Manor house with hidden secrets is always a force of attraction for many readers.
The House of Hidden Secrets by C.E. Rose is a psychological thriller, with the elements of supernatural. It has a striking cover design, which draws your attention, with its dramatic juxtaposition of red and black.
Serena Green accepts the role of a private live-in housekeeper at Ramsay Hall, Grade-II listed farmhouse in Goostrey. It is the home of the wealthy widower Hayden Ramsay who has two grown-up sons. The manor house is a quiet country estate, surrounded by land. As the housekeeper and caretaker for the elderly Ramsay who recovers from a bad fall, Serena is offered a little cottage on the premises to stay in with her little daughter Lana.
Hayden is a charming man who appears to be lonely, he seems to enjoy Serena and Lana's company. Soon enough, Serena becomes part of the household, befriending Hayden's younger son Hugh, another loner, with special needs (high-functioning autism?). Hugh doesn't live in the house itself but visits regularly to help with the chores. He is constantly looking for his father's approval and even a minute level of praise. Charismatic Hayden is not so charming, when it comes to Hugh, if anything, he is harsh and dismissive.
Serena thinks of Hugh as "so guileless, so childish, so open, showing his heart to the world. The polar opposite of his brother".
Jack is a high-achieving lawyer, working at all hours. He is suspicious of his father's motives of inviting Serena to their house. His aloofness bordering on rudeness hides a big tragedy in his past. Despite the initial coldness, Serena and Jack get more and more attracted to each other. But just what is Jack hiding? His behaviour around Lana is confusing, to say the least. "Jack, lovely Jack. So troubled, so tender, so intense".
Serena is hiding her own secrets. She is clearly on the run from someone.
Slowly Serena unravels the mysteries of the Ramsay Hall and its inhabitants. What happened to Jack and Hugh's mother all those years ago? Is Hugh a gentle, sweet giant or is he more troubled than he appears to be? Are Serena and Lana safe around the Ramsays? Will the events of her past catch up with her?
The House of Hidden Secrets is a gripping read, with a chilling, creepy twist in the end. It is utterly compelling and quite disturbing, with a total shocker of an ending.
The genre of the book is rather inconsistent: it could be a romance which turns into a thriller with Gothic undertones. The story is told from different points of view, and jumps from the present to past and back again.
There are some supernatural elements, like the smells evocative of the people who died in the house, or the invisible friend of the daughter of the main protagonist. While the smells could be attributed to the grief process which affects people differently, the invisible friend has never been explained or explored further. Ambiguous hints and allusions help to build the suspence, but they need to be rationalised later.
I didn't warm up to any of the characters in the book. Serena is the victim of domestic abuse, and perhaps I should have felt more sympathy for her, but the speed with which she plunges into an affair while still recovering from her wounds left me shaking my head in bemusement.
The motivations of all main protagonists are complex and disconcerting. The book tackles such a serious issue as domestic violence, with different patterns of control and fear, mental intimidation and physical abuse. It is a sinister portrayal of victim's vulnerability, prolonged stress and breaking of mental defences.
Potential triggers: murder, death of a child, domestic violence and abusive behaviour.
This post is part of the blog tour. My thanks to C. E. Rose and Rachel's Random Resources for my e-copy of the book!
Purchase Links
Kobo: https://bit.ly/2MN190l
Apple: http://apple.co/3aIeP4I
Author Bio – Caroline England was born and brought up in Yorkshire and studied Law at the University of Manchester. She was a divorce and professional indemnity lawyer before leaving the law to bring up her three daughters and turning her hand to writing. Caroline is the author of The Wife's Secret, previously called Beneath the Skin, and the top-ten ebookbestseller My Husband's Lies. Betray Her is her third novel. She lives in Manchester with her family. The House of Hidden Secrets is the first title written under her pseudonym, CE Rose.
To find out more about Caroline, visit her website www.carolineenglandauthor.co.uk
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Social Media Links –
Twitter: @CazEngland
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