The writing style was impeccably original and made for an interesting and FAST read.
Amber Miller is moving on with her life, after her husband cheated on her she is ready to sell her house and move a few hours away to another town. The only issue is no one wants her to move… with MULTIPLE people hindering her escape with her children she is thrust upon a search for an intruder and in the process may just solve a cold case…
Although I guessed a major plot point from halfway in this book this book had me CRAVING more every time I stopped for a break. I don’t usually get freaked out reading but this one... this one scared me so bad I couldn’t go to sleep for an hour. It’s the type of stuff that scares you because it could be real. I highly recommend to anyone wanting a thriller/mystery mixed with a gossipy desperate housewives type novel.

BIG thank you to the publishers, Sam Carrington and NetGalley who allowed me to read and review this book.

The Open House
by Sam Carrington
Avon Books UK
Avon
General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers | True Crime
Pub Date 10 Dec 2020 | Archive Date Not set

What a great mystery and thriller! This book was a slow burn. Someone does not want the house to sell. Thirteen people go into the open house and only 12 left. Then spooky things start happening.

I will recommend this book!

5 star

This is my first Sam Carrington book and pardon me if I don't want to go to open houses 😂 . This book is brilliantly written and I thought darn I know what's gonna happen then I am hit with a you really don't know do you and that shows a master story teller. I highly recommend it because the premise is different and it's highly entertaining and it's totally cool to want to slap Amber here and there 😂Huge thanks to Avon Books for my ARC

A solid domestic drama, with good character building

However I did feel that it dragged bit in the middle and took time to get to the point so I disengaged at this point and did figure out where it was going so didn't have the impact it could of.

“Secrets. They’ll destroy you eventually. Even if they stay secret, you just dwell on them, worry about making a mistake, worry about slipping up – saying something you shouldn’t. Right up to the day you die.”

Every family has its secrets. It is either up to us to be concerned about it or leave it as someone’s private business. But what if we are indirectly involved in the secret, someway, even if we were not present while it was being forged? Well, then just get on with the flow I guess.

‘The Open House’ is a family drama infused with spookiness and weirdness. Let’s just say it’s a Stephen King novel with less of the scary parts. It involves Amber, going through a divorce with her soon-to-be ex-husband, Nick who comes from a dysfunctional family. She’s looking to sell her mother-in-law’s house, which is when
she finds some revelations about people whom she thought she knew.

Things I liked about the book:
-Element of surprise
-Involvement of younger characters to take decisions
-Plotline explained to perfection
-the imperfectness of the characters, making them more realistic

Things I disliked:
-Formatting and editing of the book: nothing wrong with the grammar but chapters were split in unnecessary places
-Story got confusing in the middle and felt that there was no need to announce the narrator at the beginning of each chapter.

Target audience – People who love mysteries, thrillers, and family dramas.

Amber and her husband Nick are divorcing -- Amber lives in their family home with their two sons, while Nick moved out. The house is Nick's childhood home and is on the edge of a new development, where (to the locals' dismay), the developers are trying to buy houses on Amber's block. Amber is desperate to sell the house, was she wants to move hours away to live with her boyfriend, Richard. The house has trouble selling and Amber isn't quite sure if Nick's mother, who doesn't want to see the family home go outside of the family, or someone else is the cause.

After an open house where she sees thirteen people go in and only twelve go out, mysterious things start happening at Amber's house. We follow her in an investigation to figure out who is causing strange things to happen and why.

This book is a page-turner. The story is told from three different viewpoints: Amber, her mother-in-law, Barb, and a mystery person. Amber is at major crossroads in her life: her marriage is ending, she's preparing to move hours away with her sons to live with her boyfriend, and she's trying to sell her home. The different viewpoints are interesting, as the family dynamic and friendships are explored from two very different perspectives.

I was pretty sure early on I knew who was the mystery narrator, who was causing strange things to happen at the house, but as we learn more and meet more characters who seem to be friends, the more I questioned who was behind it. The characters were dynamic and there were several who I thought may have ulterior motives in Amber's life, and with the sale of the house.

There were several twists and turns throughout the book and the big reveal was not at all what I had expected. I was racing to see how things unfolded and was pleasantly surprised with how things ended up! The characters and plot were well-developed and there were no loose-ends at the end of the book.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy of this book!

This book was outstanding. Wow... I devoured this book in one sitting. So much going on it's just crazy wonderful. Great to the very end.
A thriller that will keep you on your toes.


Thanks to the Author, the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book.

This was a gripping domestic psychological thriller with lots of twists and turns to keep the reader on their toes. I love this authors books and this one did not disappoint. I was hooked from
The first page and couldn’t put it down. It had lots of creepy parts that made me glad I was reading it during the day and lots of surprise elements to the story too.

Nick and Amber are splitting up and selling their family home.
When the house, despite its great location, doesn't sell, their estate agent suggests an open house event.
The event is pretty successful; 13 people come to view the house.
But only 12 leave...

This was a creepy, gripping and unputdownable read that had me madly turning the pages. I literally couldn't read it fast enough.
The story follows multiple perspectives; Amber's, her ex-mother in law Beth's and that of an unknown narrator.
I had a few guesses along the way as to what was going on, but the twist left me open-mouthed.
My only reservation is that I found that the ending crammed too full of revelations, and therefore it felt a bit chaotic.
But overall, it was a fantastic and entertaining read, and if you're looking for an edge of your seat page-turner then look no further.

Moving house is supposed to be one of the most challenging and stressful tasks you can undertake. But before you even move, you may have a property to sell. After splitting from her husband, Amber Miller is facing that problem and it appears no one wants to buy her house despite the best efforts of her estate agent. In desperation she agrees to hold an open house where several prospective buyers wander round the property. Watching on her smart doorbell app, she counts thirteen people in but only twelve out. At least she thinks so. As strange things start to happen in the house, Amber wonders if maybe she hadn’t miscounted after all. As much as she wants to sell her home, Amber’s not going to be forced out of it and begins to investigate.

Sam Carrington has done what she does best and takes an ordinary situation to a whole new dimension. Having strangers look at your house is bad enough but thinking they might still be there is beyond weird. I was starting to feel as creeped out and paranoid as Amber was.

The story is told by three people – Amber, her mother-in-law, Barb and a mystery narrator. As much as Amber wants to leave, Barb is doing her best to make sure Amber and the grandchildren stay in what had previously been her house. And the mystery narrator? Well that person is seeking the truth, regardless of the cost.

There are plenty of twists and turns in this book and the tension steadily builds. As I was reading I had a few ideas about it all and one of them was partially right. The ending still took me by surprise though.
Overall this is another fantastic psychological thriller by Sam Carrington.

Nick & Amber are separated and the family house is on the market to be sold. Amber watches through her doorbell camera app as interested people arrive to an open house - 13 of them. But she only sees 12 leave. Did someone stay behind and is hiding in the house?

There was a good amount of suspense and twists & turns in this book and it kept me turning the pages as I put on my detective hat and was trying to solve the mystery. When I got to the ending, I was honestly so overwhelmed trying to figure out the entire story that I literally stopped reading with only two pages left. A little too much to make sense, but definitely some good suspense.

Very mixed rating for The Open House.

On one hand it’s thrilling, full of twists and turns, great characters, plenty of creepiness and a mystery I just couldn’t work out. On the other it’s confusing, too many twists and turns, too many dodgy characters and a sense of this couldn’t happen in reality.

As I said very mixed but it’s fun to read, it’s also a great length. Happy to read a book that took more than a couple of hours!

I loved the first 80%, there’s so many shifty characters that you don’t know who to trust. The last 20% was a bit of a mess, it felt rushed and could have been planned better,

Also stop reading after chapter 101! Any writing after that point ruins the story...

4/5 (without that final 5%)

This is probably one of the most unique styles of writing I've come across - and how perfect for a domestic thriller!! If you're a fan of unexpected twists and surprises, this is definitely a must-read... and make sure you set aside plenty of time - once you start, you won't want to put this book down!

I wish I could give this book more than 5 star because i absolutely loved this book. Although, I could guess half of the story but still it was one of the best thrillers i have read. I have already recommended this book to a lot of people.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read such a great thriller.

I enjoyed reading this book. The plot and characters are well-developed, but sadly the ending felt a bit rushed to me. I don’t know if that was intentional from the writer or if this was a result of editing.

I was drawn to this book because of the cover. “13 go in and 12 come out” INSTANTLY hooked. I was a tad disappointed in the fact that this story in a sense took a turn from what I thought would happen based on that.

HOWEVER! The twists in this book were PHENOMENAL. I’ve read a lot of mystery/thrillers and I did not see these twists coming! The end of this book just kept hitting you with one thing after another and I LOVED it!

First book I have read by Sam Carrington and I have a feeling I will be reading more of their work soon!

I was really intrigued by the premise of this story and I was especially drawn to the multi-perspective style of this novel, but it just didn’t follow through like I had hoped. I enjoyed reading the first half of this book, before everything started coming to light, and I enjoyed the style Sam Carrington shows throughout the book because it felt as if you were right alongside the narrators, investigating and plotting right along with them. But the second half of the book was so hard to follow and it had me wondering “What the actual hell is going on?” There are so many plot points and too much happening all at once that it was hard to focus on the main plot, which I assumed was ‘who is wreaking havoc on this poor family who is trying to sell their home’. The ending also had me up in arms because it was very rushed and it didn’t do the job of explaining what had transpired after the ‘climatic evening’ took place, and the storyline was interesting yet it was just executed poorly. I believe this book had really great intentions and it wanted to be mysterious and impossible to figure out before the ending, but it just had me confused and wondering when it would be over. I would like to read more of Sam Carrington because I see really great potential for some awesome mystery/thriller stories with some great characters.

3.5 star rating***
The Open House by Sam Carrington is a thriller/mystery surrounding the sale of a family home. Amber and Nick are separated and Amber is in a hurry to sell their house so she can move on and start a new life with Richard in Devon. But between a nosy neighbor, dodgy real estate agent, manipulative mother-in-law, Amber is paranoid that someone is trying to keep the house from selling -- and worse, someone is in her house!

As most readers mentioned, the book was pretty fast-paced and I was eager to power through the book within a weekend. However, by the 75% mark, things just got weird and it seems as though the author tried to wrap the story up and tie in all the loops quickly. Most of the explanation of the strange occurrences didn't make much sense and I just found the ending really strange and unrealistic.

Thank you to Netgalley, author Sam Carrington, and publisher Avon Books UK, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Overall I really enjoyed this novel. Solid charcters with developed story lines. However the ending felt a bit rushed. Infact it left me wondering if I had missed a few pages somewhere!

This is the first book by Sam Carrington that I have read and I am totally hooked! I look forward to reading her prior books as well as any future ones! Just when I thought I had the plot figured out....bam!....shocking twist. This book kept me guessing the entire day (and yes, I read it in one day). While I loved Amber in the first 95% of the book, I was a bit shocked at her actions in the last chapters. Other than that, I cannot wait to recommend this book. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy.