I found this a rather unremarkable book. The storyline although interesting did become repetitive. But that was adequate to give the book a positive rating. But then the ending. Too ambiguous and abrupt.

You know that wonderful feeling when you are reading just the sort of book that you were in the mood for reading? That’s what happened with The Boy at the Keyhole by Stephen Giles. I didn’t know I was in the mood for a gothic type psychological thriller, but apparently I was.

The boy of The Boy at the Keyhole is Samuel. Samuel is living alone with Ruth a sort of housekeeper/nanny. His father is dead and his mother has run off to America to try and fix the family fortune. Samuel misses her dearly and pesters Ruth daily about when his mother will return. She left in the middle of the night and didn’t even say good bye. All he has are a few postcards that she has sent from America.

One day, while walking home from school with his friend, Joseph, he is talking about missing his mother. Joseph plants the seed in Samuel’s mind that maybe Ruth killed Samuel’s mother.

From then on, Samuel can’t get that though out of his mind. He goes about trying to collect evidence to either prove that or disprove it. The problem is that Ruth is always a step or two ahead of him.

The story moves along slowly, letting the relationship between Samuel and Ruth develop. Ruth is a confusing character and we are given conflicting glimpses into her personality. Sometimes it seems that she could be evil and other times she is just a harried housekeeper trying to do the best she can. Which is her true side?

I enjoyed the pace of the book, the small hints, just enough to make you wonder. The ending was a total surprise.

I received an ARC of the book.

Gothic and creepy, it is hard to believe that The Boy at the Keyhole is a debut novel. Samuel is an abandoned, deluded boy who misses his Mom and who lives with his housekeeper Ruth, who could be related to Mrs. Danvers in that she is mysterious and not precisely warm and fuzzy. Mom, Samuel is told, is in America. She sends postcards, but has been gone way too long and Samuel starts suspecting that maybe Ruth is lying to him. But is she covering for someone who is not good at keeping in touch? Or could his Mom have found a more sinister ending? The reader only knows what Samuel knows. We don’t get any additional clues, and I kept thinking that I knew where the story was going when I really didn’t. The fact that Samuel is a 9-year old and nobody is taking him seriously gives the story an extra layer of suspense. The unnamed heroine in Rebecca at least is free to move around and ask people questions. Samuel can’t even go to his room without Ruth checking up on him and is not allowed to talk to his uncle or neighbors. The feeling of claustrophobia is overwhelming, even if the action is set in a big house. And the estate is so well described that it’s impossible not to picture Samuel, cowering in the dark in its long, long hallways. In this regard, it also reminded me of A Turn of the Screw, even if the roles are reversed. This is an excellent novel that kept me turning the pages while looking over my shoulder.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Hanover Square Press!

I will be honest, this was not the easiest book to read, but I am very glad I did. This book surely expresses that not everything is as it seems and we need to dig a bit deeper to find out the truth. I can see someone possibly putting this book down and not finishing it, but that would be a shame. You might think you know what is going on through the story, but until the end, you really do not know. Why is Ruth so mean to Sam. Why did Sam's mom leave him in the middle of the night? Or did Ruth kill his mom and hide the body in order to keep Sam, the house, and the jewels. This is a very intriguing read that I highly enjoyed, especially after I was finished and thought back on the story. I am going to look for more books by Mr. Giles in hopes that this is his ongoing writing style, I am giving this book a 3.75-star review rounded to 4-stars.

My Highly Caffeinated Thought: A hauntingly tense thriller with all the best elements of historical fiction.

THE BOY AT THE KEYHOLE was a complete and utter surprise for me. This extremely smart and intense narrative pulled me in with the premise. However, what kept me reading was the characters and the ever-looming questions of what exactly going on in this house.

This is the story of a boy who is convinced his housekeeper murdered his mother. It is one that will captivate, shock, and send you on a ride questioning just about everything. There is something so perfect in the way Giles unravels this story. The mystery is enhanced by the expressive writing as well as the atmosphere set through the descriptions of the estate. There are elements which read as a ghost story, but then the reader is thrust back into the reality of Samuel's day to day life. This constant push and pull between what is and what could be kept me on the edge of my seat.

When I talk about books, it is rare for me not to want to sit down and write countless sentences describing the plot or the vibe of the story. Yet, from time to time, one of my reads is so good that I just can't tell you how much I loved it. THE BOY AT THE KEYHOLE is such a book. All I will say is read it. Judge it for yourself. I know how much I enjoyed my time spent within these pages and can only hope you do too.

3.5 stars

The Boy at the Keyhole
Stephen Giles
Hanover Square Press, September 2018
ISBN 978-1-335-65292-8
Hardcover

From the publisher—

Nine-year-old Samuel lives alone in a once-great estate in Surrey with the family’s housekeeper, Ruth. His father is dead and his mother has been abroad for months, purportedly tending to her late husband’s faltering business. She left in a hurry one night while Samuel was sleeping and did not say goodbye.

Beyond her sporadic postcards, Samuel hears nothing from his mother. He misses her dearly and maps her journey in an atlas he finds in her study. Samuel’s life is otherwise regulated by Ruth, who runs the house with an iron fist. Only she and Samuel know how brutally she enforces order.

As rumors in town begin to swirl, Samuel wonders whether something more sinister is afoot. Perhaps his mother did not leave but was murdered—by Ruth.

Artful, haunting and hurtling toward a psychological showdown, The Boy at the Keyhole is an incandescent debut about the precarious dance between truth and perception, and the shocking acts that occur behind closed doors.

On the surface, this book would seem to have elements of a dark, gothic story, something like Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, with a looming, cavernous manse, a creepy, sinister housekeeper and a protagonist who becomes more and more suspicious about what’s going on. Really, the main difference is that the protagonist is a child rather than a new young wife being intimidated by the housekeeper while the husband is apparently distant emotionally.

Certainly Samuel has reason to be suspicious, lonesome, baffled, all the feelings a child would have when one parent is dead and the other disappears, supposedly legitimately but without even telling him goodbye. Right there, my empathy went to this little boy who surely deserved better. How disappointed he must have been each day when she didn’t come home.

Ruth is undoubtedly an unpleasant caregiver and it’s no wonder Samuel begins to have dark thoughts about this woman and her peculiar behavior. These feelings are exacerbated by Samuel’s friend who, intentionally or not, hints at nefarious goings-on and the suspense begins to build while Ruth understandably becomes more and more frustrated by this child who dares to snoop and raise questions. Is this all just a child’s imagination run amok?

A promising beginning doesn’t quite succeed, as least not as fully as it could have, and the very slow pace doesn’t help. I also felt the ending was a bit lacking but, overall, I think readers who like a slow-building suspense will be satisfied.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, September 2018.

This psychological thriller was a near miss for me on several fronts. First, this book is nothing like DuMaurier and that comparison sets expectations that are not reached. Second, the creep factor is nearly there, but doesn’t reach the high anxiety that I live in horror. Third, too few elements were introduced; Samuel as Ruth run into the exact same tension points over and over with little progression. I felt that the entire book just held back a little too much in several places. The pace and writing were sound, but the plot needed a push.

I really enjoyed this book, thanks so much for the copy. As a huge fan of Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, I think the comparison is warranted. I flew through this in a weekend, and it kept me on the edge of my seat. I have posted a mini review on our Instagram book club @officialbookgarden

I didn't really care for this book, actually didn't finish it. It started out very slow and I just couldn't get into it.

Suspenseful, dark, haunting…yes, please! Those are a few adjectives describing The Boy At The Keyhole by Stephen Giles. I am already conjuring up images of a large, creepy mansion and a scared little boy.

I might be way off base but I suspect this might keep me up late at night…

Take a look:

An electrifying debut in the vein of Shirley Jackson and Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, about a British boy who, after his mother is abruptly called away to America, begins to suspect that perhaps she did not leave, but was murdered—by the housekeeper who cares for him in the family’s isolated country estate.

Nine-year-old Samuel lives alone in a once great estate in Surrey with the family’s housekeeper, Ruth. His father is dead and his mother has been abroad for five months, purportedly tending to her late husband’s faltering business. She left in a hurry one night while Samuel was sleeping and did not say goodbye.

Beyond her sporadic postcards, Samuel hears nothing from his mother. He misses her dearly and maps her journey in an atlas he finds in her study. Samuel’s life is otherwise regulated by Ruth, who runs the house with an iron fist. Only she and Samuel know how brutally she enforces order.

As rumors in town begin to swirl, Samuel wonders whether something more sinister is afoot. Perhaps his mother did not leave, but was murdered—by Ruth.

Mystery, thriller, suspense, this book has it all!

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

It's 1961 and it's been a rough year for nine-year-old Samuel Clay. His father died several months ago and then his mother reportedly left in the middle of the night to return to America and seek funding to save the family's business. She's been gone for more than five months and Samuel's imagination is beginning to run wild. All he has are a few postcards from his America detailing her journeys across America. But the more Samuel reviews the postcards, the more he realizes that something isn't quite right. His mother hasn't even called, according to the housekeeper, Ruth. Now Ruth has had to fire the last housemaid due to limited funds. Samuel's imagination had already been running in overdrive, then his best friend, actually his only friend, Joseph Collins, tells him a story about a German housekeeper that had murdered all of the residents of the house. When Joseph begins to question whether Samuel's mother is really in America, Samuel begins to believe that Ruth has done the unimaginable. She has murdered his mother and hidden the body. Then he believes she's murdered not only his mother but his father as well all to keep their wealth. The only course of action for an inquisitive young boy is to begin searching for clues, as well as listening and looking through keyholes to find out the truth. Has Ruth done the unthinkable or is Samuel the high-strung and unbalanced young boy that Ruth always accuses him of being? Whose version of the truth is based in reality?

<b>The Boy at the Keyhole</b> by Stephen Giles was a rather fast-paced read. Samuel is a likable character and one that evoked a lot of sympathies. It's hard to imagine a nine-year-old bereft of friends or close family, stuck in a home with a housekeeper and no word about his mother's whereabouts or even if she's remotely interested in how he's doing. It was hard feeling sympathy toward Ruth, but she's also left in a tenuous position where she's struggling financially to maintain a household that isn't hers and raising a child that isn't hers either. All she can do is the best she can to provide for this child she's grown to care for and protect him the best way she knows how. There aren't a lot of characters in <b>The Boy at the Keyhole</b> as most of the action and drama is between Samuel and Ruth and occurs in the house. The ending was dark, twisted and a definite surprise (no, I won't tell you what happened...read the book!). For those of you into dark suspense (and by dark, I mean psychologically dark not blood-guts-and-gore dark), you'll want to grab a copy of <b>The Boy at the Keyhole</b> to read. If you're not sure about dark, twisted suspense reads but are a fan of suspense reads, then I suggest you set aside your qualms and read <b>The Boy at the Keyhole</b>. This may not be the perfect read for everyone, but it is, perhaps, an excellent introductory read for those new to the suspense genre.

The Boy at the Keyhole has the makings of a psychological thriller with the debate between perception and reality surrounding Samuel, a young English boy yearning for his mother, who mysteriously departs for America for 'business reasons', leaving him in the care of Ruth the housekeeper. The only communication he receives from his mother are periodic postcards from various American cities. As the days turn into weeks, Samuel questions his mother's departure and wonders if something untoward has happened.

The story is told through Samuel's eyes as he explores his home and gradually believes something is amiss - he struggles to retain his innocence as mounting evidence (?) suggests that Ruth has murdered his mother, yet he has few people with whom he can confide. After all, who would believe him?

The overall premise drew me to this story, hoping it'd be a suspenseful cat-and-mouse game between Samuel and Ruth, but the ending (and its buildup) was whelming at best, and - worst of all - vague and unresolved. Also, the time period in which the story is set - 1960's - was bewildering; there might have been more tension and plausibility to Ruth's insistence that his mother was in America for seemingly an extraordinary amount of time if the story was set in the 1920's or 1930's, when travel was more arduous, and communication was not as direct.

The lack of concrete resolution at the very end left me with more questions than answers.

Thank you to Netgalley, Hanover Square Press, and Stephen Giles for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. The opinions stated are my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

Poor Samuel has been left all alone with the housekeeper, Ruth, while his mother has gone off, in the middle of the night, without saying goodbye, on a trip to America, to drum up much needed funds. Set in the 1960’s, on a dilapidated English estate, Samuel has no one. His father has died, his mother gone for months, and the staff have all been let go except for Ruth and William, the gardener. He has only one friend in the world, Jacob, who loves a conspiracy theory, as any nine year old boy with an iota of an imagination does. Ruth is strict, often cruel, and full of secrets and lies. Samuel is convinced that she murdered his mother. Mothers love their children and would never have abandoned him like this. After all, he was “her little man” and Sam knows she loved him fiercely. But how can he prove it? Ruth keeps all the rooms locked and he is forced to spy through keyholes to uncover the truth about what Ruth has done to his mother.

This did not do it for me. It wasn’t sufficiently creepy enough. I love the feeling you get when you are almost afraid to turn the page because you don’t know what is going to happen next and you are scared! The tension never reached an “on the edge of your seat” level. The suspense didn’t build. I figured out what was going on almost right from the very beginning and was disappointed when I was right. Where is the imagination? And I am not one to try and figure out what is going on, I rather just let the story wash over me and experience it as I’m reading. The characters were weak. I didn’t understand their motivation for anything they did, so I found them unbelievable. I really didn’t care what happened to Samuel, his mother, Ruth - not invested at all. The writing felt forced and contrived. It dragged for me quite a bit and all of that would have been forgiven if it had a great ending. But the ending was hardly great.

I’m sorry to say, this is a pass for me.

Thank you Harlequin Press for an e-copy of The Boy at the Keyhole for review.
This short little novel was pretty dark. Nine year old Samuel’s mother left one night without a word for business in America. He is left with the housekeeper, Ruth, with only sporadic postcards to remember her by. As Samuel wonder if his mother will ever come back, he starts to suspect that maybe something more sinister is afoot. Maybe Ruth killed her, and he needs the proof.
Very quick little story, I liked the tone and pace. Available September 4/18, this might be a good Halloween read.

Boy at the Keyhole is a suspenseful psychological thriller by a debut author.

In 1961, nine-year-old Samuel is at home in England with his housekeeper, Ruth. His father is dead and his mother is searching for business investors in America. Samuel is concerned because his mother has been gone four months. Her only contact are bi-monthly postcards from America. Ruth tries to cut expenses as much as possible but the home’s artwork is being sold to pay the bills. Where is Samuel’s mother and why isn’t she sending money home? Why does Samuel suspect foul play and especially that Ruth is the killer?

Boy at the Keyhole slowly builds suspense and dread about what happened to Samuel’s mother. The atmosphere is really the star here. A paranoid nine-year-old is an unexpected choice as an unreliable narrator. Are the clues he sees as facts really just his childish imagination? The penultimate twist is a true surprise. However, I hated the inconclusive finale. 3 stars but I am looking forward to the next book by this debut author.

Thanks to Hanover Square Press and NetGalley for an advance copy.

The description of this book mentions the two greats: Shirley Jackson and Daphne Du Maurier. While there are hints of the tension that both of those writers are masters of, The Boy at the Keyhole was missing the great twist that made books like "Rebecca" and "We Have Always Lived In A Castle." contained.

Samuel is nine. His mother has been abroad for over 100 days and Samuel is starting to suspect that his housekeeper, Ruth, isn't telling him the truth. As nine year old boys are wont to do, Samuel listens to his only friend Joseph telling a tall tale of a murderous nanny and starts believing that Ruth has murdered his mother.

The psychological effects of this starts to take the toll on Samuel. He loses sleep, he hides in places he shouldn't be, he spies on Ruth in the privacy of her room.... All the while, he still hopes that he's wrong and that his mother will return.

Stephen Giles is clearly a good writer and I can't wait to see what else he writes, but The Boy at the Keyhole was missing a little something for me. Maybe I'm biased, Rebecca IS one of my all time favorites, but this needed a bit more of the tension that was building.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book

I was given this book by Netgalley and Hanover Square Press to review. Publication Date-Sept 4, 2018.

This book is set in England and has that upstairs/downstairs vibe. It is told through the eyes of a 9 year old boy who suspects the housekeeper of killing his mother.
The writing is well done. And just when you think you may have it figured out, you don’t. So it does have you guessing throughout.
It is a short, fast read. Made me anxious reading it. The story does seem hurried, it seemed that it started too quickly and ended too quickly.

This is an old fashioned read. Yes, that's the way to describe it. One of the challenges reading it is that it's written from the perspective of a 9 year old - Samuel- and it's set in the 1960s. SO much has changed since then so our expectations for a thriller or a psychological thriller have changed. The crumbly estate where Samuel lives with Ruth, a housekeeper of the old school, is almost a character in itself. The relationship between Samuel and Ruth deteriorates as Samuel becomes more convinced that his mother is not overseas but has instead been murdered by Ruth. What will become clear is that mom had some issues even before she went away. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is a compact novel which can be read quickly. It also would make a good crossover for YA readers.

Nine-year-old Samuel has been left in the care of the housekeeper, Ruth, for over 100 days while his mother went to America to try to raise money to save the family steel business. The story takes place mostly in the mind of Samuel - suspense that builds very slowly until both Samuel and Ruth are at each other's throats. The story doesn't come out and say what actually happened, but you get a pretty good idea. Not what I expected and really not the book for me, but it was interesting enough to finish and I think the author certainly has talent - I just like a different type of story.

Thanks to Stephen Giles and Harlequin/Hanover Square Press through Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Boy, named Samuel, is convinced that the housekeeper, Ruth, somehow has killed his mother. That Ruth is not a warm fuzzy type, and that Samuel's mother appears to be less than maternal (per the letters he discovers) leads to a house filled with tension and angst. That a boy of nine could begin to imagine this type of thing isn't implausible, especially when egged on by his best/only friend, and the author does a decent job of putting this in Samuel's voice. Yet there's something a little off here, perhaps the rushed nature of the ending after the incredibly slow pacing of the rest of the book? It just misses being a good horror book.

eARC provided by publisher.