Pine Ridge: Create the Life You Want. It seemed like the perfect solution for Alex and her family- a safe space. A chance to start over. But then the packages begin to arrive. “The bones came first. A gift, but nothing wanted. Next, a doll: a likeness, a promise. And the blood marks the choice. It finds a face, and then you know.”
In The Shadow House, Anna Downes second novel, I relived all the joys and horror of raising a teenage son and the utter exhaustion of surviving an infant. But Downes takes it up a notch as the local ghost story comes to life and suddenly her son’s life is in danger.
The Shadow House is definitely a thriller, but also a smart study on parenting and community. I received my copy of The Shadow House as an advanced reader copy from NetGalley, but this gripping read is available to you anywhere you purchase books on April 5, 2022.

A mother, Alex, takes her teenage son and baby daughter to live in a modern day commune. The story is told from multiple character point of views. It follows a few plot lines that converge as one in the end. Family is a major theme as everything the major characters do is for the good of their family. Alex also has to find herself and be able to start a new relationship in the community she now calls home.

Pine Ridge was meant to be a safe haven for Alex- away from her loathsome ex Stuart, a new start for her teen son Ollie, and, well, not much for little Kara except the hope for a happier family. It's all very nice in the eco-friendly community in the middle of nowhere but then (and be warned) weird bad things start to happen, including to animals. At the same time, Renee tells her story, a sad one which goes back in time to when her son Gabriel was kidnapped and never returned. Is there a witch in the woods who wants young boys or is something else at foot? No spoilers from me. I liked this for the characters (especially Ollie) and for the twisty plot. You like me might see some of it coming but there's always just a little more. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

My overall impression? This is a perfect read while lounging at a sandy beach sipping an umbrella-topped margarita. Or in a recliner in front of a roaring fire sipping an Irish coffee while snowflakes tickle the windows. My personal scenario was nothing so dramatic, alas, but I made the best of my circumstances and enjoyed it just the same.

Living in Australia, Alex has run away from an abusive husband, taking her kids Ollie, age 14, and Kara, 8 months (by two different fathers). They've landed in what's called an ecovillage - a commune of sorts that's under development outside of Sydney. There, she hopes to find peace, love and safety but not divorce - at least that wasn't mentioned at the outset nor anywhere else in the book that I noticed. Love (or the potential thereof) comes early in the form of project developer Kit - a handsome hunk who's single and immediately wants to strike up a relationship with the beautiful Alex. She's interested, but she's got issues to deal with first - not the least of which is that her son - hardly an angel in his own right - is just plain angry about being dragged away from his home and friends - not for the first time, apparently.

The situation goes from bad to worse; amid rumors of supernatural occurrences experienced by other residents, Alex herself becomes a target. Meanwhile, readers (and Alex) learn about similar incidents half a dozen years ago involving a nearby family that led to the rumors. Alex is understandably upset, but she's also curious - and sets out to get to the truth before someone or something gets to her family. In between, she interacts with some of the locals, mostly with skepticism as to whether they really want her to join the community. Between her suspicions about them, the Twilight Zone goings-on and misgivings about Kit, she waffles over whether she should just pack up her kids and meager belongings and run once again.

With a little help from her friends (she's not sure they're really friends, but at least she trusts them enough to let them babysit), everything comes together in the end. And thankfully, most of that Voodoo-type stuff fell by the wayside fairly early on - for me, a little of that goes a long way unless Stephen King wrote it. What bothered me most, I guess, is that none of the characters is especially likable, and a couple of them seemed to be red herrings - thrown in the mix as nothing more than a diversion. Overall, though, this is an engaging story that held my attention (really!) throughout. And I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with a pre-release copy to read and review.

When things get tough, Alex runs away, but this time what Alex is running from might be a better option than what she’s running to! Leaving Sydney Alex gathers up her fourteen year old son, Ollie, and 8 month old daughter, Kara, and heads to an ecovillage she heard about at yoga. Set in the middle of nowhere, Alex loves the peace and quiet, but Ollie is tired of running and wants to return to Sydney. With each new day, Ollie becomes more belligerent and soon Alex is at her wits end, sleep deprived and drinking more than she should, she soon hears from the residents about a witch that lives in the woods. When packages start arriving at her door and she starts hearing strange sounds in the night, she’s sure Ollie is in danger, after all the original owners of the farm lost their son six years ago in the middle of the night, never to be seen or heard from again after very similar circumstances. Is Alex overreacting or is Ollie truly in danger? With a creepy vibe throughout, this book keeps the reader guessing and with the many twists and turns, it makes for a very entertaining read.

After an incident at her son's school and wanting to get away from her ex, Alex and her teenage son and baby daughter move to the ecovillage of Pine Ridge where they will be safe. When strange things start to happen that may have to do with the disappearance of a teenage boy years ago, Alex realizes they may not be as safe as she thought. This is an exciting thriller with a lot of twists and turns. The story isn't nearly as dark and horrifying as it seems like it is going to be, however. Overall, it is more sad than scarier but if you like human drama more than a good scare you will probably enjoy it.

To be honest, I did not enjoy this book for one reason. And its just because in the beginning the MC said she wished her teenage son would go missing. I could not get past this. That is a personal problem tho.and I know this author to be a good author so I WILL be recommending this book to my customers.

A mother willing to do anything to protect her children. She moved them, again, to a new house. Her oldest is annoyed because they move every few months. This immediately gave me insight into the life this family lived.

My favorite part of the book was the setting. The family moves to a development that is expanding but something is off about the residents. As I got deeper into the book, the more I didn’t want to put it down. I don’t want to give anything away but this book kept me guessing right until the end.

After not loving the authors last book I was ready to give her a second chance but also apprehensive as well. I’m so glad I did because I did end up enjoying this one much more. I thought it was super creepy and atmospheric, and finished it in just a couple of sittings. There is dual narration from two women, Alex and Renee who are both having difficulty with their teenaged sons. Strange things happen around both boys and besides the usual teenage rebellion and angst you have a strong sense of dread whenever these two appear on the page. I thought the twists and turns were sharp and smart and it kept me on my toes. Overall a really fun thriller, I think it would be a great summer read for sure!

This was very suspenseful. I liked the different perspectives. Some reviews spoiled and said too much, which I wish I didn't read. This was a fun and entertaining thriller!

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Shadow House by Anna Downes is a highly recommended psychological thriller.

Alex Ives flees Sydney with her two children to a three month trial rental in Pine Ridge, an ecovillage in the Australian countryside. Her teenage son, Ollie, 14, scoffs at living in a commune while her baby, Kara at 8 months is teething and cranky. Pine Ridge is quiet and tranquil, surrounded by forests and the residents seem friendly. Alex is sure her family will be safe here and can start over, but unsettling things begin to occur almost immediately when Alex finds a dead bird in a box on their doorstep. She eventually learns about the stories of the Pine Ridge witch, which she is sure is just a legend, but as new disturbing things happen, she begins to wonder if there are some facts behind the rumors.

In alternate chapters the story of Renee Kellerman is told. She and her husband, Michael once owned the farm that became the site of Pine Ridge. They have a teenage son, Gabriel.

While waiting for the two narrative threads to join together, Downes creates a great deal of tension as new alarming and frightening incidents occur. Adding to the sense of an impending disaster are the ominous dreams Alex is having while she is sleep deprived from Kara's unrest. It is clear from early on that Pine Ridge may not be the bucolic and peaceful setting Alex believed it would be when they moved there. There are secrets held by many characters and the tension rises with each chapter as some new alarming incident happens.

The characters are basically well-drawn and realistic. Downes does an especially credible job writing the teenage characters. While we don't learn right away why Alex was fleeing, which is a plausible reason, it is still less straightforward why she would chose an ecovillage as her refuge, simply based on the handsome man who told her about it. Admittedly, her character is a little less appealing due to poor decisions. Starting a relationship with Kit, the man who started Pine Ridge, was farfetched. After mumbling at her to not move to an ecovillage without any conviction about the lifestyle, I sort of wanted to yell at Alex to at least wait until she has weaned her baby before casting about for someone new. She doesn't make good choices.

It does create a creepy atmosphere, but loses it's way after the start. The action does slow down in the middle of the novel. The ending leaves something to be desired. 3.5 rounded up

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Edelweiss, Google Books, and Amazon.

I was so excited when I saw that Anna Downes had a new book coming out, I loved The Safe Place. The Shadow House has this great Creepy atmosphere. Running away from a bad relationship single mom Alex comes to this new seemingly perfect eco-village. This should be the perfect place to raise small children, but upon arriving the she finds a dead bird in a box on her door step!
I had so many questions about this village and the strange empty farm house with a strange history. There is a rumors of a witch that leaves these little things behind to let you know she's coming, Bones, then a doll, and then finally blood! It gave such a creepy foreboding feeling of what you knew might happen or you think you do. Theres so many things about this village and the residents that make you question everything. When these things start happening to Alex and her family she's desperate to find answers, and its starting to take a toll on her. The mystery of what happened and the farm had me sucked in like Alex, I wanted answers. Alex was a likable but unlikable character, the way she went about somethings drove me crazy. There were layers to the story I wasn't expecting, especially the ending!

Thank you to Minotaur Books and Netgalley for my review copy.

The bones come first, then the doll, then the blood, and soon you will know who has been chosen to be taken. That's a paraphrased summary from the prologue. Can I just say that I had a full-blown case of the creeps before the first chapter!

The first POV is from Alex, who grabbed what would fit in the car along with her children Ollie and Kara and fled an abusive partner hoping to make a fresh start in Pine Ridge. She is scared, sleep-deprived from caring for her eight-month-old, and always on edge because of her contentious relationship with her teenage son. She ignores belligerent calls from her ex Stuart and only hopes that he cannot find them.

While most of the people here are friendly Maggie seems to instantly dislike Alex. She can't understand why but soon she is faced with more pressing concerns. She hears strange noises and starts to receive terrible boxes full of bizarre ‘gifts’ and now Stuart isn't her biggest threat, it’s figuring out who in Pine Ridge wants to hurt her family.

The second POV is from Renee who lived in the farmhouse on the hill before this community was built. Her son Gabriel disappeared after bones, a doll, blood, and their house was vandalized. Her story is eerily similar to the nightmare Alex is experiencing. What is the connection between Alex and Renee?

There are enough strange events in both timelines that kept me guessing if there was a supernatural entity in Pine Ridge or just an evil person who had remained quiet for years. Both plots come together nicely, and this was a story where nothing was what it seemed. In this case, I preferred Renee’s storyline, mostly because Alex got on my nerves! That could be attributed to the fact that I’ve never been a sleep-deprived mother who had to flee an abusive partner though.

This was a creepy, suspenseful story, and I enjoyed it! There's the mystery of the house and the missing boy and all the terrifying things going on. it all mixed together to create a great thriller! There are so many secrets and surprises; it's quite the ride!

ok, it appears that I am in the minority about this book. I didn't care for it. for many reasons. I can't get into it, so much that I am not goin got finish it. I really liked the description of the book and thought it would be really good. I am confused more than anything. I know who is Alex is, but who the heck is Renee? and what time period is she in? I thought Ollie was beyond a brat and Alex WAY to lax on him. I realized pretty quickly that the author is not from the states, as phrases were used that I have no clue what they mean, nor was it explained for the non Australian people. I thank NetGalley for the copy and my opinion. just not for me

This book was incredible. So gripping and chilling, even when I wasn’t reading it I couldn’t stop thinking about the plot and characters. I found this book crafted so perfectly for the story it was telling. The characters felt real and I found myself (especially through the second half of the book) reading frantically, holding my breath, with a real sense of fear and dread. It’s not often you find a book that you feel has done everything right for you and this was it.
The dual timeline was executed perfectly, I didn't clue into what was really going on until right before it was revealed. I went into this thinking it was going to be a paranormal thriller, possibly with some cult undertones and what Anna Downes gave was so much more original.

I think this is going to be one of my favourite reads of 2022, and I will definitely be picking up a copy when it comes out.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
If I could sum up, in a word, The Shadow House by Anna Downes, that word would be TENSE. This novel has massive menacing and frightening vibes from the start the book. Our lead protagonist is a woman, Alex, on the run with two kids, one being her oddball teenage son, accompanied by her terminally cranky baby girl. Cue in Mom, sucking back some vodka. Then we have a disturbing backstory about a nearby house with a missing son, which I initially thought had occurred decades ago but was only a few years before Alex and the kids moved into this new eco-friendly community. We have decapitated cats, ominous signs, terrifying messages left in the mailbox, lots of blood, kids crying all the time, and I mean All. The. Time. In addition, we endure petulant young teen boys who have terrible body odor, weird grandparents, secrets, and a pretty quick romance for Alex, having recently left her abusive husband and settling into an unsettled town. It all added up to an unholy mess, although I give the author a lot of credit for making it scary. If you like terrifying AF thrillers, this book is for you. Pub date: April 5th.
💀
Thank you, NetGalley and Minotaur Books, for the opportunity to read this book. #bookaddict #booksofinstagram #bibliophile #bookstagram #bookshelf #booksbooksbooks #readersofinstagram #reader #booklove #author #instabooks #literature #netgalley #minotaurbooks #theShadowHouse @netgalley @minotaur_books #scary #sinistervibe #arc

I want to live in “The Shadow House”. I have this thing about living in a house that’s haunted and I want it to be this one. Dead serious, if it wasn’t fictional.

This book, this book, this book….. this community, these characters, the storyline, the beginning, the end, the in between!! The immensity of my love for this book has my insides restless and my mind spinning in circles, around and around, repeating thoughts of all that happens and I finished reading this four days ago

This story is told in alternating perspectives from Alex and Renee. It’s completely safe to say that the chapters of Renee take place six years prior from the time Alex’s chapters are.

The farmhouse on the hill, the carvings in the trees, the bones, the dolls, the blood…….deeply eerie and vividly atmospheric. Hold on because you’re about to go on a journey with one of the best thrill rides a writer can take her readers on.

Alex fled an abusive relationship to start new with her kids and she finds the community of Pine Ridge, which at first seems like the perfect place to raise a family and live more simply. That is a fantastic idea in theory, unfortunately in reality, Pine Ridge is a non-stop mind fgameck 👈🏼I’ll clean that up before I post to Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

It’s absolutely amazing, to me, how this author does everything that goes opposite of what readers would most likely expect. She steers clear of cliche and obvious. She makes sure that there are not just enough characters, but enough suspects, to keep your head spinning around and back again. It’s refreshing to have read this story which kept the suspense strong and letting your guard down truly leads to out loud gasps and wide eyed jaw drops.

As far as Alex, her character and the struggles she faced, they were highly relatable and the author does not sugar coat this characters words and thoughts. That was something that meant so much to someone who understands. Because of that, I connected those parts of this story on a much deeper level. I’m learning to read books with different levels of triggers and allow them to make me stronger, instead of avoiding those books. With that said, I ‘can’ say that any triggers, of Alex’s abusive past, are so rarely spoken and barely in detail it’s a perfectly safe read for anyone worried about triggers. I hope that helps readers decide based on your personal tolerance levels.

I have zero hesitation in recommending this book to anyone. In fact, as the thriller it is, I recommend it to everyone who loves this genre. When you think it’s going in one direction, you’re going to get whiplash when the other direction hits you pretty mercilessly and that makes it so deliciously satisfying.

I want to pour out the entire story and all my highlights, but I can’t so I’m flustered and, as with all books which get me this worked up with excitement, I’m spilling my thoughts out rapid pace.

This book, this author, this story, these characters, the craziness of it all and the drop dead twisty punches are ‘shocking’. Unbelievably shocking. First class, exceptional, phenomenal, mind boggling. Remarkable imagination and writing is inside these pages.

~Bones~dolls~blood~ I have blood curdling chills running up and down my back rereading that passage in its entirety just now and the intensity of how deeply this book got inside my head and heart, it’ll sound silly to read that I literally welled with tears. It was that intense of a read I genuinely got emotional at the talent put into this. Highly recommended to everyone I can recommend it to.

Thank you so much to @NetGalley @StMartinsPress @MinotaurBooks and author Anna Downes @whatannawrote for giving me the opportunity to read this treat of a book, at my request for an honest review. I can honestly say that I wish I could erase the memory of reading it so I could read it again like it was the first time. I’ll definitely be buying and gifting this one forward.

Available for purchase on April 5, 2022

#NetGalley#MostAnticipatedBooks2022 #2022BestBooks #ThrillerBooks #MysteryBooks #SuspenseBooks #March2022BookReleases

Four stars for the atmosphere alone, with this one! I loved this author's first book and I felt this did fall a little bit short of that, but all in all a good read. Told from the POV's of two very different women, with two different storylines, this one does take a LONG time to get going. Once it does though, it was a good story. Alex moves with her two kids to a creepy house in a small village. Renee lives on a drought-ridden farm and her son has disappeared. Both are strong, fleshed-out characters and I liked them both. Rumors of witches, ghosts and all sorts of disturbing goings on are interspersed until the two storylines intersect! As I mentioned, very atmospheric and suspenseful overall, just takes a while to get there. Look forward to the next one!

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

Loved this creepy thriller by Anna Downes. So much creepy suspense! Lots of thrills and chills. Awesome character development.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book