Riley Sager's latest will keep you intrigued!
This is my first book by Riley Sager, and I could not stop listening!
Pub Day: June 18, 2024
Book: 384 pages
Audiobook: 11 hours 22 minutes
The writing was descriptive, the characters were compelling, and the narration was so well done that I kept being drawn deeper into the story. The creepy and suspenseful undertone kept me on the edge of my seat.
Thirty years after the mysterious disappearance of his best friend Billy, Ethan Marsh returns to his childhood home. As strange occurrences unfold, Ethan delves into the mystery of Billy's vanishing, leading him to look close to home and to a crumbling estate called The Hawthorne Institute, where an eccentric billionaire funded clandestine research.
Told in a dual timeline, this one is a slow burn that bounces back and forth between the present day and the 1990s. This read more like a mystery than a thriller and was cleverly plotted with a few red herrings and several twists. I guessed a couple of the twists but not all of them, and I love it when an author surprises me. The characters are well fleshed out, and despite there being a number of them, I was never confused. The institute and paranormal elements were intriguing and added to the atmosphere. There were even some touching moments. This is an entertaining summertime ghost story. I look forward to discovering more of Sager's work!
The audiobook, narrated by Santino Fontana, was a delight. His performance was top-notch, with each character having a unique voice and rhythm. This was particularly helpful as there are several characters in the story. The combination of the author's descriptive writing and Fontana's dynamic delivery made the story come alive in my mind, almost like watching a movie. I listened at 1.5x speed, and the audio was clear and easy to follow.
My steep was Iced Tea Blend from Simpson Vail Tea a blend of black teas with a subtle touch of bergamot. I just got this one, and it was a hit at my house!
PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS:
In the latest jaw-dropping thriller from New York Times bestselling author Riley Sager, a man must contend with the long-ago disappearance of his childhood best friend—and the dark secrets lurking just beyond the safe confines of his picture-perfect neighborhood.
The worst thing to ever happen on Hemlock Circle occurred in Ethan Marsh’s backyard. One July night, ten-year-old Ethan and his best friend and neighbor, Billy, fell asleep in a tent set up on a manicured lawn in a quiet, quaint New Jersey cul-de-sac. In the morning, Ethan woke up alone. During the night, someone had sliced the tent open with a knife and taken Billy. He was never seen again.
Thirty years later, Ethan has reluctantly returned to his childhood home. Plagued by bad dreams and insomnia, he begins to notice strange things happening in the middle of the night. Someone seems to be roaming the cul-de-sac at odd hours, and signs of Billy’s presence keep appearing in Ethan’s backyard. Is someone playing a cruel prank? Or has Billy, long thought to be dead, somehow returned to Hemlock Circle?
The mysterious occurrences prompt Ethan to investigate what really happened that night, a quest that reunites him with former friends and neighbors and leads him into the woods that surround Hemlock Circle. Woods where Billy claimed ghosts roamed and where a mysterious institute does clandestine research on a crumbling estate.
The closer Ethan gets to the truth, the more he realizes that no place—be it quiet forest or suburban street—is completely safe. And that the past has a way of haunting the present.
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