Member Reviews
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
All I can say is what a wild ride! I didn’t know who to trust and who to not. Who was lying and who wasn’t. And even who was really who.
So many surprises. All of them well written and woven right in.
Definitely not a predictable who-dun-it at all.
I loved this book. So well written. Many times it can get confusing with so many different POV’s but this one did not.
Another amazing read by Gilly Macmillan.
Nicole and Tom are childhood sweethearts. They win 10 million in the lottery, and move into their dream house.
Tom is found dead in their swimming pool and the investigation begins for the mystery killer. There is a younger couple that lives in the Manor close to Nicole and Tom's new home. Tom's old friend from school appears to help Nicole with her grieving process. Nicole is scared that Tom's death was not an accident and she might be next.
This book is slow at times but kept my interest. There are some tense moments and several twists to the story. The ending is a great wrap up overall and I enjoyed the development of each character in the story.
Intense Plot, Fast Paced Ending and Suspenseful! 3.5 stars!
Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!
Really??! For real? This book was a crazy read. A wonderful, crazy read but still…..Wonderfully written though possibly not plausible…..This may could happen but, reality?? That said it’s a work of fiction full of mystery & suspense. If a body tried to take the book from me by the midpoint, I just might bite them. I def enjoyed The Manor House😁
The Manor House is the story of two houses really and the people that live there. The homes are part of the same land. When happily married Tom and Nicole won the lottery they wanted to build the house of their dreams. The location was in a nature reserve, land purchased from the owner of the Manor House. The two homes couldn't be more different. The new house is all glass and technology while the Manor House comes with hidden areas. The Manor House starts off with Nicole coming home to discover her husband dead in the pool. Was it an accident? Who would want to murder him?
I love the way this is written! At times I was reminded of Agatha Christie. The focus on personality and even the detectives gave me that feeling. We get points of view from every character. Usually I'm not a big fan of so many narrators but it worked very well here. The chapters show us what's happening but also how everyone's mind works. That includes Tom who we hear from a little later in the story. His chapters were particularly interesting because we learn what he did step by step on his last day and it gives the reader, if not the police, answers for many things.
It seems kind of obvious in the beginning who the murderer is but then you will quickly decide you can't be sure of anything. There are several characters who are capable of murder. There is also something dark and nasty going on in the Manor House. Does it tie in with the murder? There is a twist halfway through that I should have seen coming that made me rethink everything I had read. The ending will satisfy many readers.
This is the first book I read by the author. Now I need to look up her other books! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read. The Manor House will be open November 7th.
Man oh MAN!!! How do I even begin to review this book without giving anything away? My mind is completely blown! It is crazy to see what some people are capable of getting away with. People messing with your mind so much you begin to think things were your own ideas. To me there are two stories going on here. Lottery winners who buy some land from a lovey couple and their housekeeper. They will be neighbors and it will be great! That’s what Nichole thinks. Her and her husband Tom want to turn an old barn on the property into some amazing, the glass barn. It’s truly stunning. A mix of old and new and topped off with all the fancy smart home technology you can buy. Although it doesn’t seem to work properly most of the time. Then you have Sasha, olly and kitty in the mannor house. If those walls could talk! Oh the history they have seen. Not to mention all the secret spots behind walls and tunnels under the property. How did young Sasha and Olly come to be the caretakers of the property?? I’m sure Nicole never imagined what her and Tom had stepped into when they finished their beautiful new home. That is until she comes home to find Tom dead in their swimming pool! She runs to the manor house and tells them what’s happened, she’s a wreck! Sasha and olly leave her in the care of their housekeeper Kitty to see if they can do anything to save Tom. When the police arrive everything starts to unravel. Sasha and Olly’s story doesn’t add up. Kitty sees this as an opportunity to finally get some help and tell someone what’s been going on, if she can get the cops to believe her story. It’s wild! It’s crazy! It’s all consuming. Because when things start to come together the lies, secrets, betrayal, gaslighting, manipulation murders, cover ups start to add up! And the book can not be put down! This is one of the best I’ve read in a while!! Thank you NetGalley for allowing me access to this eARC! I’m so glad I got to read this. This is a story that will stick with you long after you’ve read it!!
I don’t like to leave bad reviews, but this book was all over the place. I’m being generous with 2 stars. This is my first book by this author, and I intend to give her other works a shot! This one just wasn’t it for me. Thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the ARC!
Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy of The Manor House. I was so excited to read this one, the premise and the setting sounded amazing. The setting was good and I enjoyed reading about the Manor House and the lives of the people living on it were interesting. However, this book really was way too slow for me. I at points had to force my way through it, as I felt the story was not moving anywhere and we kept going in circles with the same information over and over. I enjoyed the two stories told by Tom and Anna but again they were so slow to move anywhere that by the time I got to the end I just didn't really care.
Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book!
Happily married Nicole and Tom win the lottery and move into their wonderful new home, but soon Nicole finds Tom drowned in the pool. Was it an accident, or was there foul play? The story takes the reader through multiple POVs as we learn everyone's darkest secrets.
I really wanted to love this book, but every single character was so unlikeable that I couldn't get into it. Also, the mulitple POVs were confusing at first. I did want to keep reading to find out what happened though, so I gave it 3 stars.
Winning the lottery should be the beginning to a fantastic new life….but what if it isn’t?
Nicole and Tom became fantastically wealthy overnight as the result of a lottery win. They buy a beautiful lot of land from the owner of Lancaut Manor on a peninsula in Gloucestershire, and design and build their dream home, the Glass Barn. Who hasn’t dreamt of doing something very like that? Friends from their old life were happy for them when they won, but the change in their circumstances has created a gulf between them and their old crowd….especially their closest childhood friend, the ne’er do well Patrick. There aren’t many people close by, but they are trying to create a connection with Sasha and Olly, the couple in the Manor House. That’s not proving to be terribly successful either; there is something a bit off about Sasha and Olly, and their downtrodden housekeeper Kitty. When Tom’s dead body is found floating in the pool of the Glass Barn, everything begins to unravel. Nothing, and no one, at the Manor House is exactly what it seems. Patrick rushes to Nicole’s side, but may have an angle of his own. Detective Hal Steen and his partner Jen Walsh have few clues but many suspects….and millions of reasons for someone to want Tom dead. The more they dig into the backgrounds of the different people who had been part of Tom’s life, the more suspicions grow against all of their suspects. Will they be able to sort truth from lies, and find out what happened to Tom before someone else dies?
The book is narrated by multiple characters in alternating chapters, and elements of each of their stories is revealed slowly and from different points of view. In a book where it seems no one is completely innocent but none is necessarily guilty of the crime being investigated, the reader has a different sort of whodunnit, one where even the two houses play important roles. The main characters are very relatable, even if most of them aren’t particularly likeable. There is a great deal of manipulative behavior on the part of certain of the characters which the reader discovers over the course of the novel. The relationship between the two detectives shows a good balance of different strengths and respect of one another’s abilities, and the portrayal of their jobs comes across as quite realistic. The Manor House is a solid psychological thriller, and the differing narrators and multiple timelines add to the complexity of the unfolding tale. Some of the villains are easy to spot, but if you blink you might just miss what other characters are capable of doing. I found it to be an engrossing read, with plenty of plot twists to keep things interesting. Readers of author Gilly Macmillan’s previous novels will enjoy this outing, as might readers of Karin Slaughter, Lisa Unger and Megan MIranda. Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for granting me access to and advanced reader’s copy of The Manor House.
Slow paced thriller with multiple POVs (seven), journal entries, and time jumps. While the premise of this held a lot of promise the story develops very slowly and nearly all of the characters are unlikeable, unreliable narrators. The ending is very unsatisfying.
Have you ever requested a book on NetGalley that you wanted SO badly, you'd check your email every morning to see if you'd been approved yet? I did that with this book.
This one was worth the anticipation for me.
The story has multiple POVs (8, I believe?) I worried it may be too much. The author did a great job transitioning from person to person in a way that doesn't leave the reader confused or overwhelmed by information overload. I found all of these character's POVs to be necessary.
I loved the overall story. Detailed. Suspenseful. I think I accused each character of being the murderer at least once. I cannot wait for you all to read this one!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5
Thank you so much #NetGalley and #WilliamMorrow for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.
The Manor House will be published November 6, 2023.
I wish the characters in this book had been as compelling as the setting. I loved both the old Manor House and the ultramodern Glass House. Macmillian has used them effectively in the book so that they almost feel like characters in their own right. The human characters, however, were less interesting. I found that them to be gullible at times and they were all unreliable narrators. The book was incredibly slow to start out with before it finally picked up, but all that led to was a lackluster ending. There are journal entries interspersed to provide background, but I found that this device was distracting rather than illuminating.
A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
Suspenseful, page turning thriller, and fast chapters? Count me in!
This book was so good, I really enjoyed my first Gilly Macmillan’s book and it won’t be the last, I really liked her writing style. It also has past and present timelines that she beautifully connected revealing a great ending.
I highly recommend this book!
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Publication date 11/07/23
Tom Booth is dead. His wife, Nicole finds him in the swimming pool behind their tech savvy glass barn home. She thought all the technology they installed in their new home would keep them safe. However, it just makes people want to get them even more.
The Manor House next door, is filled with secrets. Could one of them have played a part in Tom's demise or was it just an accident? Not all characters are who they seem. Which one has the most to hide?
Switching between points of view, The Manor House takes readers on a slow burn of the days following Tom's death. Everyone has something to keep secret, but what really happened to Tom?
This is definitely a slow burn drama. There were parts I raced through while others seemed to drag on. The build up is what makes the book but I personally need a little more action along the way. The unlikable characters made the plot more intriguing. Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy.
This was a really fun thriller with a very satisfying ending. I enjoyed reading the story for the points of view of the different characters, and I also enjoyed the descriptions of the setting. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Five stars all around. I love a good thriller and man did this one deliver. The characters were spot on and the clues and red herrings were perfect. I was kept on my toes by this book and that doesn’t normally happen. Also locked room mysteries are a favorite for me.
Good book! This book had a bit of everything! It had suspense, Action, intrigue, mystery, revenge, murder, great plot twist, and some crazy twists and turns! The storyline was very interesting and kept me glued to my Kindle! I definitely recommend reading this book as it was well worth reading! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!
The Manor House is an adult fiction/thriller/mystery by author Gilly Macmillan. This is the author’s 7th novel. The publication date is November 7, 2023.
The novel is about couple Nicole and Tom who have won the lottery and built a state of the art home. Their neighbors are Olly and Sasha who live next door in the Manor House. One day, Nicole comes home and finds Tom dead in their pool.
The book is told in the 3rd person narrative. The book is told through almost every character’s perspective.
I felt the beginning of the book was slow moving. There wasn’t very much dialogue between the characters. The middle and end of the book did pick up for me. Some of the POVs seemed
unnecessary to me and didn’t add to the story.
A big part of the book that I didn’t see coming deals with coercive control. This may be triggering to some. I found this to be a really interesting and unique topic I haven’t come upon before.
Overall, I enjoyed the second half of this book a lot more than the first. I think some added dialogue between characters would improve the first half. There wasn’t a big twist which I would have liked to see but there were some smaller twists and reveals but they were mostly obvious. I liked how the author wrapped up the ending with no ambiguity, and no open endings.
Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to review this ARC.
A little but twisted, slightly evil, and super fun: Don't take anything too seriously and you're promised a very pleasant afternoon. I reccomend enjoying it with fancy cookies or a really nice cheese.
Love is blind and what better way to prove that point than to find your childhood sweetheart dead in a pool.
Winning the lottery isn't what it's cracked up to be anymore. The people that come out of the woodwork are odd and sometimes they seek more than you bargained for or ever wanted to give.
I realize the Manor House is meant to feel slightly out of place and for that the author does a great job in conveying those bizarre characters whom we can't quite make out from that location.
Bribery and money always go hand in hand like a bird and a feather so expect much the same involvement as money is always at the root.
As for the rest of the story I can only say the journal didn't help, the connections to the true lady aren't really appetizing, and the septic tank is one place nobody would want to go.
The ending here left some things to be desired and I felt as though being played wasn't the ultimate way to go.
The prior 5 yrs with the housekeeper , sauna, and ultimately the meat and bones was quite good.
All in all I was between a 3-4 on this one but settled for three as I didn't have that spark I had hoped in the end .