Christmas 1966 and the boys at the remote Foxwood Manor boarding school have all gone home for the holidays – except for one. Alan Scott, whose mother has left him to spend Christmas at the school with the headmaster Dr Kemp and his wife. The quiet and calm is shattered when former pupil Martin Pryce arrives with his girlfriend Sophie, hellbent on revenge and destruction…a cat and mouse game ensues, which culminates in a horrific climax on Christmas Day.

Ohhh, I so wanted to like this book. It had a small cast, one location and a claustrophobic atmosphere, all of which should have made this a winner for me. But although I did finish it, it left me cold. I didn’t like any of the characters, not even really the young boy Alan. The book never makes it clear if Martin’s motivation for his actions was genuine or not – was he telling the truth or making things up? Did he even believe what he himself was saying? This is never resolved (possibly deliberately) and the thread is left hanging. There was a supernatural element which didn’t really work for me either, and I could have done without the completely unnecessary side angle of the bird in the barn.

It’s not often a book makes me feel like this, but it left me feeling on a downer and I was very relieved to finish it and move on. It wasn’t that the writing was bad – it wasn’t – and I have to agree that the setting of Foxwood Manor was suitably creepy for a creepy thriller, but unfortunately I did not enjoy this at all, and only finished it because once I start a book I can never let myself not read the whole thing. ( )

Merry Christmas, kid
the crows got all the presents
they'll eat well tonight. ( )

a good little thriller, read it in an evening. ( )