This book was shorter than I realized when purchasing it.....this was apparently adapted from a screen play. I'm having a hard time rating this, it took me a bit to get into the story, and by the time it actually began to get good, it was over. The main female protagonist, Jess, rubbed me wrong from the start. While I usually appreciate writing that includes a realistic speaking format, and enjoy the use of cultural and demographically accurate accents and even slang, the clipped and grammatically inaccurate style of speak here quickly became annoying. I did like the conclusion and ending, but there are huge plot holes that are never satisfyingly explained. This story had loads of potential, but fell a bit short in execution. I do think I will try some other work by this author.

On a side note, I would recommend anyone who has the physical version of this book to view this cover under uv or black lights if you get the chance......I read while in the tanning bed and this cover is terrifying while glowing!! LOL! ( )

All the way through this book, I kept thinking this book should be a film, which makes perfect sense once I got to the end and read the author’s notes. The old woman struck me as the harbinger of evil, and there didn’t have to be anything supernatural about her to make me shudder. But this is horror, so nothing is straightforward. Present tense omnipresent isn’t really a style I love, but for this book, it’s perfect. We see the action from a wide camera lens, which does a good job rocketing up tension. I wasn’t terrified, but found this satisfying creepy with a conclusion I adored. A short but entertaining read that’s a perfect example of dark fiction, which I feel has a broader connotation than horror. I actually got the Hardback copy direct from Ritual Limited. ( )

Very disappointed fare here from a huge Adam Nevill fan. Consequently a low 3 stars from me and even that's being generous, from someone whose work I admire and know that he can do so much better,
It's short (which is certainly not a bad thing, as often his books need 'trimming) and he has reigned in from the excesses of his sometimes adjective heavy prose. Problem is, there are some decent ideas here but not fully explored which is certainly unusual for this author.
The characters are rather cliched and the spooky house - shades of House of small shadows ? - is not explored or the background to the story explained. One of the protagonists work colleagues appears at the end without any reason and there are a few other things left unexplained. In the author's notes at the end - he explains the shortness and how this came from a screenplay but I'm afraid this didn't work at all for me and I would say his weakest book so far. ( )