How far would you go to protect your family? Hopefully, this is something you will never have to worry about.
Our main characters are a family who have suffered more than anyone should have to. Their eldest child, a sixteen year old boy, was killed recently when he took the car without permission, crashing and killing both himself and his girlfriend. Only a week before the start of the book, the surviving family members are attacked as they leave a work event. Daughter, Holly, is attacked and the family are struggling to pick up the pieces. When boss, Lionel, offers them the use of his Highland Lodge to get away for a while it sounds like a perfect opportunity.
The first night they are there, the adults are woken by the sound of breaking glass. Unsettling, and at first we put their reactions down to nerves following recent experiences. But then they hear more noises and see men downstairs. They’ve come prepared. But, for what?
Tom and Rachel then begin a tense cat-and-mouse hunt. They take their child and try to escape-but every attempt is thwarted.
While the initial set-up was great, from this point on it became exaggerated to the point of losing my interest. We wanted to know who these people were, and find out what secrets Rachel and Tom were keeping. We got no answers…just a repetitive cycle of hide, almost found, escape…
As we start to creep closer to answers things take a more gruesome turn. In light of the actual details, this seemed too much to believe. The snippets of son Michael’s last moments did make more sense. Certain characters seemed to grow into quite unbelievable caricatures…but perhaps this is a natural result of circumstance and having the opportunity to do something about it.
By the end I was relieved with certain events, but can’t help but feel this was all rather over-the-top.
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this prior to publication.