When Ash and Ellie decided to buy a house in the country, they were excited for the life that it was going to provide them. Ellie is especially intrigued by the next door neighbour, Benjamin, who has lived in area all his life in his family home and had redone the house and gardens. Ellie befriends Benjamin and is happy to have a close neighbour in the area when Ash is out of town. When Ellie discovers that her new house has a dark past and the prospect that Ash was keeping secrets from her, the idyllic country side living is starting to lose it's appeal. When strange things begin to happen around the house, from seeing her neighbour's sister around, to her new dog's obsession with the cellar, Ellie paranoia begins to go into over drive and she doesn't know who she can trust.
This is the first book that I have read by Beevis and she did a great job of keeping the suspense factor fairly high throughout the book. I would say this book is a country mystery with a gothic feel to it. I liked that the house was in the middle of nowhere and that there is only one other neighbor for miles around. This also had a small town feel to it when the characters enter into the town, with everyone knowing every. This book does take quite an abrupt turn about halfway through that I did not see coming, but I think that it was a good choice by Beevis to shake things up a bit.
This book has a creepy house, ghostly figure and secrets between the couples running through the whole plot and I liked that Beevis took a multi-approach to her story which did not rely on just one thing to set this story apart from other.
I liked Ellie and Ash as main characters, you get more from Ash in the second half of the book, but I feel like I never really got to know them as individuals or as a couple, but you still do end up caring for them. Benjamin is the real interesting character in the book with living next to a house that has such a dark history to it, plus the problems within his own family.
I did the audio version of this book and the narrator, Shakira Shute, was fantastic with her different voices from the character. She was really able to set the tone and mood of the book.
I do feel that the one place that Beevis took away from the suspense is the reader knowing more that the characters. As you read you are now waiting for the character to catch up with your knowledge and the aspect of suspense for these parts is now taken away.
This was a good book that had me entertained till the end but at the same time, I felt that some of the suspense was taken away from the book with the reader knowing what was happening and waiting for other characters to catch up what you already know. I know I will pick up another book by Beevis.
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