I really enjoyed One by One. To start off with it kind of reminded me of Amityville horror. This book is creepy and keeps you interested throughout the book!

A fabulous twisty horror story. Take a large quirky house add a family that are struggling with family issues and you get one hell of a tale. A drawing on a wall seems to depict the family but one by one the images are covered with a large cross and people disappear. Who is haunting them and where do the lost ones go. This is the reality facing the daughter not only that she has found a diary that belonged to the previous girl who lived in the house. We get to hear her voice too as the diary is read , is she the one haunting the house or is it something more sinister. If you love a good suspenseful horror then you will love this book. It builds momentum leading to a crescendo of a finale that is just horrifyingly brilliant

This is definitely one creepy story. Just the picture drawn on the wall was enough to creep me out. I thought the story was well thought out though a bit predictable.

One by One is a fairly standard haunted house horror story. We follow a young girl, Alice as her parents uproot her from her childhood home to an old building with hidden charms that comes at a suspiciously low price. There are spooky noises in the night, a mysterious diary, rooms with secrets, a snow storm to block them in and then family members start to go missing. There’s nothing really earth shaking or new about the plot but it’s a solid story and kept my attention all the way through. It’s quite a quick read – I managed to finish it in a day and it kept me hooked throughout although I must admit I didn’t exactly feel scared at any point during the book. I liked the twist at the end although I did see it coming before the reveal.

The main character of Alice felt a lot older than her age of 10, and her brother Dean also seemed older than 14 – the way he spoke to his parents (and the fact they allowed him to behave that way!) didn’t feel realistic for someone so young. I think overall I would have liked a little more backstory on Mary’s family – the diary entries that gave us a glimpse into her life just felt a little too brief and vague to draw me into her story. Although I enjoyed the twist, I felt that actually it threw up a few plot holes to the more ‘horror’ elements of the story with hindsight.

Overall One by One is a fast paced read, but one that it is perhaps not wise to peer too deeply into. Thank you to NetGalley & Flame Tree Press for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A family buys an old house that needs some love and repair. Their daughter Alice enjoys the new place at first. It's fun to explore and discover things about the old house. But when a child's drawing is found on a wall underneath old wallpaper, the sinister side of the house is revealed.

OMG! This story creeped me the hell out! As mysterious X's started to appear on the drawing, Alice's family starts to disappear...one.....by......one. Such a creepy-cool atmospheric story! I loved it! Yes, that is a lot of exclamation points....but this was a binge read for me, so it earned a few !s. Any book that keeps me up until 3 am reading is a great story....IMHO.

I'm a big fan of this sort of horror. Atmospheric.....a creepy old house with evil lurking. Innocent characters....a family who just wants a fixer-upper to turn into a happy home. And some slow burn suspense. Nicely done!

This is the second book I've read by D.W. Gillespie. I enjoyed The Toy Thief as well. Definitely looking forward to more by this author!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Flame Tree Press via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

You have to watch out for those houses deep in the woods

Alice Easton is 10 years old. Her mom, dad, older brother, and her move into this fixer upper deep in the woods of Tennessee. Alice likes the unusual house at first but then strange things start to happening.

First, a stick figure family very similar to hers is revealed under a piece of loose wallpaper. A diary mysteriously appears on her night table. She hears stories of the family that used to live in the house. And her father is changing (not for the better) - shades of THE SHINING.

This was a well-written spooky story that kept ramping up the suspense. Oh, and a blizzard plays a big part in the overall storyline.

I recommend this book to anyone that likes highly suspenseful thrillers with more than a touch of spookiness thrown in.

I received this book from Flame Tree Press through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

Title: One By One

Author: D.W.Gillespie

Genre: horror

Pages:240

Rating: 4





The Easton family has just moved into their new fixer-upper, a beautiful old house that they bought at a steal, and Alice, the youngest of the family, is excited to explore the strange, new place. Her excitement turns to growing dread as she discovers a picture hidden under the old wallpaper, a child’s drawing of a family just like hers. Soon after, members of the family begin to disappear, each victim marked on the child’s drawing with a dark black X. It’s up to her to unlock the grim mystery of the house before she becomes the next victim.


My thoughts

This is my first book by this author and i do have to admit that it was the title and the cover that got me to request it from Netgalley , and I'm so glad I did , the way the author wrote about the house and described it give me goosebumps and made me feel like I was actually in the house , as well as made me never want to step foot in that creepy place.From start to finish it Dynamic, atmospheric, exciting and while keep you on the edge of you set as your reading it ,with that said I want to say thank you to Netgalley for letting me read and review it .

SPOOKY AND CHILLING!

This book is an intense and very scary story with a presence of evil that horror fans should not miss reading!

The story centers around a family of four who have just moved into a huge new home that was purchased from the bank at a wonderful price. From day one the ten year old daughter (Alice) hears strange noises and is having bad dreams. The only member of the family who is excited about the house is the father so he doesn't take any of Alice's claims seriously. Alice discovers an old stick figure drawing of a family that looks like her family except the picture has a dog instead of their pet cat. Very strange and unnerving to everyone when they find an x painted over the dog the next day and then they find their cat missing. Is the house haunted? What happened to the family in the picture? Who used to own this house? Why is the house so dark and creepy? Why does the house seem to call only to Alice? Will the family survive the evil that lurks in their wake?

I loved this gritty and dark story that was told from the child's perspective that will resonate with any parent or person remembering what it felt like when they were only ten years old. There are scares galore and some really nasty scenes that are not meant for the feint hearted. "One by One" should not be missed and not read right before sleeping. D.W. Gillespie has written a wonderful horror story and since Halloween is around the corner, this would be a perfect time to read this insidious book!I

I want to thank the publisher Flame Tree Press and Netgalley for giving me an Advance Reading Copy and any opinions are mine alone!

I highly recommend "One by One" to any horror fan because it contains true evil within it's pages!
I have given a rating of 4 1/2 Insidious 🌟🌟🌟🌟✴ Stars!!



I

One By One was great. It’s not an original idea for a story, but the writing is strong, the characters are fully realized and the pacing is excellent. The setting helps create the spooky, mysterious atmosphere that Gillespie is able to maintain throughout the novel. I was expecting the novel to go in a certain direction. Actually, the author does a very good job of leading the reader to that conclusion. When I found out what was really happening, I loved it. In hindsight, there were plenty of clues provided, but I didn’t put everything together until just before the big reveal. One by One is highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the book.

If your favoured reading material is a novel with a good sprinkling of suspense, mystery, scariness, dark horror and the supernatural then feel at liberty to read D. W. Gillespie's latest offering - One by One.

This novel was initially, a wonderfully eerie and atmospheric ghost story. Even when I was reading it in broad daylight it still gave me the shivers as my mind dwelt on a dark and spooky house out in the sticks. The author had a wonderful way with words, making me feel as though I was a character in the story.

Speaking of the characters, the story was told in third person, largely through the eyes of ten-year-old Alice. She was full of life and appeared older than her years and I really liked her inquisitive nature.

The house itself screamed of a terrible dark history and the author excelled in setting it up as a creepy and unsettling place, with a myriad of corridors and dark spaces. I knew from the outset that something bad was going to happen.

Towards the ending, the novel lost some of its spooky atmosphere and developed a more horror-like edge when the story took a turn that I wasn’t expecting. I realised that I had been fooled by apparent clichés, assuming that I knew what was going to happen when actually, I didn't. This novel was more about how families confront conflict amongst themselves as well as from outside influences and the story was much darker than I had imagined, going in. It escalated quickly and was resolved very realistically and in a way that I found most satisfying.

Overall, I'd say that One by One is a little gem and a book that I'm so pleased to have read!

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my own request, from Flame Tree Press via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

An interesting, slightly terrifying story that follows a girl and her family who move into a very creepy old house and find that things are not exactly what they seem. Sounds. I Smells. A face. A strange drawing. A diary that appears out of no where. Is the house haunted? Or does the house want them all dead? What is going on? While her family slowly changes, Alice desperately searches for the truth, reading every page whilst battling the voices in her head, terrified to fall asleep. At only slightly over 200 pages you can knock this one out in a few hours and enjoy a thrilling page turner that will leave you guessing until the bitter end.

Alice and her brother Dean with their parents move to a new house in the middle of nowhere. The strange house begins to effect them all. Her parents relationship, already on shaky ground seems to go from bad to worse and her warm and caring father changes overnight.

Things get worse when Alice uncovers a child’s drawing and one by one the members of the family disappear.

One by one kept me gripped from the start, I absolutely devoured this novel!

One of my favourite things is a haunted/creepy house, I always love reading the way a different author makes their mark on this horror staple.

This is the kind of novel that builds the tension from the beginning, slowly getting more and more sinister as it goes along, building into an explosive ending, which I didn’t see coming!

Dean, Alice’s older brother, reminded me so much of my son, his moodiness and the tendency to be on his phone or locked in his bedroom. I also think that the complex brother/sister relationship between Dean and Alice was portrayed really well.

The only quibble I had was with Alice’s character voice. She is meant to be ten but half the time she sounded older than I do! I think an older protagonist may have worked a little better.

One by one is solid spooky read, fully of plenty of tension and intrigue that will keep you turning those pages!

I foresee nightmares. I really shouldn't have read this at night.


It seemed so simple: a big old isolated house in the woods, selling at a ridiculously low price. Sure, the house was an architectural oddity, a little unsettling. Reminiscent in a mild fashion of Lovecraftian non-Euclidean geometry. But not haunted. Just....odd.


Until ten-year-old Alice uncovers the stick-figure painting in the hall. Family members change. Then the cat--. But it's also subtle until about two-thirds of the way in: then my hair stood on end, my eyes bugged out, goosebumps covered me from head to.toe, nightmares entrenched themselves...no, no longer subtle at all.

Ten-year-old Alice Easton moves into a new house with her family: mum, dad, and older brother, Dean. Whilst the dad is enthusiastic about the project, everyone else is hesitant, especially when they see the rambling, foreboding property. Hidden underneath a piece of peeling wallpaper, Alice finds a child's drawing of a family which looks remarkably like her own family, but then black crosses start appearing over the top of the stick figures and they start disappearing, one by one.

I thought this started out well. The author set the scene up perfectly and it was very creepy. Things did start to go downhill about halfway though, and I admit that I felt disheartened when I read that the family had a cat, Baxter. You just know what's going to happen. I also felt that Alice came across as an older character than a ten-year-old girl and that was a bit jarring. Overall it was an okay read but I won't be revisiting it.

TW: death of a pet, mentioning of sexual abuse.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers, Flame Tree Press, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Blending psychological thriller and horror DW Gillespie’s One by One opens with the Easton family discussing the purchase of a ramshackled old house which the father Frank describes as their “new fixer-upper” after buying it for a knock-down price. There is an underlying strain in the marriage between Frank and Debra, both financial and personal, after he lost a steady job and now works in sales which is commission based. He is not a very good salesman. The other members of the Easton clan are ten-year-old Alice and fifteen-year-old Dean; the story is mainly seen from Alice’s perspective and Dean is a stereotypical moody teenager who spends most of the time either in his bedroom or clashing with his father.

Alice would have made an outstanding unreliable narrator but because the story is told in the third person that unique perspective is lost and I wonder whether that style may have suited for this novel. It also took some time to figure out exactly how old Alice was (unless I missed it early on) as she comes across as very mature, observant and incredibly wise to be only ten. Until her age was revealed I would have guessed she was around thirteen. Alice has a very active imagination and there are implied comments from other family members about her being a daydreamer who struggles with friendships. These are all tell-tale signs of a classic unreliable narrator. As soon as the family arrive at their new home Alice has an uncomfortable feeling “there are monsters here” she thinks, but at the same time it is she who is most in tune with the house.

Much of the plot revolves around the dynamics of the family; there are virtually no other characters in the story, and this was well judged and realistic as cracks begin to show. Alice obviously does not understand the finer detail of what is going on in her parent’s marriage and she laments the disappearance of the closeness she once had with her brother whom she once turned to for support. However, her musings, overactive imagination, misunderstandings, problems and loneliness are a major highlight of the story. She may have been mature beyond her years, but Alice was a striking lead character whom the reader will develop affection for as the plot both thickens and darkens.

One of the strengths of One by One is the fact that for most of the time the reader is unsure whether there is anything supernatural going on or not. Horror or thriller? Ultimately, it was a solid blend of both. This was handled very well and heading into the big finish it could have swung either way; it is always nice to be kept guessing and that helped turn the book into an enjoyable page-turner. There are also flashbacks to previous residents of the house (including the prologue) which drop the odd clue.

Friction develops early on when Alice is intrigued by what she discovers beneath peeling wallpaper; an intricate drawing of a family which looks just like her own, the only difference is that her family have a cat. Soon foreboding ‘X’ marks begin to appear on the drawing and both she and Dean are the prime suspects. Their parents are not amused and after the cat disappears a clever drama unfolds.

The house itself was an outstanding setting and its size is undoubtedly exaggerated by the child who describes it. Alice’s room is some distance from her parents and she struggles to sleep as her father takes a while adding curtains and her sense of isolation increases. The building also has a weird design where windows back onto other internal rooms. Alice’s discovery of a diary add to the tension and this allows the author to integrate other voices to the narrative and drop clues which are teased out nice and slowly.

Ultimately your opinion of One by One may well be shaped by how satisfying you find the ending and the big reveal which leads up to it. It failed to knock me out, but I still found it satisfying and the epilogue particularly moving. Others may find it did not live up to its early promise, but some of that may depend on whether you were expecting a thriller or a horror novel. This is a very solid story with a very catchy opening which will have you eating up pages quickly and is an entertaining few hours of escapism.

The captivating and horrific story of a family that moves into a new house that was supposed to be a home and turned out to be their worst nightmare.

A family of four moves into a house and start to settle in. Their daughter Alice, thinks that something is not right in the house and there is a presence only she can feel.

After finding a diary of the girl that used to live there before and a creepy drawing on a wall depicting a family of four, just like them, weird things start to happen.

Watch a family fight for their survival and uncover very dark secrets that are hiding between the walls of the old house.

A great creepy story that will haunt you.

Disclaimer for child abuse.

A by-the-numbers haunted house tale that goes beyond the genre, asking questions about psychological trauma and what happens when you're outside the spooky house but your mind still remains trapped.

I loved this book! I liked how the story was told from Alice's perspective because it made the story more suspenseful. The house being its own character really set the tone of the story. The parallels between between events in the past and present really helped to slowly increase the tension. The twists in this novel were really well done! I will definitely read more books by this author!

I received a digital advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Holy creepy read! This was such a dark story. I loved and the horror aspect of One by One. It began super slow, but picked up and got really dark.. Really quickly. One of the things I found most interesting about this book is that it is written from the perspective of a 10 year old girl who really has no grasp on what exactly is happening around her. I will admit, I had a hard time believing that it was really a 10 year olds mind that we were set in. I wouldn’t call this a page turner, but it definitely kept me entertained. It was very cliche, it had a very ‘Amityville’ feel to it. A normal family moving away into a creepy house with a dark past but I am a sucker for haunted house stories, so of course I jumped right in this one too.

Despite not believing we were inside the mind of a child, I did really enjoy Gillespie’s writing style It was super descriptive without giving away any of the plot.

This was a solid horror/thriller and absolutely a must read for your 2019 spooky season!

Alice is a ten years old girl who together with her parents and older brother moves to the new house. The house is bigger, older, surrounded by forest and completely different than her old house. No one besides the father is pleased about moving in there. They were happy with the old house but as the father wanted to change something in their lives to fix the situation they are in, everyone agreed with him. Alice has a hard time to settle down and call this place her house. Her only reason to try is her father who is very excited about it.
First days are going by quiet and without any problems until they find an old drawing on the wall. The drawing portraits a family that looks just like her: mother, father, son, and daughter. The only difference is a dog on the picture since they have a cat. They decide to leave it be as it must be a drawing done by the old family’s children. The game changes when after few days of absence their cat is found dead and they found a recent painted black X on the dog.

Parents don’t want to believe their kids that none of them has done it just to scare the rest of the family. Alice, on the other hand, starts to suspect that something needs to be wrong with the house. One day she finds a book in her room that appeared from nowhere, which turns out to be a diary of the girl that was living here before their family. It wasn’t the weirdest thing that happened in this house. The real nightmare begins when her family members start disappearing one by one.

My thoughts:

I honestly thought it will be the same story as all the horror movies I watched and that’s how it looked to be for the more than half of the book. The family moves to the haunted house and weird things start to happen. Nope, I am sorry to say that but it’s not a story like this and I am very happy about it. The story kept me in the dart ¾ of the book and surprised me more than I expected.

Let’s start with the characters. Alice, the youngest and the protagonist in the book, is kind of a loner who most of the time daydream. She is closed for most of the people but tries to open more on her family. Her parents aren’t perfect, but they love their kids and tries to give them a life they deserve. Her father starts to act differently because of the stress that is a result of all the things that happens in the house. I think it’s only because he wanted to fix their family, give them a new start and a better life. With the time it turned out to be harder than he thought. Her brother Dean is an easy-going teenager who seems to care only about himself but with the time we can see that he cares a lot about his little sister and parents. However, her mother Debra is one of my favorite characters. I don’t know even why she just made me like her in the beginning and it stayed this way.

The story isn’t the most unique one however the ending was more than original. It was brilliant. I fell for it and couldn’t stop reading the last 50 pages when the main action happened. For these 50 pages, I am more than happy that I requested this book and finally read it. Exactly for this ending you need to read this book right away when it will be published. If you like mystery and horror books you will enjoy it.

As I don’t have much time during the day, I mostly read this book at night. It wasn’t the best choice of the time of the day for this book. I was running to the bathroom before going to sleep because I suddenly was afraid that something is around and will kill me. Don’t get me wrong, I love horrors but when you read a good one, it just stays in my mind and I can’t even look in the mirror because I am scared something will be behind me. As funny and scary it is for me, I still love to get into this late-night dark mood.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for providing me this copy in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed this book a lot and I can’t wait to read more books written by D.W. Gillespie.