BOOK REVIEW: The Forgotten Room by Ann Troup @TroupAnn @HQDigitalUK #bookbloggers

Links: Goodreads  | Amazon UK
Publication date: 25th October 2017
Blurb: Can the past ever be forgotten?

As soon as nurse Maura Lyle sets foot inside the foreboding Essen Grange, she feels shivers ripple down her spine. And the sense of unease only increases when she meets her new patient, Gordon Henderson.

Drawn into the Henderson family’s tangled web of secrets and betrayals, Maura can ignore the danger lurking behind every door no longer. Even the door she has been forbidden from opening…

Essen Grange is a house with dark and cruel intentions. But now that darkness has turned on her, can Maura escape before it’s too late?

The chilling new novel from the bestselling author of The Lost Child and The Silent Girls. Perfect for fans of Erin Kelly, Claire Mackintosh and Tracy Buchanan.  

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Review: I very, very, very rarely review the books in which I organise blog tours for. If I was to review all the books which sounded good I wouldn’t have time to pee let alone do much else. But I really loved the sound of The Forgotten Room and have heard enough positive things about Ann’s books over the years to be convinced to give one a go myself. I’m exceptionally glad I did but my god, I’m exhausted.

Nurse Maura Lyle has been sent to Essen Grange, a huge, eerie house to live in a take care of it’s owner, Gordon Henderson. But as soon as she gets there, she feels uneasy and her feelings are justified when a rock come hurtling through the window on the very first evening closely missing her head. The strange goings on get worse and worse until Maura is faced with murders and police investigations and finds herself unceremoniously caught up in Essen Grange and it’s former resident’s huge, twisted web of secrets.

I felt this book was in 2 very clear halves. Although the first half, when Maura has recently moved into the house, meeting it’s residents, the cleaner and the handyman was still kinda weird and creepy (which by the way, Ann does a fantastic job of describing and setting the scene for you) the second half gets really bloody dark and twisted. I felt the 2 halves had a different dynamic; which may have been what Ann was going for. But I did prefer the first half as I liked Maura as a character and sympathised with her a lot and enjoyed following her new ventures into this big, weird, creepy house.

I found The forgotten Room to be a really good book to get lost in, especially if you were having a crap day or wanted to escape for a while. It’s easy to escape when you’re being told quite vividly what you’re escaping to. It almost reminded me of American Horror Story which was lucky because I bloody love that show. But before I get on to the few negatives I have, I also want to mention how utterly clever, deep and intricate this storyline is. It certainly lost me a few times. It shocked me and made me question everything and the quality of the storyline is far higher than what you might expect.

On to the negatives; I did have a few issues with the book but despite the fact that I know and like Ann, I have to review it fairly (which is what I hope I’m doing). There was a few too many characters and names and I did get a little teeny weeny bit overwhelmed at times and forgot who was who. And I also felt, for me personally, it was a bit too wordy at times. Like, I felt there were loads of things happening but it was all disguised amongst all the words and I had to almost dissect some parts in order to get to what was actually going on. If that makes sense. This wasn’t consistent but I did notice it a fair few times.

Clearly my negatives didn’t stop me getting completely lost in this book and for my first Ann Troup experience, I can report it was a good one and I’ll certainly be coming back for more. The Forgotten Room is chilling and disturbing and perfect if you’re a sucker for the dark and dramatic, like me. I think this will be one that a lot of people will be talking about.

This weekend, I’m running a weekend blitz for this book over on my Neverland Blog Tours Twitter page! Head over there in the morning for a ton of posts and reviews!