As a writer of suspense thrillers I often ask myself what if? What if this happened instead of that? Or why a particular person reacted as they did. So often fact is stranger than fiction and these books start with a fact which I develop. You may be surprised to know, for example, just how many patients experience changes in their likes and dislikes after a transplant operation ~ The Darkness Within. Or how easy it is to look into someone’s home through their CCTV ~ Stalker.

A change of life a breakup, all that might be able to be eased by making a new start somewhere else. This is one of those books, once started, the reader will not want to put down. The atmosphere is dark .. with an isolated cottage set alongside a forest, devoid of light and full of shadows. Well written, the story line is positively full of many twists and turns that lead to an unexpected conclusion. It formed part of the storyline in the film Shallow Hal." Who talks like this in a regular conversation? You'd say "Like in that movie, Shallow Hal". Jan refuses to be scared off.. but whoever or whatever isn't going away. The forest is holding secrets ... and Jan finds the nightmare is only beginning. These seemingly unrelated stories intertwine themselves in an interesting way. However, for most of the book it does feel like two completely different stories and (just my opinion) they probably should have been because they didn't intersect in a meaningful way for me. I was much more invested in Ian and Emma's story. It was tragic, it was weird and it was suspenseful. With Jan's story, it had it's moments and gave me some creepy vibes for sure, but my attention did waiver during her chapters.I can certainly “hear” the authors voice from her aka name from her other books in this one. I confess I listened to this book mostly and found the narrator a pleasant voice to listen to who emphasised areas that needed. If anyone else has read Cathy Glass books (same author ) it is written in an “explanation “ within the observations….

After losing her job and boyfriend, Jan Hamlin is in desperate need of a fresh start. So she jumps at the chance to rent a secluded cottage on the edge of Coleshaw Woods. She's pretty happy where she is .. except things she can't explain starting happening. First it's a tap on the window .... and strange noises outside. The dog goes crazy trying to get outside, so Jan knows it's not just her imagination. In this story newly single and unemployed Jan Hamlin (29) and married couple Ian and Emma Jennings, who have been through their baby's stillbirth find their lives interwined in very strange way... For one thing, the author is simply too prolific for quality to enter the equation. She has a good working idea of how these things are done and plies the formula. Flat writing and flat characters and a thoroughly predictable plot included.Intertwined with Jan's tale, is a story of a couple, Ian and Emma, who have lost one baby during childbirth and just lost another during a home birth. This isn't just a case of a tragic stillbirth. There was something horribly wrong with both of their children, and Ian is determined to understand why.

She knows exactly the right thing to say. She doesn’t mind talking about what happened to David. She said I could talk to her whenever I wanted to. She understood. I even asked her what David looked like."It didn’t work out that way though, there were things going on, spooky eerie things. Was it man or beast? It’s not turned out the quietest of places to rest her head! If police were looking for footprints and it had rained within an hour or two, it was explained that the rain would have washed the prints away! Surely a reader could deduce this without a verbal teaching aide? I can take no more. This will be a did not finish for me. I almost plummeted deliberately off the ladder just to make it end. Could anyone with an actual brain read this awful nonsense? The midwife who delivers the so-called dead babies (obviously they weren't dead) has been keeping them because she knew they'd die soon and that would distress the parents? Seriously? She works full time but has a house full of babies and children with birth defects she's tending to and loving until they die to save the parents having to go through this? Uh huh. A house full of mutant children and babies. And she works full time. And the neighbours know nothing. But this life is better for the children than remaining with their own parents until they die. Uh huh. How old is this author? I'm guessing she's never had a baby herself or known anyone who did? Jan refuses to be scared off. But whoever is outside isn’t going away, and it soon becomes clear that the nightmare is only just beginning…