Superbly tense and oozing with atmosphere, Anna Downs's debut is the perfect summer suspense, with the modern gothic feel of Ruth Ware and the morally complex family dynamics of Lisa Jewell.
Welcome to paradise...will you ever be able to leave?
Emily is a mess.
Emily Proudman just lost her acting agent, her job, and her apartment in one miserable day.
Emily is desperate.
Scott Denny, a successful and charismatic CEO, has a problem that neither his business acumen nor vast wealth can fix. Until he meets Emily.
Emily is perfect.
Scott offers Emily a summer job as a housekeeper on his remote, beautiful French estate. Enchanted by his lovely wife Nina, and his eccentric young daughter, Aurelia, Emily falls headlong into this oasis of wine-soaked days by the pool. But soon Emily realizes that Scott and Nina are hiding dangerous secrets, and if she doesn't play along, the consequences could be deadly.
MY THOUGHTS
I read an excerpt of this book on Bookish First and was intrigued enough to read the full book.
Emily is a young aspiring actress. With her auditions not leading her anywhere, she works an office job. Except she doesn't do such a great job at it and ends up losing the job. When her ex-boss offers her an intriguing new job prospect, she's curious. He needs someone to be a sort of housekeeper at his French estate, keeping his wife and daughter company. She jumps at the chance, but is this too good to be true?
While the book was slow at first, it quickly turns into an engrossing read. Even though there are plenty of scenes where not much happens, there is always suspense in the background. We have a very beautiful setting, but our main character is in complete isolation from the rest of the world. There's only her, the boss's wife (Nina), the daughter (Aurelia), and a staff member that rarely speaks. All throughout the book, you know something is wrong with either the setting or the characters but you don't know what. It made me what to turn the pages and try to figure out what was really going on here.
The book is from dual POV, though Emily is the main character. Scott (her ex-boss) also narrates part of the book. His narration blurs whether we can trust him or not. There are plenty of moments where his narration creeped me out (and I believe we are supposed to be weirded out by his narration), but he carries the outward appearance of a CEO. In the first part of the book, Scott is adamant that Emily is the one for the job, and it was never really clear why she was the one for the job. She doesn't seem that special, which may have been the point. She is a bit naive in the beginning, and she ignores any bad feelings she has. She does end up having a strong character arc in the book as she gains further insights on what really is happening at the estate.
I found this book to be absolutely entertaining, but I am torn by what level of entertaining I found this to be. I do think the book did a great job of creating suspense in the background of every scene Throughout the book, I enjoyed seeing Emily grow close to Nina and Aurelia, but the book never fully lets the reader put their guard down. There is always the question of whether we should trust them. Even though I was completely engrossed in the story, I felt like the plot did not take as many risks as it should have. The story wasn't entirely predictable, but it wasn't as strong as a mystery as I expected. I think by the end I felt like I was reading a Lifetime movie in book format. Still entertaining, but not as memorable as I hoped.
Emily is a young aspiring actress. With her auditions not leading her anywhere, she works an office job. Except she doesn't do such a great job at it and ends up losing the job. When her ex-boss offers her an intriguing new job prospect, she's curious. He needs someone to be a sort of housekeeper at his French estate, keeping his wife and daughter company. She jumps at the chance, but is this too good to be true?
While the book was slow at first, it quickly turns into an engrossing read. Even though there are plenty of scenes where not much happens, there is always suspense in the background. We have a very beautiful setting, but our main character is in complete isolation from the rest of the world. There's only her, the boss's wife (Nina), the daughter (Aurelia), and a staff member that rarely speaks. All throughout the book, you know something is wrong with either the setting or the characters but you don't know what. It made me what to turn the pages and try to figure out what was really going on here.
The book is from dual POV, though Emily is the main character. Scott (her ex-boss) also narrates part of the book. His narration blurs whether we can trust him or not. There are plenty of moments where his narration creeped me out (and I believe we are supposed to be weirded out by his narration), but he carries the outward appearance of a CEO. In the first part of the book, Scott is adamant that Emily is the one for the job, and it was never really clear why she was the one for the job. She doesn't seem that special, which may have been the point. She is a bit naive in the beginning, and she ignores any bad feelings she has. She does end up having a strong character arc in the book as she gains further insights on what really is happening at the estate.
I found this book to be absolutely entertaining, but I am torn by what level of entertaining I found this to be. I do think the book did a great job of creating suspense in the background of every scene Throughout the book, I enjoyed seeing Emily grow close to Nina and Aurelia, but the book never fully lets the reader put their guard down. There is always the question of whether we should trust them. Even though I was completely engrossed in the story, I felt like the plot did not take as many risks as it should have. The story wasn't entirely predictable, but it wasn't as strong as a mystery as I expected. I think by the end I felt like I was reading a Lifetime movie in book format. Still entertaining, but not as memorable as I hoped.
IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I did enjoy reading this book. This book had a slow pace at first, but once we got to the French estate setting, I was completely engrossed in the book. The suspense was done well, but I feel like the book didn't push the envelope in terms of the mystery. Once everything was revealed, it just didn't feel unique. It honestly felt like a Lifetime movie and I wish the book took more risks. I don't know whether I will read more from the author, I'll see what else she writes, but this was a solid debut.
I hereby give this book
3 Stars
Meaning: I liked it
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