Listened to this one and really enjoyed it. Very creepy at times, good mystery, and I liked the ending!

Very compelling and had me guessing the whole way through! It wasn’t a predictable ending and I kept wondering if there were ghostly elements or a supernatural force so was definitely surprised by the ending. It was an interesting concept regarding the ecovillage; at first I thought maybe it was cult and had some similarities to Nine Perfect Strangers, but maybe there’s a futuristic element to it instead. Overall, I thought it was a quick read, not too slow, but not page turner fast either.

3.5

This book seems to be polarizing, but I am solidly in the Team Downes camp!

The Shadow House gave me a slightly gothic feel, with bits of potential witchcraft that gave it a creepy vibe, but it wasn't over the top (which is especially good when you find out why it doesn't fully go there). The story is told in two timelines. One is the story of Alex, a newcomer to the village, the other is that of Renee, the previous owner of the farmland the village is built on, whose son disappeared several years earlier.

Alex is running away from a bad relationship, two kids in tow - one an infant, the other a 14 year old boy. She's been lucky enough to stumble upon an experimental "eco-village" whose tagline is "Create the life you want". Rather than portraying the residents as cult-like which would have been a cliché, the author shows how the neighbors go out of their way to welcome Alex and her family...until they don't. The only thing that bothered me a bit was how quickly Alex falls for the village organizer Kit, and how willing she is to allow strangers to babysit baby Kara.

I love how the author weaved in her research on the social media "mystery box" trend. She also captured the angst of teenage boys especially in relation to their parents, both for the story of Gabe who went missing earlier, and for Ollie, Alex's son.

There were some places I had to really suspend disbelief, but the pacing was good, the suspense was maintained, and the writing was almost poetic: "Grief was an astronaut falling at speed while appearing to remain still".

I love that the author includes notes that describe how the book came about. I really enjoyed A Safe Place, so I'm glad this sophomore novel did not disappoint!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to review an advance reader's copy.

Thriller with a past murder to solve.

This book tells the story of two mothers. Renee's teenaged son disappears after some bizarre happenings. Alex arrives in a new community with her children only to have similar, creepy things start to happen.

What happened to Renee's son and is Alex's son also in danger?

Lots of twists that I didn't see coming! Now, I need to read Anna Downes' first book, The Safe Place!

Fair warning, this review is purely emotional.

I bought this book 3 years ago intending to read it after the birth of my daughter. Instead, 2 years ago I suffered a brain injury that blinded me for 9 months, and even after regaining some of my eyesight it was still incredibly difficult for me to see well enough to read. My font size on my phone is blown up to ludicrous size just so I can take an hour typing this review out.

Anyway. I set a goal to try reading 5 books this year. I rely heavily on audiobooks and this is the fourth book I’ve finished so far. The other books I’ve read haven’t felt like reading (or, how I remember it anyway) to me. I’m going through the motions but not really engaged and books take me so much longer than they used to.

But this book? Ong did it piss me off. I hated Alex initially and as a newer mom couldn’t imagine leaving my children to chase ghost stories. Every time I thought things were nicely wrapped up, I’d realize that I still had 60 pages left- then 40-then 15- and holy fuck would the book of trauma never stop?? By the time I got to end it felt like I sprinted the final 100 pages and had to stop and catch my breath. The book was so sad and strangely triggering on so many levels I didn’t know existed in my own childhood and adolescence period.

Five stars, mainly due to the visceral emotional reaction I had to this book. Somehow, it reawakened “reading “ for me post brain injury. For this, I am grateful!