The Crooked House

Had high hopes for this book after reading the reviews Extremely disappointed.Plot was ok but dragged on for much too long and an absolutely ridiculous outcome Over complicated Angered me that I wasted my time reading it.

This book just did not flow for me Was messy The story kept jumping about at times leaving me rather confused Couldn t wait for it to end.

Awful, just dreadful I was suckered into reading it by some deluded publicist s favorable comparisons to du Maurier, Christie and Atkinson The book s premise and, to be fair, the first 100 pages or so are promising, but not only is the prose unremarkable, but the story is unnecessarily convoluted and hard to follow and the climax and denouement are completely bungled Minor spoiler I am still not quite sure what happens here we go from the murderer holding a gun to the heroine s head to her runni [...]

Thirteen years ago a teenaged Esme Grace was the sole survivor of a horrendous attack which left her entire family dead Now, with a new life and a new identity Alison , she has to return to the scene of her childhood, Saltleigh, and face up to the events of the past.I found this a really gripping, riveting read Firstly, I really liked the idea of the village of Saltleigh itself A creepy coastal village set on the Thames estuary peopled by a very closed in group They don t like outsiders here, an [...]

I was so looking forward to reading this, it looked good.I am not saying it wasn t a good book but I was really confused from beginning to half way through at least it appeared disjointed Is this a new style of writing I took ages and it used a lot of brain power which caused some fatigue in keeping up.Once I was over the half way mark, it all seemed to make sense, it took me that long to get used to this authors style of writing.I don t usually find books so hard to get into and I hate giving u [...]

To be published in January 2015.Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this book.This is a story of secrets and lies, set in a small community The kind of community that closes ranks when something happens and you have to live there for a hundred years to belong A family is murdered, with only one survivor A teenage girl We meet that survivor, Esme or Alison as she is now called Alison is still in shock and cannot really remember the precise details of the murder of her s [...]

This was an extremely atmospheric haunting tale, very addictive and beautifully written A definite page turner for sure and one that will stay with you.Alison used to be Esme until a terrible tragedy found her with a name change and new location, she has worked hard to leave the past behind her and she keeps it hidden from those around her When her boyfriend Paul persuades her to acccompany him to a wedding, she is reluctantly drawn back to her childhood home and finds herself haunted by memorie [...]

I thought the book was very well written and had a good flow of direction until Chapter 12 Then the book just slid downhill For me Esme escaped a brutal family tragedy and never really got the answers she was looking for She went back to her hometown when her boyfriend was invited to attend a wedding I never got a good vibe from the boyfriend at all The book could of went in so many better directions.

The Crooked House is the 10th novel published by English writer Christobel Kent.It is a whodunit psychological thriller written mainly in the third person, mostly from the point of view of the main character, Alison Esme Grace, the sole survivor of a family massacre 13 years earlier.The narration moves from the present, to the recent past and to events much further back, as we follow Alison s trains of thought and memories.The story is interesting, atmospheric and brooding, and it unfolds in non [...]

This review is from The Crooked House Hardcover When Alison Grace was born she was named Esme Grace but after a terrible event befell her whilst she was still in her mid teens she changed her name, choosing Alison because she went to school with four girls named Alison, reason enough to believe the name would grant her the anonymity she needed Thirteen years later she has learnt to play her cards close to her chest and lives and bland life bereft of anyone who knows what happened in her past All [...]

I thoroughly enjoyed this rather twisty tale about Alison, a young woman who maintains a low profile, keeps herself to herself and is a survivor, literally.She survived the unthinkable, surviving a horrific event, in her teens which would make the strongest of us crumble When she went by a different name, when she was Esme, living in the crooked house in a remote rural location her family were cruelly and brutally slaughtered, whilst she cowered praying not to be dsicovered But to say she esacpe [...]

Review to follow.

When Esme Grace was thirteen years old something catastrophic happened to her family She had to change her name, cut herself off from the past and start a new life as a new person.She chose the name Alison, because she had gone to school with four girls named Alison, and she believed her choice would help her to remain anonymous She created a fiction that was close but not to close to the past, she chose a career path that would allow her to stay, unnoticed, in the back office, and she lived a q [...]

Firstly thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for the ARC.Christobel Kent is a new author for me and I wasn t sure what to expect, The premise of the book coupled with some really positive reviews set me on the road to reading this psychological thriller.The story is one of how a young girl Esme who survived a brutally traumatic event whereby her family were shot one by one whilst she had been in her bedroom upstairs Cut to thirteen years later and the girl is now a young woman living [...]

I won a copy of this book in a giveaway run by the publisher This is my honest opinion of the book.Alison has put her past behind her She is no longer the young girl who lived in The Crooked House by the sea She has a different name, a different history She has no family as they were taken from her in that house a long time ago She had vowed never to return but a wedding back in the village of her youth means revisiting the past and allowing long suppressed memories to resurface As they do Aliso [...]

The Crooked House Cristobel Kent First I would like to thank the publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, for giving me this book in return for a fair and honest review Second I would like to thank The Life of a Book Addict book club for giving the opportunity to participate in this giveaway This book starts out as a heart thumper drawing the reader into the fray as Kent describes the night when Esme Grace narrowly escapes with her life as she runs and hides in the marsh just beyond the crooked hou [...]

One of the most shocking openings to a crime novel I can remember Alison is as close to anonymous as she can getBut once Alison was someone else once she was Esme Grace, a teenager whose bedroom sat at the top of a remote and dilapidated house on the edge of a bleak estuary A girl whose family, if not happy, exactly, was no unhappier than anyone else s or so she thought.Then one night a terrible thing happened in the crooked house, a nightmare of violence out of which Alison emerged the only wit [...]

Esme suffered through a traumatic childhood Now calling herself Alison, she s thrilled when she meets Paul He s a University professor, fifteen years her senior and has essentially taken Alison under his wing accepting her and her idiosyncrasies and not asking any questions But when he asks her to attend a wedding with him she s conflicted She wants to be recognised as his partner, but the bride is a former girlfriend of Paul s and it s in Esme Alison s former hometown.On their arrival in Saltle [...]

I was so looking forward to reading this, it looked good.I am not saying it wasn t a good book but I was really confused from beginning to half way through at least it appeared disjointed Is this a new style of writing I took ages and it used a lot of brain power which caused some fatigue in keeping up.Once I was over the half way mark, it all seemed to make sense, it took me that long to get used to this authors style of writing.I don t usually find books so hard to get into and I hate giving u [...]

full review to come soon but was addicted to this book needed to know what happened so much I got up an extra he early at 5.00 to finish it before work

Absolutely loved this amazing thriller Atmospheric, chilling and tense, I was completely absorbed by this brilliant tale Loved.

On the cover of my copy, Alison Pearson describes this book as Broadchurch meets Rebecca I m not so sure about Rebecca, but the Broadchurch comparison is absolutely spot on Saltleigh is an isolated and close knit community with a bleak landscape, where no one is quite what they seem, and people are still talking about the family massacre that rocked the community thirteen years before When the surviving daughter Esme now known as Alison returns to the area, against her better judgement, to atten [...]

Included in my blog post Sampling September Thrillers crime, part 2.The premise Alison is the sole survivor of a family tragedy, and has been living anonymously ever since When she falls in love, she realises that to have any chance of happiness, she must return to her old life and face a closed community full of dark secrets First line When it starts again she is face down on her bed with her hands over her ears and she feels it than hears it.What I read The prologue and chapters 1 3 5% Would [...]

I didn t like Paul almost from the beginning and it bothered me that Alison was with him, which undermined me getting to like her So in the end, I didn t really like any of the characters I didn t really understand Gina or her attitude towards Alison or her motivations I didn t understand why the South African fianc would marry that horrible woman whose name slips my mind She and Paul were meant for each other and not in a good way Also, I would have liked to know about the extramarital affair [...]

My daughter bought me this book for Christmas It is the first Christobel Kent I have read and it certainly wont be the last This book was a real page turner, it flowed from start to finish and the mystery was first class.Alison was once Esme Grace but she changed her name after her family were murdered The crime was horrendous and only Esme and her father lived, though the latter was blamed for the murders Years later Alison returns to her old town for a wedding with her boyfriend Paul and the p [...]

The Crooked House I really wasn t sure about this book when I started, even half way through I was thinking hmm do I like it or not the answer, I loved every page, from the first sentence to the last this book draws you in, every page oozing with clues that you just can t piece together, holding the answers until the very end The one issue I had was that I felf no connection between the married couple and between Alison Esme and Paul, no intimacy or passion, which left me thinking well why are t [...]

4.5 would have been a 5 but first part of the book was difficult, had trouble keeping track of clues scattered throughout Once past a certain point, I was totally hooked, didn t move a muscle or think of anything else till end of book, which was wee hours of the morning A psychological thriller, Christobel Kent is an English writer, this her fifth book and first published in U.S.Plot very many facets, a small English village, a mass family murder, father did it, teen daughter escapes and suffers [...]

My View I can see this psychological drama unfolding on the big screen This is a great read atmospheric, moody, and loaded with tension and anticipation of events to come or to be revealed The setting is perfect isolated, remote, rural a village where life is suffocating and the locals take care things their way they are judge and jury and don t take very well to outsiders or police You can almost hear the Duelling Banjo theme being played in the background very creepy.In this narrative you are [...]

This was pretty bad Not a single character acted like a normal human No one talked to each other Everyone acted super creepy for no reason.OH MY GOD THE ENDING view spoiler Of course the creepy weird new boyfriend did it of course he did, he was so weird and creepy but to have done it, and then be aided and abetted by this other family because reasons And then to also have him be obsessed with massacres because why And then 10 years later or whatever decided to bring the only living survivor to [...]

I did not enjoy the book like I thought I was going to The storyline is good but found it so long and drawn out and also didn t like the way it was written and had to keep rereading bits of it so I could understand it It only got really interesting near the end of the book.