her new neighbourhood. Suddenly Emily and her daughter go missing and once the police seem to not be interested Freya takes the investigating into her own hands.

She sets up a website to try and help find her friend and soon she gets posts which point towards Emily’s husband Michael and threats to stop looking into the disappearance.

Freya must fight her anxieties and try to work out who she can trust, whilst trying to find out the whereabouts of her friend Emily whether she is alive or dead.

I really enjoyed reading this book it had a great storyline and even when you think you may have worked out what is going on, you keep doubting yourself as the different events unfold. Freya is a relatable character, and in ways I could see myself wanting to find out the truth as much as she does, but maybe not to the lengths she goes.

Overall, a brilliant, unsettling thriller which has you thinking how much you actually know about what goes on behind closed doors and doubting if you can trust your neighbours.

Please note this review has been posted on my blog on the link below, the link posted on twitter & the review posted on Goodreads. I will post a review very similar on Amazon on the publication date.

i loved the twists and turns this story gave but i am not a fan of 1st person narrative and i found the story was a little too predictable and slow at times, also, the main character really annoyed me.

my thoughts and opinions are my own. thank you netgalley and the publisher

The New Home definitely gained my interest and was able to keep it throughout its entirety. Freya was not my favorite main character…she was very well developed but I was incredibly annoyed by her.

I liked the tie in of the different social and personal issues individuals deal with on a daily basis. Brought them into life in a subtle way.

I do wish there was a bit more wrapping up of the story at the end. I felt like we got the action and then the rest of the story was rushed. I wanted to know more.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am most definitely going to be picking up the detective series.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read and review this arc!

Documentary maker, Freya, and her doctor husband have moved into a new home to start a family, but things aren't going according to plan. Freya's career unexpectedly stalls and she suffers a miscarriage, which leads to tensions in her marriage. Her only consolation is the fast friendship she forms with her beautiful and charismatic neighbour, Emily. But when Emily and her young daughter go missing, Freya's obsession with finding them take her to the brink of insanity, that sees her risking everything she values in life.

Chris Merritt creates a convincing female protagonist in Freya, however, her irritating behaviour make it difficult to sympathise with her at times. An unreliable narrator, Freya's erroneous assumptions see her making choices that put both herself and others at risk and take the reader on a wild ride.

The New Home is an entertaining read with an unexpected twist at the end. Readers who enjoy whodunnits and tales of amateur sleuths will enjoy this novel.

This was an interesting account of a British cardiologist with 15 years experience, married to a complete nut who spends all her time and effort imagining scenarios for events she experiences. It definitely had its moments, but most of the plot was taken up with fantasizing totally implausible explanations. I found the plot very tedious and unrealistic, but I’m sure it will have wide appeal to those who like sort of thing.

The ending was absurd considering the geographical closeness of the neighbors, but then … it was fiction – really fictitious!

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Freya and her doctor husband move into an old house they intend to renovate. Freya's next door neighbour Emily soon becomes a good friend as Freya works from home. However not long after their friendship blossoms, Freya and her young daughter disappear. Freya is convinced that Emily's surly husband is responsible.

This is an engrossing mystery which is difficult to put down. Moreover it is a true psychological thriller. However, Freya does so many stupid things that it is quite annoying and lacks credibility. Readers familiar with this genre will recognise the plotting techniques so there are few surprises.

I found Freya to be such an annoying character, and have to admit that I skipped a good bit of the book purely to find out how it ended.
Thank you to Netgalley for the chance to read an ARC

Freya and Jack move into a new house together and Freya befriends their new next door neighbour Emily. Flash forward 4 months and Emily and her young daughter, Thea, have gone missing. Freya begins to investigate who would have the motive to make them disappear.

Freya was one of those main characters that was frustrating to read. She spends a lot of time throughout whining and being incredibly exasperating through her actions and jumping to conclusions. She does follow the stereotype of excessive drinking that is so commonplace in thriller books which personally I find overused but the unreliabilty of her as a narrator is well set up.

However, lots of twists and turns throughout kept me guessing right up to the end. The author did spread several clues throughout but even then I still didn't see the twist at the ending. It was only after that I could suddenly join the dots up.

Not my favourite book but a really solid novel. I particularly enjoyed some of the statistics thrown into the narrative about victims of DV. They were very eye-opening to such a common problem. I would definitely read the authors other novels in the future.

***Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader copy***

There now, it isn't as intresting as I though.. I agree it's a fantastic thriller and mystery but my problem is it doesn't feel realistic or possible.. I really liked the characters build up of Freya , Jack and Emily..
Goodness guys I don't know how to explain this book or Fraya without spilling out any beans
Anyways it's a great thriller if it's what your looking for.. coming to romance there isn't much to say... But the twist in romance ... That will get you !!

Overall a nice read.. but felt a bit creepy , the tension about Emily and Theya gave me good thinking .. but something felt off ... I guessing it's the strongness and depth of relationships and characters

I loved the ease of writing in this book. So often I read to relax, but get swept into pretentious plots and vernacular. Although this was a cozy comfort book, it was a bit drawn out, repetitive, and I didn't like the ending. At the end of the day, this book didn't leave much of a mark on me, for better or worse.

3.5 stars.

This book is really hard for me to review. At first, I thought it was slow - but engaging - but then it picked up and then the last quarter happened it fell a little.

First, it was slow and long but not unbearably. I think that there are parts that could've been cut, but at the same time, I think in this book, the little details matter. I also found myself becoming more interested in Freya's background issues than in the actual mystery. There were a lot of sensitive issues in this book and I think the author did them justice but I felt more of a connection to them than to the mystery. I think, also because we really only see Freya and Emily's friendship through Freya's flashbacks, at first, the obsession to finding her felt a little off. I also didn't guess the twist but I wasn't surprised at the ending. The ending, which fell a little flat and rushed was what bumped down the rating from 4 to 3.5.

Overall though, this book was engaging throughout and unlike most psychological thrillers, I felt a connection to Freya and both her personal issues and her struggles to find the truth.

A psychological thriller by Chris Merritt which is good in parts. The character development of the main couple is inadequate, which makes the resolution artificial. Neither the cause of the psychosis nor the reason for the obsession are explained and the partner is like a guest star who gets a part to play at the end. The pace also takes a hit with some chapters becoming irrelevant to the plot. A plot with a good suspense which misses the mark. 3.5 stars

Wow! Chris Merritt never disappoints when it comes to psychological thrillers.
Freya and Jack are starting their lives together in a fixer upper home. Their new neighbors, Emily and Michael, have a little girl Thea. When Emily and Thea go missing, Freya is determined to find out what has happened to them. Soon there are multiple suspects, including Jack, and Freya is becoming more paranoid that someone is after her as well. Unsure who to trust, Freya searches for answers, only to come up with more questions. Can she find her friends before the killer finds her?
Lots of twists and turns, suspected the guilty party earlier in the book, but not the ending.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Jack and Freya have moved into their new home.....a project of renovation. Both lead busy professional lives.....jack is a cardiac surgeon whilst Freya works from home making documentaries.

Freya is keen to meet the neighbours....on one side freya, marcus and their daughter Thea. On the other side an elderly woman who often seems forgetful leaving her front door open, at other times as sharp as a pin.

When Emily and Thea suddenly go missing Freya is convinced Marcus has a hand to play in this and makes it her mission to find out the truth. Simultaneously, she is fighting her own demons ,having just suffered a miscarriage. She enlists the help of a therapist to help her through this time which also highlights hidden secrets from her past. As jack uncovers this secret, Freya feels her mental state is being questioned. Even more determined to find Emily, Freya finds her life in danger.

Although i found this book a luttle slow at times, i really enjoyed the story with an ending i didnt predict. Would recommend reading.

Freya and Jack moved into their new home and settled in and got to know their neighbors. Freya grew especially close to her neighbor Emily. As Freya settled into her life and started renovating her house her friend Emily and her daughter disappeared. She became obsessed with their disappearance because months have went by and it seemed nobody was getting any closer to finding them. She was paranoid about everyone and everything so she started sneaking around to check out her hunches. As her search escalated strange things started happening to her and no one believed her. Freya feels she's in extreme danger and there is no one she can trust to help her. I thought the author did a great job of making every character seem guilty and I had no idea what was going to happen. I enjoyed the tension as it built up and really loved the ending.

Ok to be honest I was looking forward to this book but to be honest it dragged so so much. I finished it to know what happened but it seemed like it was never going to end.

I will say the ending surprised me. Didn't see that coming. That have it an extra star for me.

Of you looking for a messy, psychological thriller with a messy back ground this may be for you.

Freya and Jack move in to a new house in a new area for Jack’s work as a Cardiac Surgeon.
Isolated from her friends Freya strikes up a friendship with her neighbour Emily and her daughter Thea. Emily’s husband Michael is a bit odd, Freya’s other neighbour Cathy is also odd but Freya settles in to her new house.
Emily and Thea vanish, Michael doesn’t seem to care, neither do the police, but Freya is sure their disappearance has something to do with Michael.
As the story unfolds, it seems everyone had their secrets, including Freya.

I won’t say anything more about the plot so I don’t ruin it for anyone but for me the book was too long. It felt like there were a lot of filler chapters, where not much happened. There were parts of the story that ended up being irrelevant to the main plot. The reveal at the end was something I saw coming though everything did seem to be tidied up nicely.
Overall, there were a lot of chapters that really slowed the pace of the story down and that’s why it only gets three stars from me.
Thanks to NetGalley, the Publisher and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

A very good domestic thriller from Chris Merritt,The New Home finds Freya and Jack moving into a house whose neighbours seem on the outside to be a loving couple with an adorable little girl Thea but behind closed doors things are different between Micheal and Emily.So when Emily and Thea go missing and the police don’t seem bothered,it falls to Freya to try and find Emily and Thea.But she comes across obstacles everywhere she turns including Jack who thinks her increasing paranoia Is not good for her at all,in fact the only friendly face is Freya’s therapist Laurence who she sees after suffering a miscarriage.The book is written in short chapters which I think is a good thing and keeps you glued to the storyline,although I found the police storyline a bit far fetched because they just weren’t interested in looking for a mother and her daughter ! But overall it’s a good thriller with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing who is doing what and working out who Freya can actually trust.A very good stand-alone 4 star thriller,which I can recommend.