About this book…
Phoebe and her disabled husband, Martyn, move into a new house in a village on the edge of County Durham. They plan to lead a quiet existence, a set up that suits them both.
Then Anna, who lives over the road and is bored of spending her days alone, seeks friendship with Phoebe and events take a dark turn.
Phoebe has secrets and is haunted by her past and Anna’s arrival in her life may prove to be the catalyst for her undoing.
What is Phoebe hiding and why are she and her husband so reclusive?
When Anna gets caught in a storm and is rescued by Phoebe the truth becomes apparent and Anna is thrown into danger.
Is there a difference between madness and evil?
Some friendships can be murder.
My review…
I had heard an awful lot about this book from the blog tour that has taken place recently so that tagline is true, this IS the thriller everyone is talking about! Although saying that, this isn’t a “thriller” as such, but more of a slow burning , character driven suspense that keeps you on your toes with a select cast of interesting personalities-none of whom were particularly likeable!
I just loved the setting here and the use of the river that flowed through the narrative as pretty much the star of the show! It played its part well involving itself in the lives of all the characters past and present. And I actually found it comforting as I could practically hear it bubbling away as the book progressed, especially when Anna goes walking alongside it and ends up in trouble.
From the start I didn’t trust Phoebe or her husband and as their story opened up, I also started to get quite strong negative feelings about their son Tom. How could he just up and leave to get on with his life when it’s blatantly obvious that his parents aren’t coping? I really felt for Anna though as her life revolved around the family who were taking her for granted and she was living a life that wasn’t fulfilling her at all. The excitement of a new neighbour must have been difficult for her to resist without realising the dangers she is about to unleash. It’s certainly put me off taking a freshly baked cake around to anyone new to my neighbourhood (now that would lead to acts of violence as my baking is terrible!)
This is an enjoyable debut with a fabulous prologue that really creates a desire to invest yourself fully in the plot as it unfolds. I think many people will be shocked by the dark and rather disturbing undercurrent running throughout and, whilst it didn’t shock me quite as much as it has done others, I still found myself totally gripped enough to read it in one session.
Thank you to Bloodhound Books for my review copy of Undercurrent which is available to purchase from the 28th March 2017 as an ebook from Amazon UK
Meet the author…
mychestnutreadingtree 