4 Stars from me
What’s that old adage – if something looks too good to be true, it probably is…
Clearly advice that Cass seems determined to ignore when her long-distance boyfriend of just 6 months suggests they live together in a murder house!
Employed as caretakers cum inventory writers, Cass and James move into the dusty old pile meaning they can save up for their own place while living and working in Newington House.
Each wrapped up in their own grief and troubled family circumstances, Cass and James don’t always communicate well and this paves the way for easy misunderstandings and unspoken concerns.
Louise Jensen skillfully turns this melting pot of scenarios into a tense psychological thriller that had me guessing all the way through, and being very unsure of who was trustworthy.
Louise Jensen has a wonderful way of drawing the reader into the story and I found myself quite cross with Cass and James jointly and individually – there was a delightful sense of unease and a strong undercurrent of building tension and darkness. I felt strongly that things were really not as they seemed and boy was I right but in a more sinister and depraved way than I could have imagined!
Overall, an intelligent and cleverly plotted psychological thriller.
Blurb: They were told to leave. They should have listened.
The perfect opportunity…
A manor house available rent-free to house-sitters is an offer too good to miss for Cass and James, who have been saving for a deposit on their own home for so long.
Although it had been abandoned for almost thirty years, after a home invasion left almost all the inhabitants dead, it is an amazing chance for them to build their future.
But is it worth the price?
Shortly after moving in things take a sinister turn. Objects disappear and turn up in odd places, the clock always stops at the same time, the house is strangely oppressive and sometimes it feels like Cass and James are not alone.
Newington House may have bad energy, and a dark reputation. But surely there’s no reason for history to repeat itself, is there?
Read and Rated 