I loved The Dinner Guest by this author so I was excited to start this book. I was captivated by this dark psychological mystery and was immediately hooked from the first page.

I found it quite a sad story as it starts with the death of Stephanie's husband Josh and teenage son in a car accident. The book is written in the present day as well as jumping back in time as secrets about past events in the family's life are revealed. Why was Danny so unhappy before he died and how were the Franklin family across the road involved?
The plot felt very believable and the characters were very easy to identify with. The Franklin family were fascinating and I particularly liked Jonathan Franklin who becomes close to Danny before his death.

As well as feeling quite creepy and sinister as we gradually get to know the Franklin family this was also such a heartbreaking story as Stephanie tries to come to terms with her loss.

I loved the build up of tension in the Franklin house and couldn't stop turning the pages to find out what had happened and if Stephanie would uncover the truth.

I would highly recommend this one! B.P Walter is definitely an auto buy author for me now. A 5 star read for me!

This is a slow burn build up as you get to know the characters and their backgrounds. You can feel the tension between the Stephanie and the Franklins. There has been an explosion nearby and Stephanie uses it as an excuse to visit the Franklin's.

I just love the back and forth in time. It's very similar to The Dinner Guest, which I loved. As the secrets are told you know it's leading up to a big reveal. The storyline had me hooked and wanting to know more.

I'm not sure what ending I was expecting but I was left with questions after they went in the attic. It felt a bit unfinished and swept under the carpet. That said I found it very entertaining and enjoyable and it's 4.5 stars from me

Tension Fuelled Domestic Noir…
Tension fuelled domestic noir with a thread of underlying menace to keep the reader immersed from the offset. With a solid cast of well crafted and credible characters, a plot peppered with twists and misdirection and a thread of empathy when dealing with one major theme - grief. Plotting is as well done as ever, secrets and lies exposed in a drip feed and the sinister feel successfully maintained until the, perhaps, unexpected denouement. A worthy addition to this authors’ canon.

The book begins with Stephanie waking up in the hospital following some traumatic event. Her thoughts are muddled and her memories fuzzy at best but as the book progresses we see how this all came to be.

It all started when her and her husband, Peter, and son, Danny, moved to their new quiet residential neighborhood far from the lights of London. Here they meet the Fitzpatrick's from across the street, Robert and Janet, along with their children, Mimi and Jonathan. At first Stephanie's delighted because Jonathan is Danny's age and she'd love for her son to make a friend before school starts up.

Danny and Jonathan do hit it off and over time become great friends. Stephanie is happy for her son but the more she gets to know Janet and Robert the more she dislikes them. Their snobby, pretentious, and condescending. Janet especially with her barbed comments and snide remarks usually aimed at Stephanie herself.

Then the boys seem to have a falling out and Danny becomes sullen and morose. Stephanie begs him to tell her what's wrong but Danny won't budge and makes it clear he doesn't want to talk about it. This drags on for months until a tragedy occurs taking her husband and child away. Now she'll never know what was bothering her son. One thing is for sure, the Fitzpatrick's know more than what their saying, Jonathan in particular. So when explosions at a near by electrical plant begin she decides this is her time to discover what's going on in the Fitzpatrick's home. With the excuse of not wanting to be alone while chaos ensues outside she finds herself on their doorstep and knocking on the door. She's certain that Janet will be unable to turn a grieving woman away in her time of need and she was right.

What she discovers is much more than she bargained for.

I've had an interesting relationship with this author. I loved his book The Dinner Guest and I wasn't even able to finish his book The Woman on the Pier so this book was my chance to see how I really feel about this author going forward.

This book had an intriguing beginning but I'll be honest and say that I figured out at the start what the secret was between the boys. It seemed very obvious to me but maybe other readers won't pick up on it as I did. We also have the mystery of what's in the attic and I have to say this part of the book is hardly mentioned until the very end of the story making me feel like the title and the synopsis are definitely misleading. Now I'm not saying there isn't a secret up in the attic, there is, but it was just totally lackluster and eye roll inducing. And not to mention, gross. I can't say that the pay out was worth my time I spent with this book unfortunately. In the future I won't be requesting arcs from this author anymore but I may grab a library / Overdrive copy if the reviews from my trusted friends are positive. 3 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for my complimentary copy.

I was confused for several of the first chapters and then bored as nothing was happening. And then I was confused again because so many things didn't quite add up. This just wasn't for me.

The Locked Attic is a solidly entertaining domestic thriller. I was a bit confused at first about the timeline jumping around, and I never did figure out how the explosions factored into the story. Overall, an easy book to recommend to those who enjoy this genre. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Locked Attic was a very quick read for me. I really enjoyed the different chapters going back and forth between different timelines with Stephanie and Danny, primarily Stephanie. There is more to this story than the mystery of what was going on with Danny. But it’s better to go in not knowing too many details. A strange explosion sets the backdrop for Stephanie spending a day with the Franklins. A very odd day for them all as secrets begin to be revealed. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for the ARC!!

This one wasn't really it for me. I was really excited from reading the blurb and had high hopes but I really did struggle to get into it. Its very character driven with very little action actually happening and this whole plot of the book is based on nothing more than teens who stopped spending time together.... which happens more or less daily. There's also some massive freak explosion which has no relevance or point what so ever and is literally just thrown in so the plot can go a certain way. I'm well aware it's fiction so not everything has ti be realistic but I just couldn't connect with this one or the characters

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from HarperCollins UK and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Compelling thriller that has you on the edge of your seat.

This was a gripping page-turner that drew me in from the outset. The premise was interesting, there were some good plot ideas, and the characters and their relationships were well crafted (albeit one of them particular was a complete cliché). Sadly the ending was a huge let-down - I actually had to scroll back and forth a couple of times to check I hadn't missed a page or chapter.

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

The Locked Attic by B P Walter is a domestic thriller that touches on a lot of dark topics. The story revolves around Stephanie, whose husband and son recently died in a car accident. Stephanie is now recovering from the accident, but she wants answers. Before the accident, her son had been acting weird and mopey around the house for months. Does this have something to do with the package that she caught her son giving the neighbor's son? What was in the package? And what caused her son's personality change before his death?

Here is a gripping excerpt from the Prologue:

"I am in hospital. Confused, in pain, broken.
Desperately, I try to find something about my situation that might calm me, and try to force my brain to focus on the ambient sound of nurses hurrying around and patients demanding food and medication – continuous white noise that’s distracting, yes, but not exactly soothing.
Sinister shapes and sounds move through my mind, like a shifting fog, sometimes obscuring, sometimes revealing. I can remember snatches of what happened. Broken fragments that are never quite properly defined. It’s like I’m behind a wall of glass of ever varying density and transparency.
How did I end up here?"

Overall, The Locked Attic is a domestic thriller with a ton of plot twists. One highlight of this book was the plot twists. There were numerous plot twists that I wasn't expecting at all. I did take off 1 star, because there were too many time jumps, and I often felt confused. Everything does eventually make sense by the end. In addition, after finishing the novel, I didn't feel entirely satisfied. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of domestic thrillers in general, I recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in November!

Another brilliant thriller from B P Walter. Here the dark, twisting plot is intertwined with the exploration of a teenage boy's psyche - and managing to be both breathtaking thriller and bildungsroman is quite the feat! A real page turner - I read it in one sitting, and eagerly await Walter's next book

I read this book in one sitting it was a completely addictive read that kept me utterly gripped. I was on the edge fo my seat and the book is filled with twists so I was expecting a final one but I didn't see it coming.

I have really enjoyed all of the books by the this author and this was no exception.
Stephanie is living alone in her family neighbourhood, following the tragic deaths of her beloved son and husband. Her across the street neighbours are still a family, 2.4 children and a nuclear family. Except that Stephanie has a secret involving Richard, the dad from across the street. Which in turn means that Richard has something to hide in his locked attic…..

This book kept me guessing and would recommend to anyone who enjoys a riveting tale.

The Locked Attic by B P Walter is an interesting and intriguing story about two houses opposite each other where the married couples are completely different from each other.
The male, Richard has something hidden away in his locked attic and his wife, Janet is full of how wonderful her children and her life is, while the two teenagers don’t seem to agree with their mother’s version.
Stephanie married Pete when she was pregnant with Danny, they both were happy with their marriage. Then both Pete and Danny were killed in a traffic accident and Stephanie was left alone.
Until one day everything came to a head at the Franklyn’s house and the truth came out eventually.
Highly recommended

This wasn’t a “can’t put it down” book for me and as a result I struggled to get through it. I kept waiting for the “wow!” moment only to find myself at the last page thinking “Is that it?” I’ve enjoyed other books by BP Walter but The Locked Attic missed the mark for me.
Thank you to HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I found The Locked Attic impossible to put down. It’s a gripping, tense psychological thriller of a read that keeps you enthralled to the end. I enjoyed how the plot unfolded and transversed between past and present and can highly recommend it. Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins UK, One s’more Chapter and the author for the chance to review.

Stephanie awakes in hospital, disorientated, sore and unsure of how she got there. Memories fleetingly return and she realises its to do the the Franklins, her neighbours over the road on Oak Tree Close. Prickles shudder down her spine when she further realises it concerns what is hidden in their attic. The novel then backtracks seven months to when Stephanie picks up her son Danny and his friend Jonathan Franklin from a party in October. Both act oddly and it’s from that point things begin to spin out of control. The truth unfolds in various timelines, principally narrated by Stephanie but with some input from Danny.

I really like the way this latest novel from BP Walter is told. I am full of intrigue with the little pieces of the dramatic but elusive puzzle with many shocks and surprises that keep you reading on. The characterisation is very good especially of Stephanie but also of Janet and Richard Franklin and I’ll leave the ‘joy’ of them to future readers. The standout portrayal for me though is the teens, Danny and Jonathan and their friendship is conveyed so well. The Franklin family dynamics are fascinating and oh, to be a fly on their walls!

The plot is busy but not overloaded, there’s plenty of drama and one particular event gives the novel an almost dystopian feel, though it’s an intense backdrop to situations that are building to a head. There’s suspicion which changes to fear with suspense, tension, lies and strange behaviour that is hard to make sense off which gives the escalating confrontations a full head of steam. The ending is good and the last chapter is quite moving.

Overall, a good and well written psychological thriller that is very compelling.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to HarperCollins/One More Chapter for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

A fast-paced and thoroughly entertaining addition to the genre. A recommended purchase for collections where thrillers are popular.

This psychological thriller was tense and, at times, heartbreaking. Told using several timelines, which I really liked and, occasionally, from a second point of view, which added a lot to the story, it was fast paced and a quick read.

I really liked the characters of the mom and her son. You knew from the beginning that the son and the husband died recently in a car accident. In the months leading up to the accident the son had become withdrawn and moody. Stephanie, the mom, now thinks the neighbors across the street know more than they’re telling about the friendship between their two sons and wants to explore the impact that friendship had on her son.

The story was compelling and enjoyable with lots of twists and turns. Unfortunately, it all lead up to a somewhat abrupt and disappointing ending.

My copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to the the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and honestly review it.