The Cottage: The gripping new crime suspense thriller with a difference: The gripping new 2021 crime suspense thriller with a difference

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If anyone else has read Cathy Glass books (same author ) it is written in an “explanation “ within the observations…. She knows exactly the right thing to say. She doesn’t mind talking about what happened to David. She said I could talk to her whenever I wanted to. She understood. I even asked her what David looked like." This is a really unusual story. It's definitely a thriller, but it had a real horror movie feel to it. If I had to sum it up, I would say it was a mixture of The Strangers and Offspring. It was super creepy and unsettling, even if it was pretty predictable.

After losing her job and long-term boyfriend, Jan Hamlin is in desperate need of a fresh start. So when the opportunity arises to rent a secluded cottage on the edge of Coleshaw Woods, she jumps at the chance.

If police were looking for footprints and it had rained within an hour or two, it was explained that the rain would have washed the prints away! Surely a reader could deduce this without a verbal teaching aide? PS: Its odd that the main characters were called Jan/Ian. And why so many authors have started to name their heroines with gender-neutral names? What's wrong with Janet or Janice? Or is that some sort of new requirement now? This one has set on my Netgalley queue for a long while and, as it turns out, for a reason. I do try to be discerning when it comes to mystery thriller selections for there are simply too many for them out there, but it isn’t always possible. And so, sometimes books like this slip through. Overview: I've been looking forward to reading this book ever since my friend said she read it in a day because she couldn't put it down. It certainly didn't disappoint and I finished it early because I was so intrigued to keep reading, but in all seriousness, this is the most f**ked up book I've read! And it's based on a true story? 🤢🤢 In this story newly single and unemployed Jan Hamlin (29) and married couple Ian and Emma Jennings, who have been through their baby's stillbirth find their lives interwined in very strange way...

She's pretty happy where she is .. except things she can't explain starting happening. First it's a tap on the window .... and strange noises outside. The dog goes crazy trying to get outside, so Jan knows it's not just her imagination. Jan refuses to be scared off.. but whoever or whatever isn't going away. The forest is holding secrets ... and Jan finds the nightmare is only beginning.This is one of those books, once started, the reader will not want to put down. The atmosphere is dark .. with an isolated cottage set alongside a forest, devoid of light and full of shadows. Well written, the story line is positively full of many twists and turns that lead to an unexpected conclusion. For one thing, the author is simply too prolific for quality to enter the equation. She has a good working idea of how these things are done and plies the formula. Flat writing and flat characters and a thoroughly predictable plot included.

As a writer of suspense thrillers I often ask myself what if? What if this happened instead of that? Or why a particular person reacted as they did. So often fact is stranger than fiction and these books start with a fact which I develop. You may be surprised to know, for example, just how many patients experience changes in their likes and dislikes after a transplant operation ~ The Darkness Within. Or how easy it is to look into someone’s home through their CCTV ~ Stalker. These seemingly unrelated stories intertwine themselves in an interesting way. However, for most of the book it does feel like two completely different stories and (just my opinion) they probably should have been because they didn't intersect in a meaningful way for me. I was much more invested in Ian and Emma's story. It was tragic, it was weird and it was suspenseful. With Jan's story, it had it's moments and gave me some creepy vibes for sure, but my attention did waiver during her chapters.

As ever, I'll update when I either fall off the ladder through utter boredom of listening or the book is finished. A change of life a breakup, all that might be able to be eased by making a new start somewhere else.