Before I get into the meat of my review, let me just say that this book is utterly incredible, thoughtfully written, and best read knowing as little as possible going into it. Whilst this review will not get into spoilers for this book, I highly, highly recommend stopping reading this review here and just picking-up this book, you won't regret it.

Picture this: it is the middle of winter and you are home alone with two children when you hear a sound that shouldn't be there - footsteps - in the middle of the night and then you see him. There is a stranger in your house with you. This is exactly the situation that the protagonist of our book is faced with as she fights to find a way to keep her two children and herself safe. 

Sierra does an incredible job of building the tension and fear as our three characters hide as the mother attempts to form a plan to get help. The tension of the events within the house are cleverly interspersed with scenes that paint the picture of our protag's backstory and start to create a tapestry of a woman who is attempting to simply exist whilst the men in her life fill her life with micro-aggressions. I won't get into details but there is one particular flashback scene that takes place in a café that is so infuriating as it has such an insidious undercurrent...

This is a book that will make you angry but for all of the right reasons. There is a darkness at the heart of this story and it feels as though there are so many layers to the trauma that our characters face. What I think makes this book work so well is that part of the horror lies not in the stranger in the house but in the responses of the people around our protag. I also really appreciate the slightly unsatisfactory nature of the ending of this book; it felt only right that this would not be a neat kind of story.

I am excited to read more from this author because this is one of the best thrillers I have read.