This was a very slow burn psych thriller. The ominous feeling was set from the beginning. The prologue actually brought to mind “The Shining,” that kind of cat and mouse search that you just know will end badly.
Now extrapolate that through the whole book.
It’s a testament to the writing that I sometimes felt afraid to turn the pages because I didn’t want to see what was going to happen next – while at the same time not being able to stop because…well, I wanted to see what happened next.
The mood and setting were definitely gothic. A mysterious mansion, secrets, bouts of madness…all quite atmospheric. It allowed me to be sucked into the world of the characters. The author did a great job creating that.
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I thought Martha was an interesting character. She obviously knew something, but her dementia made her unreliable. The other characters (and the reader) never knew exactly what she was talking about. That was by design, and it was effective.
I obviously felt for Tess. She let herself get swept up in a romance that was totally a sham. As things took a darker turn, I kept rooting for her to get the nerve to do what had to be done.
While the domestic situation was awful, there were more pressures for her too. I shared Tess’ feeling of being suffocated from everything closing in on her.
Why is Martha watching the house? Who is sending Tess mysterious notes? Do Daniel’s “friends” have ulterior motives? How are all of the characters connected…or are they?
I loved the fact that everything didn’t really reveal until the very end of the book. By the time Tess begins to unravel the truth, it literally felt like a pressure cooker ready to explode. And boy does it ever. The surprises in the last quarter of the book keep coming, right up until the very last pages.
This was like a roller coaster that takes a long time to get to the top before setting off on a wild ride of unexpected twists and loops. It will keep you turning pages with dread and anticipation right to the end.
Author Bio:
Liz Lawler grew up sharing pants, socks, occasionally a toothbrush, sleeping four to a bed. Born in Chatham and partly raised in Dublin, she is one of fourteen children. She spent over twenty years as a nurse and has since fitted in working as a flight attendant, a general manager of a five star hotel, and is now working with trains. She became an author in 2017 when her debut novel Don’t Wake Up was published by Twenty7.
