Naomi (aka Marsha Bowers) an investigative crime journalist is obsessed with the case of the Harper family's disappearance from their cottage, in Nighbrook village, ten years ago and when chance permits, decides to buy and move into the cottage with her movie director husband and step daughter to further investigate the case. She soon realises that solving the case isn't as easy and harmless as she thought it would be: the villagers are hiding something and will do everything to make sure their secret remains buried.

The Village is one of the author's stand-alone novels and I think it was a good and clever mystery. The 'ten years previously' timeline covering the Harpers story was particularly interesting and all my guesswork proved futile when the truth about what exactly happened to them and why was slowly revealed in the final ten chapters of the book.

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Amazon Publishing UK/Thomas Mercer and the author for the e-Arc of the book.

Another great read form Caroline Mitchell, she never disappoints. The Harper family disappeared from their cottage and no-one knows what has happened. Naomi, a journalist, becomes obsessed with their story, and the mystery, so when their cottage comes up for sale she moves in with her husband and step daughter. But no-one wants to answer her questions, what are the villagers hiding?
I loved this book, it is full of tension and suspense and will keep you guessing.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author for granting me an advance copy.

I genuinely don't know what to say.
It was just bad on so many levels, but it was the kind of bad that you can't put down. The writing was the saving grace, it made a book with such an unrealistic plot and characters bearable. At some parts, I was actually enjoying the absurdity of it all.
First, let's talk about the main character, Naomi. She was so badly written, like, I don't think I've read a dumber character than her. She made the most ridiculous decisions ever. From the way she mentioned how obsessed she were with the case every chapter, you'd think she dedicated time and effort into unraveling the mystery, when in reality, apart from her buying the cottage, she just collected tidbits from the internet. Her very first time seeing the village and the cottage was the day she moved in. She felt like a character from another book, she truly didn't belong there.
I wouldn't go into detail about the other characters since they all had the same issues. For example, they were all superficial, it was like they were AI generated, just walking cliches, the villain, the bratty stepdaughter, the conspiring villagers,etc. Their reactions and thoughts ranged from overly calm to extra dramatic, no consistency or development whatsoever.
The plot itself was rather confusing. A lot of things were happening but they weren't linked together, the mess was obvious due to the multiple POVs and different timelines. And don't get me starting about the twists. They were just written for the sake of it, at some point it turned so comical that I laughed. I can't believe the whole thing went through editing.
I really don't know what to make of the book, but I didn't hate it. If you're open minded when it comes to unrealistic, totally illogical, nonsensical plots, I'd say go for it.
*I received an ARC of this book through netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

This is a psychological thriller. The story is very suspenseful. It is so well written and full of great characters. It is full of twists and turns

First time reader of Caroline Mitchell.
Wasn't disappointed and will be reading more. A well written plot, enough to make you wonder whether village is idyllic. I would recommend this book to others

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC! I didn't love this book! It was slow and hard to connect with the characters. The ending was non climatic. I rate this book a 2.1

Exciting book to read. It had me hooked from the beginning. It was fast paced. I couldn’t put it down.

A great read. I love the DI Amy Winters series so I had high hopes for this and it didn't disappoint. Good plot and the dual narrative adds tension. Given that it's largely taking place in one village, it's a bit claustrophobic and tense.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead.

I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings.

Anything requested and approved will be read and a decent quality review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

An obsessive journalist, an angst ridden teenager, family secrets, a decades old mystery and a dark rural village. Classic ingredients for a juicy mystery.

Just reading the synopsis puts me in mind of the opening scenes of a scary movie, where the lovely smiling family moves into the mysteriously inexpensive new home. The book certainly lives up to the atmosphere I set myself up for with that thought in mind, and is a definite page turner. Recommended.

I thought this would be a good book by reading the blurb, boy was I wrong. This book makes no sense. I wanted to dnf it but I am not sure why I stuck with it.

I just couldn't bring myself to finish the book. The blurb intrigued me but right from the start I felt that this book will perhaps not be my cup of tea. A woman that is so obsessed with the disappearance of family that she doesn't tell her new husband (who bought the house) and stepdaughter (that hates her, what a surprise). But I thought, perhaps it will get better. At 30% did I throw in the towel. There are so many more interesting books out there that I rather read than this one.

"The Village" by Caroline Mitchell is a decent mystery thriller that has some interesting elements but could have been stronger in its execution. The plot had potential but was somewhat predictable and lacked the twists and turns that would have made it more engaging. The writing style is straightforward, but could have benefited from more depth and description. The characters are likable, but could have been further developed to add more depth to the story. Overall, while I enjoyed reading The Village to a certain extent, it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Three stars.

A missing person mystery set in the New Forest. I think the intention was for a creepy thriller with attendant morbid characters but the narrative pace was slow and the last couple of chapters rushed.

This didn’t thrill me as much as I expected and I thought there was something a bit lacking from this, it was ok but I did expect a bit more intensity and drama from the blurb

Unsolved mysteries always intrigue me. I find it compelling, trying to unravel the mystery of the last few days of those who've disappeared, the hope to see an unseen angle and finally find out what happened to them. In comes Naomi. She has been a bit obsessed about a family that went missing in a small town. Now that she's freshly married and was looking for a new house together, she's manage to buy THE house the family lived and where they went missing from. She knows her new husband would never go for buying the house, so she neglects to tell him the history and buys it!

I have to say, I was instantly sucked in to this one. I found the chapters from 10 years previous (the missing family) a little jarring at first - but this is probaly because I did this as an audiobook. I loved the addional stress of a stepdaughter, a town closing ranks and the small village claustrophobic feel of the story. I didn't even try to solve it, just rolled along with each clue and each drama that Naomi unearthed and tried to hide. I found the ending surprising and I loved getting a little tidbit of how Naomi's story goes. I recommend this one as an audio too! The narrator did a great job! I loved it!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Naomi likes to solve cold cases so when the opportunity came to buy a cottage in the New Forest where a murder took place 10 years ago, she jumped at it. This book sounded so good and I hoped I was in for a nice, creepy read but sadly that wasn’t what it was. It was a series of improbable events that instead of being scary had the opposite effect, more of a comedy than a thriller. However it was easy to read and passed the time nicely. Even enjoyable, waiting to see what else was going to happen! Probably an excellent read whilst travelling.

This book had an incredibly inter Premise, but I very quickly figured out who the suspected perpetrator was, which left me wanting more! So sad because this was definitely at the top of my list.

2.75✨

Now that she is married to a movie director, Naomi wants to have a normal relationship with her husband and teenage stepdaughter. But nothing can be normal about moving into a cottage where a family of three disappeared into thin Air.

Attracted by the mysterious event that took place years ago, neomi can't resist the urge to dig into the case. Her Instinct tells her that she can somehow solve the mystery. But in a quiet village, where everyone looks like they are keeping a secret and where basically no one can be trusted, moving in to try and dig up buried secrets isn't not exactly the safest thing to do particularly in a place like Nighbrook, the tiny village where everyone knows what you're doing.

The story starts when Naomi and her family move into this not-so-friendly village and right off the bat, she notices that people are hiding something and that no one wants to talk about what happened in the cottage.

The book alternates between the past, where we get to see glimpses of the life of the family that left in the cottage, and the present, where we follow Naomi as she tries to solve the mystery.

So, I was very excited about this novel because of the author's background and career. But, I was kinda disappointed.
The mystery was so obvious, and I knew what was going to happen so early on in the book. Honestly, nothing about it was surprising and the plot was so predictable.

The thing that bothered me most about the book was Naomi's relationship with her stepdaughter. It started out with severe hate and the whole thing was just flipped over at some point and they became like besties.

TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Pedophilia, assault, attempted rape, and addiction.

I received a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm ambivalent about this book. I found the first part to be rather uninteresting with a kind of movie-of-the-week feel about it. After about the 40% mark the story picked up a bit and I actually got a little anxious as to what was going on. Then things slowed down again until about the last 25%. Told from the points of view of Naomi, Morgan and various villagers in alternating chapters, it was a quick read with short chapters but it did cause much eye rolling at times. I had suspected where the story was going but there were still a couple of surprises near the end. I think I had expected to experience more tension than I did but overall it was a pretty good book.

My thanks to Amazon Publishing via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.