Digital Reads Reviews

Many thanks to publisher Bookouture for my spot on this Blog Tour.

The book chilled me up from the inside out.

Sophie was called to visit Caroline, wife to Dominic and mother to young Lucy. It had been 25 years since the friends had seen each other. Sophie had gone through the deaths of her parents, and needed a break. Off she went and found things a bit bizarre. Caroline was moody, Dominic was weird, and young Lucy didn’t speak. Not a word. Until Sophie found a secret. A clue, just like the Agatha Christie books, the 2 friends used to read in childhood.

Having read many books by author Jill Childs, I loved the dark vibe that surrounded me as soon as Sophie met Caroline. I loved how the author had detailed Sophie, insecure in some ways, but extremely loving. Her interactions with Lucy bespoke of her loving heart. The author’s talent lay in the subtle puffs of chiller air that she imbibed into the story. A shiver coursed down my spine many a time.

The writing was so compelling that my mind plotted where the story could go. There was a wickedness in the air, with clues at the right corners. Danger seemed to be impending on every page. The story forced me to read it with bated breath, there was a shadow which evaded my grip and kept urging me deeper into the story to find it and learn its secrets.

The story could feel to be slow burn, but it actually wasn’t. The whole air had the old fashioned feel to it, of something lost and something yet to be found. It send out those teasing feelers, daring me to keep reading, and get to the final secrets. Then what could I do?

I plunged deep, stayed afloat barely, and completed the book on one sitting. Almost in a single breath. I could get some parts of the story due to the clues laid bare, but it still had the power over me. I couldn’t stop reading.

A fun compelling breakfast read!!

I received a free ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, and this is my journey into its pages, straight from the heart!! STRICTLY HONEST AND UNBIASED.

All my reviews can be read here

I moved closer to the little girl, afraid that our voices would be caught by the monitor.
‘What happened to you, Lucy? Can you tell me?’

When Sophie’s life falls apart, she accepts an invitation from a childhood friend, Caroline, to visit her family’s beautiful beach house, situated at the mouth of an isolated cove, miles from the nearest town. The silence is broken only by the rhythmic crash of the waves against the jagged black rocks below.

But when Sophie arrives, she finds her friend much changed. Caroline – who used to be so warm and confident – is secretive and on-edge, spending long, unexplained hours away from her family. And then there’s Caroline’s little daughter Lucy – who stopped speaking soon after they moved in. Caroline assures Sophie that it’s only a phase, but Sophie thinks Lucy looks a little uncared for, a little afraid…

Then one night Sophie is woken by a scream and runs to find Lucy, out of bed and at the attic window, staring in terror at the view below. When Sophie goes to look, her blood runs cold…

What secrets hide behind closed doors in this isolated house by the sea?

Publication Date: March 2020