Cuckoo by Sophie Draper is a scary Gothic read. Caro the main character is a trouble girl. She was treated poorly by her stepmother and was in an abusive relationship. Caro has a hard time trusting people.. She also is an illustrator for scary fairy tales.
This is the first book by this author that I have read and look forward to reading more. Thank you netgalley.

An intense and haunting tale of family secrets and deception! Every time I thought I knew where this dark and creepy story was headed...BOOM...another twist blew me away!

I took a leap of faith and requested this book from NetGalley before they revealed the title, author or book cover...then I saw the book cover...WOW! What a chilling book cover! I know, I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Still...it’s pretty awesome...am I right?

Two sisters that have lost touch are reconnected after their stepmother dies unexpectedly. Neither of the girls has seen Elizabeth in years, and neither seems to be heart-broken over her death. Steph—the oldest sister—moved out of the house at 16 and landed in the States, while Caro stayed in the UK, living near London to pursue a career as an illustrator.

With Elizabeth gone, they’ve inherited their childhood home—Larkstone Farm in Derbyshire—but Steph says she wants nothing to do with it. She offers the house to Caro, who gladly accepts and promptly moves in.

She begins the tedious task of cleaning out Elizabeth’s personal belongings. As she’s describing the house, I formed a picture of a large eerie and sinister looking house that has been neglected and rundown...very spooky and Halloweenish! It’s in a remote location...cold and drafty...full of strange noises...and still has the blood-stains from Elizabeth’s death. Caro is curious about the freak accident that lead to Elizabeth’s death—they were told she’d fallen over the banister onto the landing below—but doesn’t question it.

At the beginning, we learn that Steph and Caro have been estranged for years; but we aren’t given the backstory or reason behind it. Steph comes off as very confident and decisive, while Caro is timid and a little socially awkward. But the way Caro describes her painting and how she views the simplest things...I’m envious of her talent!

On trips into the village, Caro finds most people unfriendly...some downright rude. And she even hears some strange gossip. She tries to settle in and focus on the house. The winters are snowy and she’s preparing for the probability of being snowed in. That leaves plenty of time for her painting, as she’s been commissioned to illustrate some very grim and gruesome fairytales. But the longer she’s in the house, the more she remembers...or are they hallucinations? Strange things are happening and unimaginable memories are being triggered as she sorts through items in the house...especially the Pear Drum.

Thank you to NetGalley / Avon Books UK / Sophie Draper for this digital ARC / in exchange for my honest review.
#Cuckoo #NetGalley

Well I can certainly see why Sophie Draper won an award for this book, it hooks you in from the really quite creepy prologue, and pretty much doesn’t let you go until the final word.

What I liked so much about it is that I found myself at times just as confused as protagonist Caro, not in a not knowing what was going on way, just in a trying to figure out just exactly what was happening to her and why. She’s something of a hidden character, I think partly because we’re drip-fed her history as she is remembering snippets of her childhood throughout the book. But she is nevertheless likeable despite her often closed personality, brought about by the treatment she received as a child from her stepmother and the more recent relationship with her ex-boyfriend. It’s confusing then that she is met with the utmost distaste from the neighbours she encounters, and I was trying to work out just what she’d done to merit their behaviour. And it’s this slow unravelling that makes ''Cuckoo'' an engaging read.

The actual storyline is very clever, and the author manages to weave the plot well, ensuring that I was thinking about it even when I’d had to put it down. There were a couple of times that I just felt it slip away a little, but never did these spoil my enjoyment of all the twists and turns ''Cuckoo'' had to offer. It was like being on a rollercoaster without any of the associated sickness or dizziness! And I’m not going to spoil anyone’s reading of it by saying the ending was just terrific - I loved it.

I really look forward to reading more from Sophie Draper, but in the meantime I’d really recommend giving ''Cuckoo'' your attention, it’s a fab read.

Cuckoo is a very dark novel that pushes the relationship of two sisters to the brink. Caro is reunited with her step-sister, Seth, after years apart, following the death of her step-mother, Elizabeth. Seth now lives in New York, and very kindly, gives Caro Elizabeth’s house. From the beginning it is clear that something happened in their past, which is what has kept them apart for quite some time, but with Elizabeth’s death, can the past finally be forgotten? Or is there a wound which runs much deeper?

I loved the unravelling of the lives of Caro and Seth’s lives in this book. From the opening pages I wanted to know what had gone wrong in their history, and why everyone was so frosty towards Caro, there were some scenes which really made me think, what had she done to deserve this treatment? This, for me, is what made this book a page turner. There is a dark sense of malevolence that runs throughout the novel, and it really made me think that there was something evil hidden, and I was desperate to find out what it was.

As Caro revisits her past, we do get see ghosts of her childhood and gradually, Lucy Draper begins to reveal the truth about what happened, and there are some hard hitting revelations which pull the different strands in the novel together very well. There are plenty of captivating characters that kept me intrigued and I was utterly absorbed by Sophie’s writing.

I really enjoyed reading this book, I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out to see what Sophie Draper writes next. Cuckoo is absorbing, compelling and it definitely comes recommended from me for fans of psychological thrillers.

Cuckoo is a thriller for people who enjoy thrillers. It follows the formula. A death. A childhood home. Hauntings....or are they?

Caro finds herself in her childhood home after the death of her stepmother. While clearing out Elizabeth's things, she remembers things she had long buried deep inside. Caro remembers the story of two little girls, and the awful things they do...and she wonders why Elizabeth hated her so much.

It's predictable but still enjoyable.

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

So when you see a book entitled “Can you keep a secret”… of course you have to request it, intriguing to say the least…I had no idea what the book was going to be called but for all the cloak and dagger this book lived up to expectations as I was expecting a lot with the secrecy… plenty of twists and turns to keep your interest.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is my first book by this author. I really liked the writing style and the momentum of the story. I am glad i was able to read it and be introduced to this amazing writer.

Thank you to Sabah Khan at Avon and Netgalley for providing me with my review of the book and for inviting me to take part on the blog tour.

As with others who have reviewed this book, I wasn't really sure what to expect and I went in without much of an idea of what I was about to read.

Cuckoo is a cleverly written and twisty book that does its best to confuse you from the first page. Although the pace of the book is quite slow to begin with, you do pick up on the sense that things aren't all that they seem and you begin to feel the eerie sensation that Caro is also feeling especially when unexplained and odd things start happening.....

The descriptive writing concerning the isolated house is written so well that you can picture it clearly in your mind and with the impending snow storm, you pick up on the chilling, cold feeling in the house and everything that has previously happened in it.

Caro is a bit of a confusing character and you do take your time to understand her. Sophie Draper has written her very well and you do start to question in your head if things are really happening or if she is indeed imagining things. With her hazy memory from childhood you soon become invested in finding out what really happened and just why her stepmother disliked her so much.

As you being to learn more, the tone of the book changes and it really picked up for me. Little things that you may have missed originally become big things and I was becoming hooked in finding out how things were going to pan out....

The ending..........what a fantastic ending! Probably one that will stay with me for a while as I did not see it coming at all. Everything came together perfectly and I had to read a few times so that it fully sank in!

A brilliant debut from Sophie Draper.

A psychological mystery I’m calling this. I wouldn’t call it a thriller although it’s billed as one but that’s no bad thing. This has a black fairytale kind of vibe to it. Not so much Brothers Grimm but rather M. Night Shyamalan .

Set in Derbyshire in a remote farmhouse near Ashbourne. Locations are few and far between but the setting is one of vagueness, fear, isolation and claustrophobia and all the trappings of returning to a family home of torment.

There’s a wicked stepmother or evil Cinderella sister if you will, a remote house in the woods, evil dangers, little people and more…but in the modern day and in a novel which messes with your mind in ways you won’t expect.

The legend which kicked off the whole story for the author is fascinating in itself which she explains in her author note although I do think more could have been made of this in the story itself. The scene setting and fairy stories was slowly built up and them interspersed throughout which sometimes slowed the pacing but then this novel is more about characters and mind games than anything else.

I did think it was clever how Caro is an illustrator and is drawing illustrations which could be graphic windows on what is happening in the novel itself. This world within a world was fascinating. She’d had a difficult life and had been tormented there so no wonder she was a bit unstable. Did she have to drink? I feared it was going into predictable territory then.

But overall, it did manage to redeem itself for me with all the other ingredients of rituals, fear, torment and gothic fairytale overtones. It’s a novel where the journey matters more than the destination as the whodunnit is pretty clear. However it’s fun getting there.

Oh and the title? Clever. Not obvious at first but then all the best fairytales unravel in ways not always obvious at first.

Finally I can talk about this book. It was clothed in secrecy, even from reviewers! All's I had to go on was a bit of a teaser, no title and no author when I was offered a copy to read. But hey, I've been lucky before and... why not!
Anyway, with the cat out of the bag, I can now spout on about it to my heart's content - no spoilers though.
Caro has returned to her childhood home after the death of her step-mother Elizabeth. She's not had the best of things recently and needs a bit of a fresh start. So she sets about assisting her sister who now lives abroad, and starts to sort out Elizabeth's house. But then strange things start happening in the house and also, due to some happenings in her childhood, Caro doesn't feel very welcomed by the rest of the people in the village. Apart from neighbour and Elizabeth's friend and tenant Craig who is being very helpful and supportive. All the weird stuff seems to revolve around the Pear Drum, a musical instrument with a weird story that Elizabeth used to torment Caro when she was a child. As things gets weirder and even Craig seems to go off course, what exactly is the truth about, well, pretty much everything?
This book had a bit of everything you'd want from the genre. Twists, turns, lies and duplicitous behaviour aplenty can be found within its pages. Mostly to quite a good standard but which also sometimes left me a bit bewildered and confused. Yes, it all mostly comes together at the end but the journey getting there was not always as smooth as I would have preferred as there were a few things that just didn't quite add up no matter how hard I tried.
Pacing was good on the whole. We start off quite slow and steady with quite a bit of scene setting and foundation laying. The intrigue level builds up steadily through the early parts to quite a decent level when it all starts kicking off towards the end. There are quite a few things along the way that have to be just accepted or held until later when they are eventually explained.
The who isn't really that big a secret as the cast list isn't that great but I don't think that's the point of the book - the main antagonists were a bit obvious to me but it's more the why and how that leads the story here and the ultimate truth when it all came out was quite shocking. Yes, OK, I agree that there are quite a few psychological thriller old faithful cliches to be found in this book along with a couple of liberties well and truly taken, but they are all quite well crafted and woven into the story told herein seamlessly and as such can be forgiven.
All in all, a good solid read that ticked the majority of my boxes and left me satisfied at the end. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Caro, an illustrator of children’s books, returns to her childhood home after the unexpected death of her stepmother. After twenty years she begins to face the demons that have been just out of reach and, at the same time, reconnect with her older sister. It should not be mistaken for a psychological thriller. Rather this book is a modern gothic horror story that slowly builds to a climax.

This is a story that becomes more sinister as you turn each page. Although it started out a bit slow for me, it quickly picked up the pace as the story took a darker turn. It could easily be compared to the fairy tales that Caro has been commissioned to illustrate. Cuckoo has all the elements, from a wicked stepmother to a charming “prince”, plus the dark and foreboding environment that surrounds Caro’s home.

Especially for a debut novel, Cuckoo is quite well-done. I would easily give it 3.5 stars but will round it up to 4.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

This was definitely not a psychological thriller but more of a gothic horror fairytail not usually my type of read. I found the beginning frustratingly slow and didn't really care much for any of the characters.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was looking for something different and horror based to read in time for Halloween. This was different then the type of book I would usually read. I found the beginning to be a little slow with too much descriptions, but I felt the middle and ending helped make up for the slow beginning. I don’t want to give too much away, but this book made me think of a dark fairy tale which was fun to read something different. Unfortunately I didn’t care for any of the main characters which took away from my enjoyment of the story, but overall I still enjoyed it. 3.5 stars. Great scenery and some minor chills.

I really wanted to like this book as the description was very intriguing, but I found myself skimming pages just to get through it. I will say, it started to pick up at about the 60% mark and I became a little more interested, but not enough to overcome the boring first half.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

The Good: Readers can look forward to a well-written, gothic horror mystery with unique artistic elements that only add to the darkness. Cuckoo is creepy, with complex character relationships, rich settings, and some eerie folk lore thrown in.

The Why Not 5 Stars: I tend to appreciate novels with unreliable narrators, but I appreciate them more if the plot of the book uncovers their truths in a methodical way. With Cuckoo, I felt as though twists were not just uncovered, they were thrown directly at us in a way that felt as though I was reading bulleted facts and not a suspenseful novel. Also, Caro is quite difficult to like. For someone who makes a career out of illustrating beautiful, ornate pictures, she misses so many clear details in her relationships with other people.

The Bottom Line: A creepy fairy tale ensures an even creepier past is never truly forgotten.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for allowing me read this early!

Cuckoo is aptly named although we do not find out why until quite a way through the book. Part psychological thriller/part mystical story it is a tense and enjoyable read. I particularly liked the creepy atmosphere and the descriptions of the Derbyshire countryside.

I found the first half of the book rather slow, possibly because of fairy stories dotted throughout. These are being illustrated by Caro, an artist who has returned to live in her isolated childhood home after her step mother's death. She finds herself ignored, even ostracised by the villagers, apart from a near neighbour, Craig, who rents a house on her property. Her older sister, Stephanie, to whom she has never been close, left home when Caro was young and lives in New York, is happy to give Caro her share of their inheritance.

Caro has no memory of her mother after whose death her father remarried. He died himself shortly afterwards leaving Caro and Stephanie in the care of their stepmother, Elizabeth, who appears as evil as in any fairy story ensuring that Caro feels unwanted and unloved.

Living in the house again Caro begins to recall events from her childhood - this is where the story takes off - and she begins an affair with Craig. Needless to say, nothing is as it first appears to be. The twists are clever although one or two stretched my belief and I had a good idea who was 'playing' Caro from early on.

I found the idea about the pear drum difficult to relate to and may have missed something here, so will have to re-read. Cuckoo is a dramatic and spooky psychological thriller. perfect for a dark winter's night. Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books for the opportunity to read and review Cuckoo.

I went into this book, as everyone else reading an advanced copy did, without any knowledge on it. The level of secrecy surrounding this novel really built it up in my head, and I was excited for it.

However, this was not the psychological thriller for me. I really wanted it to be, but I was bored from the very beginning, and my interest just never picked up unfortunately. While reading, I always felt like the readers were being left out of of some joke or something- like we didn't have enough information. I know that building successful suspenseful stories requires a certain level of leaving the reader in the dark, but this felt different. I didn't care for the characters and felt very detached from Caro. I couldn't get caught up in the story and just kept going to finish. :(

WOW! OK, so I admit that I wasn’t loving the book and skimmed quickly through several parts u til I was about 75% through the book, then WOW! It was like a whole new book! The story had all kinds of twists and turns, the writing changed and was more intense, more enthralling. And then just when I accepted what was happening and where the store was going, BOOM, another twist. I actually ended up loving this book, but because of the last quarter of it. Even on the last page I was trying to turn to the next one and I didn’t want it to be over, especially like that! This should be a movie and I bet it will be. I absolute would go see it and will proudly admit that I read the book first. Bravo!

*Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.* I finishing this book some time argo, but there was a marketing embargo until Halloween, hence I am writing my review now. The protagonist, Caro, returns to her family home following the unexpected death of her (of course wicked) stepmother. All is not as it seems, however. The locals seem to resent Caro and the house seems to hold secrets of its own. As one would expect with a thriller novel such as this, 'Cuckoo' is full of twists and turns and kept me reading to find out more about what was going to happen... but also what had happened to Caro's family in the past.

Cuckoo by Sophie Draper a five-star read that will have you checking under the bed at night. This was a thrilling read, it will make you worry about every bump you hear while you read it. Do not think you can sleep or put this book down until you have finished it. Some people will be able to guess the twists, but I didn’t and usually I’m good at picking stuff up, so I loved this it really kept me hooked. Caro was a little infuriating at times, but that was just her character rather than the way she was written (she reminded me of an acquaintance I know who I have the same issue with, okay most of the time and then days I want to give them a good shake). If you like your phycological thrillers compelling and drama filled, then give this one a chance.