I would describe this book as unsettling, bizarre, dark, and creepy… perfect for the season! The twists and turns I found kept me intrigued throughout the story as there was a strong of the unknown, and I just kept wanting to know more. The story is told from the perspective of two strong female leads alternating between chapters, and they eventually merge into present time.

I would say the best way to place this book would be to put it in the psychological thriller category as it’s the perfect read for a thriller lover.

Alex, a single mother to a fourteen year old and an 18 month old, is looking for a new life. She wants better for herself and for her children. She stumbles upon an eco village in Pine Ridge that is for the most part, an off-the-grid community. She feels this is the safest and best choice for her family. But what she doesn’t know is that there are some deep dark secrets lingering in this village. Disturbing occurrences are taking place: dead animals are showing up in boxes at doorsteps, blood on walls, she thinks she is seeing ghosts, weird things are happening in the forest near the village, and there is a very old and questionable farmhouse down by the hill. Alex begins to have a strong sense that her children are in grave danger and she’s going to do whatever it takes to figure out what’s really going on.

I found this book to be very descriptive and realistic. It deals with motherhood and family drama as well. It has a slow, but page turning build until about 60%. Once I hit the 60% mark, I became even more immersed in the story and flew through it because I just had to know what the hell was going on!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book set to release on April 5, 2022.

Wow! First bones, then creepy doll and finally blood comes! Twilight zone opening theme starts playing in my head as I see shadows lurking around my house! Yes, the book hooked me up mentally and psychically! I keep jumping up and down at 3 a.m in the morning as my husband snores peacefully without having a clue. What a great choice for upcoming Halloween week!

Alex, 37, single mother of two, only wants a fresh start by moving to peaceful Pine Ridge surrounded by forests, far from civilization even though it gives cult-y vibes!

She is not only struggling from sleep deprivation because of new baby Kara. Her teenage boy Ollie is sulking, criticizing her sudden moving choice by leaving her partner Stuart behind. Well, Alex actually has her own reasons: first of all: Stuart is abusive, control freak douchebag who still sends threatening texts to her and Ollie is also nearly suspended from his old school after a viral scandal that he insists he wasn’t involved!

Alex truly needs to prove herself she can get on her feet and rebuild new life! Pine Ridge community leader Kit is too hot and welcoming. She’s intrigued by his charm even though he keeps so many secrets.

Most of her neighbors are welcoming instead of hostile, brooding Maggie. Even Ollie befriends Violet, forming his own friend circle. And Stuart’s stops texting her, keeping his silence.

But she realizes all those things are too good to be true. Somebody starts leaving creepy boxes to her house. And things get escalated.
A creepy witch is rumored to lurk around the woods and she leaves boxes to the houses when she decides to kidnap the son of household.

Does someone target her son? Is there a real witch threaten the community? Or one of her neighbors are too adamant to make them leave Pine Ridge immediately!

We also read Renee’s POV, married with Michael Kellerman, the son of first builder of Pine Ridge. They have problematic relationship with their son Gabriel who thinks a monster lives in the woods coming to get him. They get bones, creepy doll and finally their house is vandalized, covered in fake blood. Just like the same routine happened in Alex’s house. And then somebody is kidnapped Gabriel!

What’s the connection between two women?

Overall: I was so close to give five stars: especially first half of the book was so creepy, intriguing but in the middle it got slowed down and the most of the revelations are a little foreseeable but it was still one of the tensest, creepiest, most unputdownable reads I’ve lately had.

I’m giving full four witchy, solstices, addictive, twisty stars!

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Minotaur Books for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

Alex has always run away from everything in her life, and after fleeing an abusive relationship and a nasty situation at school, has ended up in the ecovillage of Pine Ridge with her 2 children, 14 year old Oliver and 8 month old Kara. Strange things start happening immediately, and there are whispers from the village's children about the witch in the woods. The son of the previous property owner vanished without a trace under eerily similar circumstances, and Alex, already sleep deprived from 8 month old Kara, doesn't know who or what to believe anymore.

A thoroughly enjoyable thriller! The reveal around Kit, the founder of the ecovillage, is a bit...underwhelming, but I think he also needed to be a bit more fleshed out--I wasn't even expecting anything from him since he seems to be mostly a background character. Plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing, though!

'The Shadow House' is the story of a mother and her two children who start over in an eco-village community. This book is full of odd occurrences and flashbacks that keep you anxiously waiting for the next event. The creepiness factor includes mysterious sounds and odd neighbors. This author does a great job of providing a meaty novel with so much to devour. Even when you think everything has been plausibly explained, we're given a bit more. This was a great read. I am so thankful I was allowed to review this book.

Alex, a single mom to two kids, left an abusive relationship in Sydney to live in an eco village in Pine Ridge. She’s questioning every decision for the sake of her kids, especially the oldest, Oliver/Ollie. He’s a typical angry teenager, hated Pine Ridge at first site. Things didn’t get easier when Alex began receiving boxes of dead animals, bones, and a doll. The Shadow House is a slow burn mystery with a tinge of creepy. Thanks you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a gifted copy. This is my honest review.

A new, and fresh, take on the "closed community with secrets" thinking of The Colony from way back - well done with enough red herrings, secrets, and doubts to pull you along and keep turning the page into the night. Fast paced and solid with characters so well developed you may know them - or be them. Read it in a day!

This was my first book by Anna Downes, soI wasn't sure what to expect. If it would be a thriller or a supernatural thriller. Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was fast paced but did a great job at setting up the characters and giving them a background all while setting up a creepy vibe that hooked me from the start.

I guess my biggest complaint was that the ending just felt kind of rushed. Once they solved what happened with Renee, it was just like okay and here's an explanation for everything else and done.

Horror and domestic suspense blend seamlessly in The Shadow House, a true thriller by Anne Downes. This is a book to be read in one sitting, with the lights on.

Alex, a single mother of a teenage boy and baby girl, has fled domestic violence and is looking for a new way of life. She chooses Pine Ridge, an ecovillage with a commune feel, and looks forward to country life. Most of her neighbors are welcoming and friendly and she quickly adapts to the slow pace of small town life. Her son, however, is unhappy, their arguments escalate and he begins to spend as much time as possible away from home. Alex learns of an urban legend (if you can have one in a small town) that predicts a trilogy of events set upon victims by a local witch. She laughs it off, until…

Her story alternates with that of Renée, a farmer’s wife whose abandoned house still stands in Pine Ridge. Chilling incidents happen to her, her husband and coincidentally, their teenage son. Were they also victims of the same legend or did they somehow create it?

Anna Downes certainly knows how to build up the suspense! It grows slowly, chapter by chapter, through the alternating voices until a shocking, unexpected conclusion. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and Anna Downes for this ARC.

Excellent story! Totally engrossing!. Looking forward to reading more by this author! Could not put this down!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for the arc of this book. The story was great! Alex goes to live in a 'commune' to start her life over and ends up trying to save her son from suffering the same fate as another boy did six years ago. Her son is going through a tough puberty and it shows in how he treats his mom and finds solace online. It seems like this will be about the dangers of screen time but turns out to be so much more. Spooky things happen that are inexplicable which made for a scary read. Is there a witch creeping around?
The characters were good for the most part, even though Alex was annoying.
I really enjoyed this book until the end, which was kind of an anti-climax. The epilogue seemed like an attempt to wrap up everything in a neat bow and was not needed. However, I really enjoyed most of the book.

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️. I was so excited to receive an advanced copy of this book. I loved The Safe Place and after reading the description of this book, I thought for sure it was going to be just as good as Anna’s Downes first novel but unfortunately it was not. It was good and worth reading but not as exciting as her first one. First off I always hate to read anything with animal abuse…that immediately knocks a star off my rating. Secondly, I felt the epilogue was just way too long and unnecessary. And thirdly the ending was a bit of a disappointment. I feel like the book had a good creepy vibe throughout and I liked how it switched back and forth between past (Renee) and present (Alex). But the ending was just meh….I expected a wow ending but when I finally read what happened to Gabriel, I was thinking “that’s it”? I feel like the ending was quite boring. I won’t give up on Anna Downes because The Safe Place was a great book, this one just wasn’t a hit for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

To see other reviews I’ve left, check out my Instagram and Goodreads pages:
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Thank you to both #NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me an advance copy of Anna Downes’s sophomore novel, The Shadow House, in exchange for an honest review.

I was thrilled to receive an early copy of Anna Downes’s #TheShadowHouse. I had previously read Ms. Downes’s debut novel, The Safe Place, and absolutely adored it. So, you can imagine my disappointment when I discovered that her second work did not live up to the magic of the first. The Shadow House is the epitome of the phrase, “sophomore slump.” While I have no doubt that the author will produce another fantastic novel in the future, this particular book was not. The book also does not showcase the writing talents that I know that the author possesses.

The author’s note at the end explains the choices that were made in writing this novel. Regardless of whom the author is, I would never fault them for their choices since all writing is subjective; especially, when it is fiction. I can, however, blame the editor, publisher, book marketer, and so forth on the decision to include excruciatingly irritating passages about motherhood that drag on for two-thirds of the novel.

Fiction is a form of escapism. I do not enjoy when Ruth Ware does it, and I certainly cannot stand the use of annoying children here. I wanted to rip my hair out for the entire first half of the book. Find a new device to move the plot along. If you must include such material, then I implore you to market the book as such. No one wants to read about drooling, screaming brats in a book that is billed as a mystery/thriller novel. Again, not blaming the author this time around, but it did affect my rating.

Some other issues with the story include the weak conclusions of the plotlines for both Amy and Stuart, the unnecessarily long epilogue, and the lack of indication between the past and present for the two main characters. I also felt that one of the central relationships in the novel was underdeveloped save for one scene. I cannot divulge any other details about this relationship since it would ruin the ending for readers.

As for the positives, the story finally speeds up around the sixty percent mark. Had the novel focused more on the story than the children, it would have made for an interesting plot. The author also provided beautiful descriptions of the scenery. Setting the novel in an ecovillage was definitely a unique idea.

I absolutely love this book. This is a slow build story that will keep you interested from the first page. I immediately identified with the main character and was completely wrapped up in her experience. Highly recommend this book.

I loved the Gothic feel of this book's premise. I had a lot of trouble getting into the actual plot -- it felt slow to pick up, and then the second perspective just distracted me. I just didn't feel compelled to keep reading.

This book was sent to me electronically by Netgalley for review…it is different in that the concept of living together in almost a commune…isolation…is not something we read about often…teenage angst…a new baby…loving relationships gone bad…new homes…working together to grow food…this is not the usual read…it does awhile to get to a conclusion.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. The premise of this book sounded really interesting but sadly I just couldn't get into this one.

Small town Pine Ridge seems like the perfect place for Alex and her two children to start over. The town residents are kind and welcoming, well, most of them anyway. As Alex settles in, she can’t help but feeling unnerved; her new home has a dark past and if she’s not careful, that past may become her future. Told in the voice of two women, both mothers, six years apart this is a sinister story about a missing child and the ripple effect that event causes years into the future. A solid Australian domestic thriller

Alex moves her two children to an eco friendly community for a fresh start but soon realizes this may not be the start she’s looking for. Left a box with a dead bird in it on her stoop, she soon starts hearing strange sounds, and a legend about a witch. The longer she lives there strange things are revealed and she’s afraid to trust anyone around her. Fast paced, and mysterious, this is the story of an old unsolved mystery of a missing boy, and a woman’s desire to create the best life for her family while getting to the bottom of what’s happening around her.