Twisty, fast-paced thriller with an unreliable narrator and multiple POV, I will recommend to fans of Catherine Steadman and A. J. Finn. Lucy and Sam are trying to sell the home they have renovated, so when their agent is running late, Lucy agrees to show the home to a potential buyer herself. Things go sideways and the reader is unsure what to believe and who is the real threat.
Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for digital review copy.

Yawn... this was a snooze fest especially after the firecracker that was The Interview, which I loved.

Despite the short chapters, the story dragged and I never connected with Lucy enough to actually care about her or the plot. Even the prose was lacklustre.

I also guessed the main whodunit, though there were definitely solid surprises that I didn't see coming. The dual timeline thing was brilliant for sure.

Unfortunately, I just didn't care much for this book and read it for the sake of finishing it.

I liked C.M. Ewan's premise for his new novel, The House Hunt. Something so everyday as a realtor holding an open house is the starting point. When the realtor is late, the homeowner takes her place...

The book bounces back and forth between two viewpoints - that of Lucy and her husband Sam. I really like this style of story telling - I need to know what is going on with each of them.

Ewan has a dark imagination. There are a few 'over the top' machinations, but just go with it. It's hard to put this one down! If you like thrillers, this one's for you.

The House Hunt by C.M. Ewan is an interesting thriller, with an unusual, tension-filled premise. The short chapters often flip between two perspectives – Lucy and her boyfriend, Sam. The entire story takes place in less than 24 hours and there’s hardly a moment to take a breath.

Sounds like the bones of a great thriller. And, for the most part, it delivers. But, there are times the reader is asked to stretch their imagination and suspend belief for the sake of the story. As it unfolds, Lucy finds herself at the mercy of a man she thought was interested in the house she and Sam have lovingly restored and are now in the process of selling. When their agent is delayed for the showing, Lucy reluctantly agrees to fill in. Little does she know than Donovan is not who she thinks he is.

All in all, I enjoyed The House Hunt although there are some unexplained and even outlandish events that occur. There are also a few times that the story seemed to unnecessarily slow down, it became a little long-winded, and the pace lagged. The twists are surprising, although I suspected several of them. Overall, this book was a bit unbelievable but still a good read.

This is the first book I’ve read by Mr Ewan, a very talented writer, and it won’t be the last. For me it’s 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. NetGalley provided an advance reader copy.

The synopsis of this book is short & sweet, which it needs to be not to give away anything. Essentially, Sam and Lucy are selling their house. When it’s time for a showing, the real estate agent is running late and the potential buyer can only see it now or he’ll have to pass. Knowing how badly they need to sell their house, Lucy lets the stranger in, ignoring her fears and phobias … Sam will be there soon. It'll all be okay. After a tour of the house, the buyer insists on seeing the basement, the one place in her own home where Lucy absolutely won't venture. Once he’s down there, he doesn't come back upstairs. He doesn't answer when she calls out to him. Lucy's fears become full fledged panic as her PTSD rises to the surface.

The story is fast paced, told in very short chapters, with multiple POVs (which I love). There were a few pieces that didn’t seem to fit together for me (which is why I couldn’t give it a 5 star rating).

I was hoping for a tense, atmospheric read, and despite a rather gripping start, I found so many inconsistencies in the plot, and the main character spent so much time wandering around talking to herself. I should have DBF, but I finished. I wasn't impressed.

This was not it for me. I was into it at the beginning - appreciated the way the tension was building and we weren’t sure what was going on. But then it really lost me. I considered DNFing but decided to stick with it to see how it ended - and now wish I hadn’t. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook to review.

A past trauma is about to make a frightening reappearance.

Lucy is still struggling with the psychological effects of an incident two years earlier, the memories of which she has mostly repressed. Her life seems to be on a better path now; she lives in the Putney section of London with her boyfriend Sam in the house he inherited from his grandparents, and has helped him renovate it so that they can sell it and move on to a new future. Sam is incredibly understanding of her issues and is supportive of her as she works through them; as a teacher of psychology at the London School of Economics (specializing in phobias), he is well equipped to help her. They’ve taken on a fair amount of debt to finance the rehab work, and now that the house is ready to be sold they are both anxious to find a buyer quickly. When Lucy gets a call from their estate agent Bethany saying that she’s running late for a planned showing and wants Lucy to start the tour with the client, Lucy is thrown for a loop. Being in a house alone with an unknown man (Sam is at work) immediately triggers her anxiety, and she wants to say no….but they really need to sell the house, and she doesn’t want to lose the client to another property. She reluctantly agrees, and lets Donovan in when he rings the bell; surely Bethany will arrive shortly, and all will be fine. But she doesn’t, and it soon becomes clear that Donovan is not an ordinary prospective buyer. Lucy’s memories will not stay buried this day….and the truth of what happened to her is so much worse than she ever thought it could be.
We’ve all heard urban legends of a realtor who shows a house alone and bad things happen to (generally) her. In this terrifying thriller, which put me in mind of the classic Audrey Hepburn movie, “Wait Until Dark”, the main character of Lucy is known from the start to be vulnerable and shaky of nerves. In her quest to conquer her demons she says yes to something when everything in her is screaming, “No!!”. Chapters alternate between what is happening at the house with Lucy and Donovan and the events with Sam at LSE leading a support group for people with phobias. Somehow what happened to Lucy at a party two years ago is directly linked to the drama that unfolds at her house in the present day, but since she can’t remember what happened back then she has no clue on what to do now to avert more tragedies. The nature of memories and of phobias play a large role in the story, and the reader is as blind as Lucy is as to who she can trust and how she can survive the day. Tense and hard to put down, the story moves quickly from an everyday stressful situation to life or death decisions. Readers of Sarah Pekkanen, Catherine Steadman and David Ellis should give The House Hunt a try. Many thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for allowing me early access to this heart racing thriller.

Synopsis: When Lucy’s real estate agent calls to say she is running late, Lucy reluctantly agrees to show a prospective buyer around her house by herself.

Thoughts: This was a super quick read that kept me guessing the whole time. I had no idea what to expect, and the twists definitely caught me off guard. I would be shocked if you could guess what was going to happen in this one.

Read this if you like:
🏠 psychological thrillers
🏠 crazy twists
🏠 tense atmosphere
🏠 dual POV

Thank you Netgalley & Grand Central Publishing for an eARC 🔥

Lucy got some serious anxiety issues and a deep-seated fear of being watched, which makes sense given what happens when this creepy guy comes to look at their house. But what really gets my goat is that her boyfriend Sam, who's a therapist of all people, doesn't seem to believe her. Like, hello! You're a therapist, shouldn't you be the one person who gets it?

Anyway, things take a dark turn and I found myself wondering what on earth was going to happen next. And let's be real, the plot was straight-up bananas - I mean, some of the twists were just wild. I'm talking 'did that really just happen?'. But okay, so maybe some of it was a bit far-fetched, but I was too invested to care. I just had to know how it all ended! It was like a trainwreck that I couldn't look away from.

I have to give the author credit, though - he knew just how to ramp up the tension and keep me on the edge of my seat. And even though some of the plot points were a bit ridiculous, I couldn't help but be drawn in. It was like a guilty pleasure, you know? So if you're looking for a thriller that's a little bit crazy and a lot entertaining, then this might be the book for you.🔥

This book follows Lucy and Sam, a couple who are trying to sell their home. Lucy struggles with PTSD and claustrophobia and Sam is an academic who focuses on the study of phobias. When a stranger shows up to their door and Lucy tours him around their home, my anxiety steadily increased in time with the weird interactions between the two. Who was this strange man and what did Lucy's past trauma have to do with him? I can honestly say I was not expecting what happened to be the answer to this question.

I was instantly drawn into this book given the two POV (Sam at the support group he runs and Lucy at home). These two POVs were what really kept me guessing throughout the book and the short chapters kept things moving fast. The twist really came about 2/3 of the way through the book and I can honestly say it was a really good one... It had me starting to question who I was trusting and I had to rethink everything I thought I knew up to that point...

Overall this book was a good, fast paced, thriller. I do wish the house touring at the beginning was sped up just a tad, because I wanted to get to the juicy stuff. Once you knew the stranger was a bad guy, things started to move a lot faster, which I enjoyed/appreciated.

** Spoilers below**
I will say that as a healthcare worker, I found the idea of Lucy forgetting her memories while held hostage in a basement a little far fetched. What? Am I supposed to believe that she just wakes up one morning chained to the wall and then moves upstairs and lives like nothing ever happened? She forgets she was ever a person before this terrible thing happened to her? No one ever looks for her or wonders what happened to her?? I am grateful that this was addressed at the end and that honestly saved my rating quite a bit. It makes more sense once I knew that she was drugged with a medication that causes amnesia... otherwise I would've found this super unbelievable. Even still, I have questions.

Also- I love me a dual POV that ends up being two different timelines *chefs kiss* It just reminds me that you cannot trust a narrator! In this respect, this book reminds me of the Silent Patient, where you think you are following a timeline, but turns out it is actually in the past and you are actually reading about the impact/repercussions of those previous actions. I love when that happens.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

**Trigger warnings: PTSD, phobias, elder abuse

What a page turner!
The synopsis is short for this book and for good reason. It’s all you need to know going into this one. And it’s going to take you on a wild ride.
I finished this book in a day. It has short chapters and it really makes you want to keep reading to figure out what the heck is going on. Action packed, thrilling and an ending with a jaw dropping twist.

Dnfed @ 80%

I'm sorry. I just couldn't do it. It took 65% for anything other than a messed up house tour to start happening and when it did they tried tying it together and it just did not work. Lucy literally walked around for most of the books freaking herself out and talking to herself.


I rarely dnf but I realized that as I tried to explain the story to my best friend and to my husband, that this plot just did not vibe together at all.

This gripping psychological thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat, with your heart racing the entire time! The fast-paced, action-packed plot features a twist so shocking, you'll be left in disbelief. Highly recommended!

"The House Hunt" by C.M. Ewan is a masterfully crafted psychological thriller that will grip you from the very first page. Ewan brilliantly captures the tension and fear of the protagonist, Lucy, as she is forced to navigate a nightmare scenario that unfolds within the walls of her own home.

Lucy and Sam’s desperate situation—having to sell their lovingly renovated Victorian house due to financial strain—sets the stage for a suspenseful and claustrophobic story. The sense of dread begins subtly, with Lucy’s anxiety and claustrophobia simmering beneath the surface, but quickly escalates as the stranger she reluctantly lets in begins to show his true colors.

Ewan’s writing excels at immersing the reader in Lucy’s psychological state, making you feel every bit of her discomfort and fear as the situation spirals out of control. The stranger’s increasingly bizarre behavior, coupled with Lucy’s rising panic, creates a palpable tension that builds to a terrifying climax.

"The House Hunt" is more than just a thriller—it’s a deep dive into the vulnerabilities we face when our personal space and safety are invaded. Ewan has a talent for turning everyday scenarios into something sinister, making this novel a compelling read for anyone who enjoys a story that keeps them on the edge of their seat. Highly recommended for fans of suspenseful and psychologically rich narratives.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

When I requested this book, I was expecting an unputdownable thriller. However, this book was semi lackluster in my opinion and left me a little underwhelmed. It wasn't a bad book, I just thought it was going to be more exciting than it actually was.


Many Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

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The real estate agent is running late and the potential buyer is on a tight schedule. Knowing how badly they need to sell their house, Lucy lets the stranger in, forcing back all of her fears and phobias. Her boyfriend will be there soon. It'll all be okay.

But then the man insists on seeing the basement, the one place in her own home where Lucy absolutely won't venture. And he doesn't come back upstairs. He doesn't answer when she calls out to him. And Lucy's fears become full fledged panic.

The plot is extremely fast paced, told in very short chapters that alternate between Lucy and another character. The description reminded me of We Used to Live Here, but it's not the same thing at all. About halfway through, I thought I knew where it was headed, but I was very wrong.

The synopsis of this book is really short - for a reason. There isn’t a lot that can be said outside of the beginning, because this book will take you on a wild ride! Sam, a psychology professor, and Lucy, an interior designer, have been renovating a house that was given to Sam by his grandparents. The house is now done and perfect, but they realize they can’t afford to live there and decide to sell it.

Their real estate agent, Bethany, is running late, so she texted Lucy to tell her a man named Donovan is coming to look at the house. Lucy immediately panicked, as she has a lot of anxiety, especially about being around strangers. She was attacked in the past, and now has a lot of problems with PTSD, panic attacks, claustrophobia and amnesia.

Sam is at a group therapy session he runs for people with phobias, and won’t be home for hours, so after confirming with Bethany that the man standing at her door was the one interested in the house, she lets Donovan in, knowing Bethany will be there soon, and also knowing they need to sell they house as soon as they can. Soon, she realizes she’s made a potentially deadly mistake, when Donovan refuses to leave.

This was definitely a page-turner, and a quick read with a lot of suspense. What does Donovan want with Lucy? You’ll find out, and it’s slightly confusing at first, but intriguing. I’m not sure that I cared for the ending; it tried to tie everything up perfectly, but it felt a little forced. Still, this was quite the entertaining read! Four stars.

(Thank you to Grand Central Publishing, C.M. Ewan and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on August 27, 2024.)

This book was fast-paced and kept me reading, though it was mostly because I wanted to see the final resolution. Lucy and her boyfriend, Sam, have been working to renovate their house in hopes of selling. All hell breaks loose when a supposed potential buyer, named Donovan, comes to view the house.
In my opinion, the unreliable narrator of this story is very extreme. It is hard to picture any of this happening in real life, especially the twists and turns at the end regarding the true identities of the main characters. The House Hunt was thrilling and outlandish, and could be suitable for those who enjoy reading unrealistic psychological thrillers.

I enjoyed this book but it was a bit too drawn out for me. I ended up skimming quite a few pages as it was just taking too long to get to the meat of the story. Overall though it was a good story full of lots of twists!