This book is a little bit of a inegma for me. I'm not too sure what I thought of it. On the one hand I liked how the storyline was quite intense and I really wanted the main characters to be safe. However on the other hand the removal man aka the bad person talked way too much and it took a bit of the drama and edginess away for me. But all in all it was ok but a few things could have been done better.

The story began on a really creepy note. Rose and Noah feel there's an intruder in their house. Wherever they go, they seem to be followed. Finally, Rose manages to hoist Noah onto the compound and out to freedom. But she sees two arms extending from the trench and pull Noah down.

Then comes the tedious and tiring part. Our villain, the removal man, talks a lot. Rose is planning her escape while the removal man is going on and on, telling her his stories. He wants her to help him move his luggage and in return, he would let Noah free.

I had high expectations when the story began. Honestly, I don't think I have ever read a book that starts with as creepy note as this one. But the second half of the story was not something I expected and not in a good way.

I really loved R.J. Parker's The Good Neighbour but unfortunately, I cannot say the same about The Removal Man.

I love it when an author comes out with a fresh and entirely different plot, this one really excited me when I read it. It has a tense and creepy feeling towards it, you never know what may happen. It kept me on edge, thinking that Rose was all alone in the house with her son Noah, I would be scared out of my head. I felt as though she was very brave even if she did not feel it. She knew she had to do it for her son. It was such a page turner I did not want the story to end, it is thought provoking and chilling knowing that it could happen to anyone. Such a great story that I want to read again.

I received an ARC of, The Removal Man, by R.J Parker. Rose is one cool customer. One night sleeping in the tent with her son before they move, what could happen?

I'm not sure why any mother would allow her very young son to camp out in a garden alone while she stayed indoors, drinking wine. However, this is the premise so I ran with it. Needless to say, things go very wrong and Rose and Noah are in for a night of terror. The book is well written and there are some very suspenseful passages that kept me reading, although I longed for the villain to just shut up for a while. It passed a couple of hours but, sadly, is instantly forgettable.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

We meet Rose as she packs up the last few boxes of her belongings and watches as the removal company load the bigger furniture into the lorry and take it away. She and Noah have one last night at the house before they move on to the next chapter of their lives. They're moving to an apartment without a private garden so when Noah asks if he can camp out in the garden one last time Rose feels it would be too harsh to say no despite it hardly being the ideal weather to do so. Maybe she should have trusted her mother's instinct and suffered a sulky child rather than gone through the events which would follow.

It's only a few hours into Noah's camp-out when he appears at the door frantically knocking, with a look of fear in his eyes. Rose goes out with him to investigate as he is convinced there is someone in the garden. After a good search round Rose is happy that there is nobody there, but Noah wants the reassurance of her company out in the tent, so she resigns herself to an uncomfortable night without sleep. Never a fan of the outdoor lifestyle Rose knows she won't settle but soon becomes aware of the sounds her son reported earlier. From this point on the story takes a very sinister turn.

As a book reviewer I hate to give any spoilers away, but this edge of your seat thriller really does need to be read without knowing anything other than the setting detailed above. There is an extremely small cast of characters which creates a tight, pressure cooker atmosphere. Once you realise that Noah and Rose are not imagining the sounds they hear and where they originate from your mind goes into overdrive as regards who, why and how they are happening. I flew through this book in a day, and it really is an appropriate signing for the publisher as you really do want to read "one more chapter" (then another and another) as each one leaves you on a cliffhanger as to how and if Rose and Noah are going to make it to their new home the next day.

Some parts of the story are perhaps a little far-fetched - buy hey, it's fiction after all and a little bit of artistic licence never hurt embellish a story. It certainly had my pulse racing at regular intervals throughout - especially once we found out quite what the intruder was capable of prior to making their presence known that evening - and I honestly wasn't sure which of the characters was going to come out on top at the end.

A top-notch page turner, one which I was glad to be reading in daylight hours!

This book was nuts! While entirely unbelievable, it is one heck of a thriller. The pacing was great, it really kept you turning the pages. The characters were also really good, the bad guy was really crazy, and the woman was pretty level-headed throughout. I mean as much as she could be with a psycho playing games with her. The son was never really a big character, I found him more of a motivator for the mom. The plot was not believable, but it did make for an interesting story. All in all, it was a crazy and fast read.

I’d like to thank HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Removal Man’ written by R J Parker in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Rose and nine-year-old Noah have packed up their possessions ready to move to a new home. Noah asks to spend the night camping in their garden but is woken when he hears something moving outside his tent. He bangs on the window to wake Rose who comes into the garden to check for intruders but it isn’t until she sees the silhouette of a man looking down at them from Noah’s bedroom window that she realises they need to get away and call for help.

R J Parker’s latest thriller must be everyone’s greatest nightmare, but worse! The story tells of a sociopath who’s so menacing and wicked he believes everything he does is just and for the greater good. It’s fraught with danger as Rose and Noah’s lives are put at risk, and as the tension goes up a gear it gets so exciting that I’m turning the pages ever faster and finish it in less than twenty-four hours. This is one of the scariest thrillers I’ve read in a long time. From page one I kept looking over my shoulder and I’m so glad I read it in daylight as I don’t think my heart could have coped with it in the dark. This is a gripping thriller that’s compulsive reading and I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

The Removal Man
by R. J. Parker

Thank you so much NetGalley & HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Well, It was slow, and yes, creep. The suitcases, and the sociopath playing his evil mind games. It did begin to wear down midway for me. But, it was more creepy than mystery.

Decent suspense at first but it got more tedious than thrilling towards the end.

Rose and her son Noah are moving out of their house and the removal men just came. Except one came back and he wants the suitcases he has buried in the cellar and he needs Rose to get them. Rose is determined to protect her son Noah at all costs. The cat and mouse dynamic of this book got a bit trying at times and the ever hopeful Rose's naivete made it all the more irritating.

I was white knuckling this book when I first started reading it. However, when I had to put it down and come back to it some of that suspense was lost. It picked up again towards the end but at the end of the book I was just frustrated more than anything. It is the classic dumb heroine who does everything wrong throughout most of the story.

The book was okay but not really feeling like I'd read anything else from this author.

The first time I have read anything by this author, and it certainly won’t be the last. I read this so, so quickly, and at more than one point I read with my heart racing!
The suspense is held all the way through so well! It’s a real claustrophobic, creepy thriller and he has created a character so evil! I really was wowed by the ability to turn an every day person who you’d not even take much notice of, into someone so menacing and it certainly made me check the locks!!
What really shone for me is how well he conveys a mother emotion, the desperation and feelings are intense and consuming, just as they should be.
I loved the ingenious twists and turns, how the story unravels to get more and more terrorising as you read. A fantastic thriller, I cant wait to explore more writing by this author.

This book was so good, a great storyline and an even better ending, I couldn’t put it down once I started reading it x

WOW!! What an action packed, edge of your seat thriller. Things started in the first chapter and never stopped. I couldn’t put it down and I barely blinked as I read the entire book in one sitting.

It’s amazing the whole story took place in one place and in one evening. I highly recommend you read this intense thriller. I won’t spoil it by giving any detail so just read it and enjoy. You won’t be disappointed by this book.

A thousand thank you’d to One More Chapter for the invite to read this edge of your seat thriller. Held my breath through much of it, maybe because I’m claustrophobic!!

My second R.J. Parker and I'm definitely loving his writing style. This one gave me Panic Room vibes and I read the whole thing in 24 hours. There were some reviews that complained about the start being too slow but I loved the tension and suspense.
Rose and her nine year old son Noah are camping out in the backyard when a series of spooky sounds scare them back to the house, where what's lurking in the shadows comes out to play. It sounds supernatural but the giveaway is in the title. Quite literally, the removal man who helped them a few hours ago has come back for more.
Parker managed to keep the tension at a dull roar throughout the entire story, with only brief flashback scenes giving some relief. There were definitely some skeletons in this book but nothing too graphic. Loved it.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book.
I was gripped straight away and I loved how the story jumped straight into the plot.
I found it to be a fast, easy read with short chapters that really helped the story flow and made me want to keep reading.
I read this in one sitting as I found it to be so gripping and entertaining.
I felt a bit breathless after finishing it as I found it to be tense throughout the entire story.

Thank you to HarperCollins, One More Chapter, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Removal Man by R.J. Parker is a no-holds-barred survival thriller that will appeal to fans of No Exit or Mirrorland. The story revolves around Rose a single mother, who has set up a tent in the backyard for her son Noah. They are about to move to a new house, and Noah wants to spend one last night outside. What they don't know is that someone is waiting for them...

Here is a creepy excerpt from Chapter 1:

"Maynard strolled back up the drive, an insincere smile already primed for Rose. ‘OK, we’re full up for this trip. If you can just give me a signature.’ He held out a digital screen, but he was still a few steps away.
‘Sure.’ She extended her hand but he slowed his pace, almost as if he wanted her to hold her arm out longer. Something about Maynard’s impish manner made her uncomfortable. He was probably in his early sixties and had only the top row of his teeth bleached. The bottom ones were more noticeably yellow because of it. And she didn’t like the way he’d ruffled her son’s hair. Who honestly did that to other people’s kids anymore?
‘Use your finger.’ He handed her the unit."

Overall, The Removal Man is an action-packed thriller that you won't be able to put down. I sped through this book, because I had to know what happened next. I ended up finishing this book in a day. One highlight of this book is how utterly terrifying it is. I read a lot of thrillers, but this one had me on the edge of my seat, terrified to look over my shoulder. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of thrillers in general, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in April!

Bet you can't read just one more chapter .... This suspenseful novel moves along at a breakneck pace of short chapters that leave you dying to find out what happens next. The main character is a mom trying to protect her son and is easy to root for. The villain is bit mustache-twirling over-the-top, but scary.

In The Removal Man, we follow Rose and her son, Noah, as navigate their worst nightmare - someone is in the house.

I love thrillers. I love scary movies. Simply put, I enjoy being scared.

I did not enjoy this book. There wasn't a single moment where I felt scared or that I couldn't walk away from the book and never pick it up again. Rose, the main character, annoyed me. I understand why she lacked confidence but it got to the point where it didn't feel real. It felt as though R.J. Parker was trying too hard to make her seem weak.

Our antagonist (I'm leaving details out so not to spoil anything) was definitely a sociopath and that's the best written part of this book. He truly did embody evil and is the only reason this book is getting 2 stars instead of 1. I did feel that his monologues were true to a narcissistic sociopath - but they did get a little breathy.

I don't like to give away spoilers when doing a review so it's hard to give my in-depth feelings but my final note would be that the storyline was just nuts. It didn't feel realistic to me at all.

At the end of the day, if you are looking for an edge of your seat thriller, I would recommend you go elsewhere.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

OMG WHAT A READ!!!
Packed to the rafters with tension and suspense, I literally have no nails left. Rose and her son Noah are home alone, their house is packed up. The removal men have been and this is their last night in their the house. Noah is camping in the garden. Rose is awakened in the night by banging on the lounge window .it is her son "Mummy there is someone in the garden". This is only the beginning and Rose will do whatever she can to protect her son. A terrifying, gripping read and the best book I have read by this author. Definitely a MUST READ!!!!!
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

I started this book thinking that it wasn't going to amount to much since I wasn't a fan of the writing style but then..... all of a sudden, everything kicks off and it just becomes terrifying and from then on I was hooked. Its so suspenseful and terrifying. Granted, not the most realistic but its fiction so wr can excuse that. I actually stopped noticing the things about the writing style that had initially annoyed me because I became so wrapped up in the plot and couldn't wait to see what happened next. It absolutely keeps you on the edge of your seat and also will definitely have your hairs standing on edge. There's a very eerie and crazy undertone to the story which adds to how good it is. Such a good book!!