Daisy lives with Harriet and Malcolm. Daisy is a little girl who has been with them for three years. Only she isn’t allowed to go out and play in the sunshine like other children. She lives behind bars and no one knows she’s here. She has given up all hope of ever being reunited with her ‘real’ parents.
Until one day Poppy arrives. Poppy is her new ‘sister’. But Poppy is defiant, and loud, and wants to break all the rules that Malcolm has carefully set.
From the outset this is a genuinely chilling book. The premise is not so unrealistic either and I loved the fact that from the beginning of the book we are put in the house of the ‘baddies’! The cop part of it comes later. Most of the setting is within the house.
The writing is well thought out … just that right amount of suspense. Malcolm isn’t a shouty, nasty man but calm, menacing and sadistic making him all the more frightening. The children are terrified. But Daisy is clever, and, as the elder, feels the need to protect and try and see a way to end the nightmare.
I loved this book. There are thrillers and then there are thrillers. Some are Hollywood action but this is slow and scary. It reminded me of ‘Room’ a little. I liked the way we are trapped in with the kids, how they get to know how to interact with their captors and do as they’re told. The characters of Harriet and Malcolm are intriguing. Two people of the same mind and the same thoughts and both, seemingly, equally disturbed.
Fascinating and grim in equal measure this is a brilliant book with a surprising twist.
Highly recommended!
Until one day Poppy arrives. Poppy is her new ‘sister’. But Poppy is defiant, and loud, and wants to break all the rules that Malcolm has carefully set.
From the outset this is a genuinely chilling book. The premise is not so unrealistic either and I loved the fact that from the beginning of the book we are put in the house of the ‘baddies’! The cop part of it comes later. Most of the setting is within the house.
The writing is well thought out … just that right amount of suspense. Malcolm isn’t a shouty, nasty man but calm, menacing and sadistic making him all the more frightening. The children are terrified. But Daisy is clever, and, as the elder, feels the need to protect and try and see a way to end the nightmare.
I loved this book. There are thrillers and then there are thrillers. Some are Hollywood action but this is slow and scary. It reminded me of ‘Room’ a little. I liked the way we are trapped in with the kids, how they get to know how to interact with their captors and do as they’re told. The characters of Harriet and Malcolm are intriguing. Two people of the same mind and the same thoughts and both, seemingly, equally disturbed.
Fascinating and grim in equal measure this is a brilliant book with a surprising twist.
Highly recommended!