Has it ever happened that you are reading a book and question yourself- why why why, and then you suddenly realise – that’s why. To the point that you have to close the book and the whole story starts replaying in front of you and you scratch your head thinking what you have been reading till now was not what it is. I know I blabbered but if it makes any sense, pick up this book.

Amelia and Adam have issues in their marriage and Amelia thinks a weekend getaway might help fix them. She has won the weekend trip from a work raffle and they visit only to find out it is an old chapel. The journey doesn’t start as well as one can imagine for a romantic getaway, eerie noises, terrifying eyes watching you, a power cut, unexpected snowfall, and car tyres getting stashed.

It’s a perfect recipe for a horror-thriller book but then twists occur and it unravels the truth. Only one of the two will go back home, who would that be?

In the initial chapters, it seems that both Amelia and Adam have their secrets and both of them are out to get each other. But what comes later will blow your mind away. The only thing that felt out of place was October’s character. Her whole existence in this story feels irrelevant. Kind of a filler to make the reader dislike one or the other character but unnecessary.

Overall, one of the best mystery thrillers I have read in a long time. I rarely enjoy books with multiple POVs but this is an exception. I can’t say more without giving spoilers, so go read it.

Some quotes from the book –

• To have wasted so much of our lives by not really living them makes me feel so sad.
• All people are addicts, and all addicts desire the same thing: an escape from reality.
• Believing in someone is one of the greatest gifts you can give them, it’s free and the results can be priceless.
• Some people say that marriage is like wine and gets better with age, but I guess it all depends on the grapes.
• Affection is like playing the piano and you can forget how to do it without practice.
• Enjoy the stories of other people’s lives, but don’t forget to live your own.
• Life is like a game where pawns can become queens, but not everyone knows how to play. Some people stay pawns their whole lives because they never learned to make the right moves.
• The reason why a person lies is almost always more interesting than the lie itself.
• atelophobia noun the fear of not doing something right or the fear of not being good enough. An extreme anxiety of failure to achieve perfection.
• monachopsis noun the subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place. Unable to recognise your intended habitat, never feeling as though you are at home.

Available on Amazon Kindle Edition and Paperback.