While I've never bought a house, and probably never will, I nonetheless fall in love with houses, and the potential they have, all the time. A new home is a a place to start again, to build something new, to leave the past behind. Or is it? For Freya, sadly, her new home turns into something of a nightmare. Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Freya and her fiancé Jack have found their dream home. It's a bit of a fixer-upper, sure, but it has potential. And the neighbours seem lovely, or at least interesting. But then, a few months later, their neighbour Emily and her daughter disappear. No one seems to be looking for them, but Freya can't let it go, especially after she experiences a tragedy herself. So she starts digging and the further she goes the more she becomes unsure of everything she thought was safe. The New Home ticks a lot of different boxes for the domestic suspense genre. There is a close friendship between two women, a lovely home, a creepy attic, lazy police, a suspicious husband, and a tired fiancé. So technically The New Home should be a great read and yet it just didn't click with me. A lot of this comes down to there being a lot of telling, instead of showing. Merritt skips almost directly to Emily's disappearance and we get her friendship with Freya only in flashbacks. This didn't really work, especially once we begin to suspect Freya isn't super reliable. We didn't see their friendship grow, so we can't entirely buy into it. While I enjoyed the twists and turns, it felt low stakes to me since I couldn't connect to it. The ending of The New Home then also feels very sudden and didn't entirely satisfy.

My main issue with The New Home is the protagonist. I don't, necessarily, ascribe to the adage that men can't write women, but then you read books like this and realise that even well-meaning men don't necessarily get it right. Freya is a bit of a mess, which in and of itself is very interesting. But Freya is messy to the extent that it's no longer a character flaw, but a writing flaw. Merritt seems to consistently undermine her, in the hopes of crafting an unreliable narrator. Mix in mental health issues, fertility issues, and feminism, and you get a female character that is less a character and more a paradigm of "unreliable psychological thriller woman". Freya will blame the patriarchy for everything, even if the issue is her. She will consistently misinterpret things and then regret that, only to do the same thing a page later. She will learn a lesson and forget it. She has an incredibly eye for detail, which is consistently missing in crucial moments. What frustrated me here, I guess, is that Merritt set up Freya to be a very interesting character, but then weakens or undermines her as the plot demands. Change the character or change the plot, but don't switch them back and forth as you think fits. I have seen a lot of praise for Chris Merritt, so perhaps this is simply a misfire, which is absolutely allowed. I will probably read another one of his books in the future, just to double check.

Sadly The New Home did not do the trick for me. A lot of the choices made by Merritt didn't resonate with me, or even struck a wrong chord. I have, however, heard many positive things about him, so I will be giving one of his other books a try.

I read this book in less that a day, that's how thrilling it was. Freya and Jack move into a new home and all sorts of chaos ensues in the neighborhood. The neighbors, Emily and Thea disappear and no one knows what happened to them but Freya must find out. The characters were wonderfully written and I literally could not put this book down!

Freya and her fiance Jack just bought a fixer-upper in a lovely and warm neighborhood. Their new neighbor, Emily, is a friendly mother of one and married to a not-so-welcoming husband Michael. A few days after Freya is fully moved into the home, Emily and Thea, her sweet daughter, disappear. Freya suspects Michael and the fact that he does not seem concerned about her disappearance makes Freya uneasy. In her search for answers, Freya discovers that the place she thought would become her new home is filled with secrets that could put her in danger if she keeps digging for the truth.

I liked the description of this book and thought it would be a great read. While the pace is fast and the plot is interesting, I found some of the storylines rather predictable. This book has good twists but the main revelation was something I had considered from the beginning so it didn't shock me when it was revealed. I also found that I would drift my attention easily as the plot developed, and I wasn't engaged with the story as I thought I would be. After finishing the book, I found it to be rather forgettable and too predictable for my liking

One thing I like was the characters. I felt they were well-developed and I was able to connect to them. Freya is a good character, and I found her efforts to find Emily remarkable. It felt like she was the only one who cared about Emily and Thea, and I was rooting so hard for her to find out what happened to them. While Emily's interactions with Freya were limited, she came up as too guarded and secretive, so I was expecting her disappearance to be the result of a big secret she was keeping. I found her devotion for Thea truly exceptional and was sad when they disappeared. Michael was a walking red flag from the first moment he was introduced so I wasn't surprised about his behavior after his wife and daughter go missing. Overall, I found the character's behavior in accordance with who the author wanted us to believe they were, so I wasn't surprised by any of the decisions they made as the story developed.

This was a great read! Hooked me right from the start and finished it in one sitting. Great thiller with all the right twists and turns.

A thrilling read, dark secrets, intriguing characters and so hard to put down. A great read, worth every star.

This book grabbed me from the beginning! It is a page turner and kept me so invested! I love a good psychological thriller and this delivered! I will say, I feel like some parts could have been omitted and shortened the book to stay focused on the story. However, I would recommend!

Chris Merritt with his Lockhart & Green series was unputdownable, so when I saw he has written a standalone thriller I absolutely had to snap it up on NetGalley. The New Home is a twisted and good thriller. Honestly unlike his other characters who I found intriguing and relatable I found it very hard to like the main character Freya! She's incredibly nosy but determined, I'll give her that. Freya comes across as an unreliable disillusioned narrator which is a theme overused overabused - you don't know if what they're thinking is true and their actions seem illogical and compulsive. Freya seems to live in her own head making up stuff in her head, refusing help and being paranoid for the most of the book. This was in complete contrast to characters in Chris's other books. As a result, I could not relate to Freya at all but I did like the other characters. The story at the start felt slow to me & me being annoyed with Freya didn't help. The reveal at the end was good but by then I felt uninterested in knowing about Freya and whatever other sh*t she stirs up, however much good she has in mind. I feel incredibly guilty writing this because Chris is most definitely one of my favorite authors and I love his other books! I know this genre/theme interests many people but this just wasn't for me.

Thank you NetGalley Bookouture & Chris Merritt for an arc!

The plot on this book grabbed me straight away. Secrets galore in this one. The ending was superb and made the book for me.

I loved this book. Was my first time reading a book by Chris Merritt and won't be my last. Clever writing. Page turner ! Cant wait to read more by this author.

Freya Northcott had a clear vision of her future family when she bought a new fixer-upper home with her fiancé Jack Brown. But the seemingly perfect neighborhood quickly proved to be just a facade when a disappearance shifted the axis of her world. Determined to find an answer, she embarked on a journey that could potentially take her deeper than she could ever prepare for.

Freya had the motivation but not necessarily the right direction in pursuing it. It was interesting to see her rationalized her actions. I liked the overall storyline and enjoyed forming my theories throughout my reading. However, several things were not tied up cleanly at the end of the book. A little more details on those would have made it more satisfying.

The New Home is a story of uncovering the truth. It would appeal to readers who enjoy a Psychological Thriller.

Suspensful read.. Freya loves her new home. It's on quiet street in the suburbs. After moving in Freya meets Emily her new friend and neighbor. Freya now has someone to share her secrets with. As Freya watches her new friend setting the table for dinner one evening, she sees something shocking that makes her think Emily's life might not be so perfect as it seems. One day Emily and her daughter Thea disappear. Emily's husband is not a pleasant person and a bit off. Freya decides to look for her friend herself when no one else will.
Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the advance ecopy.

Freya and Jack are engaged and excited to start their life together. When they move into their new home, Freya is anxious to meet the neighbors next door. The couple and their daughter seem to be a kind and loving family. Emily the wife, is beautiful and appears to be everything Freya could want in a friend. Shortly after their friendship begins to blossom, Emily and her young daughter vanish into thin air. Freya quickly becomes obsessed with finding the truth behind their sudden disappearance. Could Emily’s husband be the reason his wife and daughter are missing, or is the answer closer to Freya than she realizes? Appearances are deceiving as secrets are revealed in this twisty tale of obsession, deception and betrayal. Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for my copy.

Freya and Jack move into a new house and Freya starts getting close to her neighbour Emily.
One day Emily and daughter Thea disappear and Freya immediately suspects husband Michael.
As she believes the police isn’t trying to find her she starts her own investigation in their disappearance.

A thrilling read, with some unexpected turns but a bit too far fetched ending!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for letting me review this book.

The New Home is a psychological thriler. For me this was a read out of my comfortzone. And I enjoyed it!

Loved this! One of the best reads of 2021. There were thrill, suspens, turns and twists, stress- every elements that should have included into any thriller book.

The New Home is suspenseful and certainly a page turner. The end was unexpected but a bit far-fetched.

I have read books by the author before and enjoyed them but I struggled to get into this one. I wasn't keen on any of the characters and some bits seemed a little far fetched

I really enjoy this type of thriller and was gripped from the opening page.

Following Freya as she moves into a new house with her fiancé Jack and her next door neighbour goes missing I was never quite sure who or what I could trust.

The storyline was suspenseful and interesting and I really loved the way the book wrapped up at the end.

I would certainly pick up more from this author.

I love stories about the house next door, and Chris Merritt’s The New Home is on the next level. Shocking twists and turns, that what you thought you know isn’t as it seems.

You start off meeting Freya and Jack who have moved into their new home on a lovely street. She becomes firm friends with Emily next door, who has a daughter Thea. Emily’s husband Michael isn’t the typical suburban husband that everyone gets on with. Freya dislikes him and blames him when Emily and Thea disappear one night.

Freya seems to think the police are getting nowhere in their investigation as to the disappearance so takes matters into her own hands.

It’s a great plot that keeps you guessing, throughout. Freya wants to know the truth and won’t stop at anything. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one. There was enough suspense to keep me hooked!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for the read.

An all immersing read. Freya and Jack move in to their new home, a fixer upper, but Freya is convinced this is the beginning of their perfect happy ever after. Meeting their neighbours Freya instantly clicks with Emily her next door neighbour. Quite suddenly Emily and her daughter go missing and Freya starts to investigate seemingly putting her own life at risk.

This was a good read, though the characters could have done with a bit more background.