I am delighted to share my review today of The Intruders by Louise Jensen. This is a creepy story set in a manor house with dark secrets.

My huge thanks to HQ for granting my request to read this title via NetGalley.

It should be the perfect a manor house available rent free in exchange for a bit of housesitting. But when Cass and James dig deeper, they find the place has been abandoned since a robbery left almost all the inhabitants dead almost thirty years ago. But they’ve got to save for a deposit somehow, so they move in, and things quickly take a strange turn. Objects disappear and turn up in odd places, the clock always stops at the same time, and the house is oppressive yet strangely familiar. Could it just be bad memories, or are the house’s secrets a little closer to home?

MY REVIEW

If you are looking for a story that has you with a feeling of dread and is eerily atmospheric, then this is one you should take a look at.

Cass and James have been given the opportunity to be caretakers of a manor house. A chance for them to save money so they can get a place of their own. The manor house they move into was the site of a murder several years ago. I am not sure if it is somewhere I would consider living, older large houses are creepy at the best of times! The author uses this sense to great effect with things moving or a sense of someone watching.

Cass and James are a new couple and have been together for 6 months, they do have that instant connection and feel comfortable in each other’s company. They have similarities in the way things have happened in their lives and it is this sense that links them.

The author has created two characters that have troubled pasts, this is something that comes up often in stories. Cass is more vulnerable as she has been overly protected during her growing up and James is a little more savvy I feel. They are not opposites and they do muddle along quite nicely as a couple.

As the title and synopsis suggest, there is more to this story than a couple living in a house. The first half of the book deal introduces the house, some of the past and the present. The second half completely turns things on their head! This, I will admit, did throw me initially and it took me a little while to get things right in my head. When things settled though, this story took on a route that I didn’t expect at all. It becomes very dark, evil and even more unsettling as the author brings in a sensitive subject.

I really enjoyed this story and the sense of dread is something that the author uses to great effect. The feeling that there is a secret waiting to be told felt like the tip of the iceberg. Many things were waiting to be revealed and this added to the tenseness of the story.

This is a great story and one that fans of darker crime and mystery books would probably enjoy, I did and I would definitely recommend it.

Many thanks for reading my post, a like or share would be amazing 🙂 xx