Book of the week

Elle Fielding has published one hit thriller and is now working on her second.

However, her deadline is looming and the words are refusing to flow.

Failing to meet the deadline means she might not be able to hold on to her dream house by the sea in Cornwall, so pressure is mounting.,

Returning from holiday to her home – which she let out for Air B&B while she was away – she senses a strange atmosphere in the house.

It’s a feeling that someone is watching her. Odd, spooky things start to happen.

For a while, Elle fears it might all be a figment of her increasingly fragile mind.

Interwoven into this atmosphere of foreboding are Elle’s various relationships – with her sister, her ex, her neighbours and her fan base.

Interspersed with all this are the musings of the stalker.

It means that we – the readers – are left extremely aware that this is very much not a figment of Elle’s imagination.

Flashbacks combine with what’s going on in the present to create a suspenseful and unexpected denouement, with a twist in the tale.

In parts, the book is a classic home alone thriller. However, it also has an underlying theme – how anxiety, stress and solitude can play tricks on your mind and question your reality.

The story starts off cosily enough.

Elle returns home to Cornwall – but less than two pages in, the air of menace is well underway.

I found the book a compulsive read.

Lucy Clarke is the master of pitting an idyllic Cornish coastal lifestyle against the creepy and the sinister.

How can somewhere so beautiful also be so threatening? Her powerful descriptive powers enabled me to imagine the house, Elle and the other key players in my mind’s eye.

I also think that it’s a book that would work well on the big screen.

It’s important to have empathy for your main protagonists and this the author capably managed.

I enjoyed this page-turner and look forward to reading some of Lucy’s previous four thrillers.