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.