Jake and Kate live in Camden, London and have had enough of the hassle with parking, overbooked restaurants and burglaries.After an altercation with a stranger who pulls a knife on Jake, they take their son Sean, and move to a house in the woods.It’s their dream home, or so they think.People in the village warn them they shouldn’t have come.Neighbours are over friendly and who was the face at the … was the face at the window Kate saw late at night?
They find a tape hidden in the loft of their new house, a home made video recording of the previous family, the Prescotts.
What they view, chills them to the bone.
They realise that the family living there before them have disappeared and now, they could be next……
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I am a psychological thriller junkie to the extreme and can usually figure out the plot twist(s) and identity of the perpetrator(s) long before that information is revealed. However, this story completely stumped me, kept me speculating and made me change my mind, time and time again. Any author who can “pull one over on me” is exceptionally talented and creative. One who can do it repeatedly in the same book? BRILLIANT!
If you like dark, absolutely unpredictable, twisted suspense as much as I do, you can’t go wrong with this book!
Wow! This was a great psychological crime thriller!
A backstory:
Jake and Kate are tired of London with all the traffic and noise so they move out to the country where they can get away from it all and have some peace and quiet. The house that they find through a real estate agent is perfect for them as it is tucked away behind some iron gates and just has a couple or so neighbors.
With any house though nothing is perfect and they find out that the previous occupants of the house – the Prescott’s just vanished from the house and no one can seem to find them. That gives them an unsettling feeling as they wonder what happened to them and even thoughts of the house being haunted flitted through their minds.
With some trepidation they go ahead and settle into the house along with meeting their neighbors Pete and Linda who seem to be very friendly as they welcome them to the neighborhood. But even with nice neighbors and the secluded house, Jake feels that there is just something “off” about the house, but when Jake and Kate find a dvd in their house that is a film with the family of the Prescott’s is when things become weird and the more they try to find out what happened to the previous family the more they become entrapped within a mystery so entangled they will be fighting for their lives by the time it is all over as you never truly know who your neighbors are and Jake finds out more than he wants to know before it is all over.
Thoughts:
This is my first time reading this author and was happy to finally read one of his books as I have been wanting to read this book for a long time. I was captured right away with the characters and the mystery surrounding the Prescott’s as I was wanting to know why they disappeared. The mystery was so deep that I thought this book would make a great movie as there were so many twists and turns that I had a hard time putting the book down!
The author sets up a slow and building tension within the story bringing the mystery of what happened to the Prescott family finally to life near the end of the book. During the meantime though the mystery and suspense is built up along the way and I felt for the characters as they tried to figure out what they had landed themselves into.
Other things happen within the storyline to the characters Jake and Kate as they try to dig up what is going on with their house and the neighbors. This book kept me intrigued throughout the story which I ended up reading the last 50% within a few hours as things started to escalate within the story and I just kept reading to see what would happen next. There is a major twist that I didn’t see coming which sent this book into overdrive! I have some more books by this author simmering on my kindle that I will need to step into this coming year. Giving this one five Tension Terror stars!
Jake and Kate leave London to move to their dream home in the woods with their little boy Sean .At first it’s just the little things…strange noises in the night ..Kate believing that she has seen a face at the window..When they tell the people in town they live in The house in Rectory Lane ..they get strange glances ..It’s when they discover a tape in the loft that fear ..deep and feral takes a hold of them ..They begin to wander What happened to the family that lived in the house before them ? Why did they disappear.?
Jake have no idea of what is yet to come..You know those crimewatch programs..where they tell you Don’t have nightmares …The House On Rectory Lane is one of The Darkest..Most Terrifying stories…Bloodcurdling …Terrifying…Creepy and Dark …
Oh my giddy aunt.
The House On Rectory Lane by Stuart James.
This is by far the best novel I’ve have read this year and I have read and reviewed plenty.
If you want a psychological thriller to keep you up all night and wanting to keep reading to the end then this is the book for you.
If you want the idyllic home in the country away from the hustle and bustle of London than The Rectory cottage is a place for you, so Jake and Kate thought so until they moved in with there son and unexplainable things start to happen.
Be prepared to stay awake at night.
Stuart James you are a master at thriller writing.
Jake and Kate and their young son have left London and moved into what they call their dream house … far away from the crime in London.
Kate, especially, is eager to make new friends, get her son scheduled in school, roam through the village. But what she gets are people is the village telling them they should leave immediately.
The family that lived in the house before Jake and Kate disappeared and have never been found. And strange things are happening. Lights come off and on at varied times … the closest neighbors seem awfully friendly, even to showing up when Kate and Jake are dining out. A face appears in the window. They hear screams deep in the woods.
And then Jake accidentally finds a tape hidden in the attic. It’s a home film of the missing family… and now they think they will be next to disappear.
Full of twists and turns, the suspense never lets up until the explosive unexpected ending. This is a well written tale with memorable characters that are skillfully presented.
Many thanks to the author . Bloodhound Books for the digital copy of this fascinating Psychological Thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.