The Village

Ten years ago, the Harper family disappeared. Their deserted cottage was left with the water running, the television on, the oven ready for baking. The doors were locked from the inside.

This mysterious case has obsessed crime journalist Naomi for a decade. So much so that when the cottage goes up for sale, she convinces her new film director husband to buy it as their first family home, but neglects to tell him, or her teenage stepdaughter, the history of the house. Moving into the cottage with the aim of trying to solve the mystery, Naomi soon discovers that her questions are not welcome in the small village, and becomes convinced that the villagers know more than they are letting on about what happened to the Harper family. But can she uncover the truth, without endangering herself and her family?

The premise of this story was intriguing, and the execution of the plot had me turning the pages. Initially it was hard to like Naomi, whose obsession with the Harper family seems to have overtaken all reason (why doesn’t her husband, who’s extremely rich and successful, object to her dragging the family to a dilapidated cottage in the middle of nowhere?). And the teenage daughter Morgan is intensely annoying. Though to be fair, I was probably equally annoying at 16 to my own step-parents, and both Morgan and Naomi do become more sympathetic characters as the book goes on.

The title might sound like a horror story, but this book is an intriguing mix of locked room mystery and psychological thriller – not an obvious mix of genres, but the author pulls it off very well. All of the loose threads are skillfully woven into a masterful and satisfying conclusion, with a couple of devastating twists that I genuinely did not see coming.

This is an engrossing read that will be enjoyed for fans of most crime and mystery genres.