The Woman in the Dark
By Vanessa Savage
Grand Central Publishing, 9781538714300, February 2020, 352pp.
The Short of It:
This story was excellent. A creepy murder house, a husband with questionable motives and his family trying to make sense of it all.
The Rest of It:
This is a very difficult time to read. Everything is a distraction and I was having such a hard time getting back into a reading routine. However, one of my students dropped this book off for me and it was exactly what I needed to get excited about reading again.
Patrick and Sarah along with their two older children, move to Patrick’s old, childhood home. The moment it came up on the market, Patrick put his regular life aside, and threw all of their savings into the home so it could be his again. Wanting to re-live the wonderful childhood he had there, he forces the rest of his family to uproot their lives to make his dreams come true.
But the house is not the quaint seaside home you’d imagine. It’s known as the “murder house” because of the family that lived there before. Sarah is hesitant to move, given the house’s history, but Patrick insists and bad things happen. Behind its peeling plaster are hidden messages. There are cold spots throughout the house and rot that they can’t rid themselves of.
This story reminded me a lot of The Shining. Nevertheless, it had me flipping the pages pretty fast and I like how the ending came together. There are secrets, and supernatural elements and I like how art was incorporated into the story.
If you need a quick read to take your mind off of things, I recommend this one.
Source: Borrowed
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Book Chatter 
Oh, a book like The Shining…sounds like my cup of tea
It’s quite good. Very much like The Shining but I still enjoyed it. I’d send it to you but I borrowed it from my student.
I do need a riveting book but this might be too creepy for me. I bet my son would love it.
It’s creepy in that it’s a drafty old house and there are secrets. It’s not way over the top at all.
I think thrillers and mysteries are good books to read right now as they are page turners.
Oh yes! I think I would definitely enjoy this one. I sound a bit nutty, but I’m feeling a little nutty these days. Give me something that’s like a Stephen King book for sure. Thanks for sharing about this one, Ti!
This sounds like one I would like as well. Reading The Red Lotus; Bohjalian and Sea Wife; Amity Gage – both are pretty good.
Oh, this sounds fun! I’ve been reading a lot of comforting stuff but I think I could go for something creepy too, just now. Thanks for the recommendation!
I’m glad you were able to get into this one.
Sounds spooky. Wouldn’t it be weird to go back to live in a house you once lived in long ago. I never thought about that …. but gosh it’d be strange …
It would be strange. If you had good memories there, it could be very good. I do feel sometimes that we outgrow our living quarters for whatever reason so to go back to something we’ve outgrown would be weird. I don’t think I could live anywhere that I lived before.
I’m always on the fence about supernatural in books. I’m usually not a fan but once in a while I love it. So I’ll have to think about this one since it sounds like one to race through.
There is def a supernatural element but it’s in the background. Not a lot of woo woo, if you know what I mean.
Gotcha! I can probably handle that much.