Thanks so much to the publisher and to NetGalley for giving me access to this book. This is a great gothic style novel - old house, missing children, dark and suspenseful. If these themes interest you - this is the book for you. I will be recommending this book to our patrons.

A suspenseful gothic mystery that will hold you till the end, as the main character searches for her long lost twin.

Absolutely loved this book. Very well written, the characters really came to life. While transporting you back to that faithful day , the day the twins dissappeared.

A gothic romantic suspense where there’s more suspense. As the second book by the author, I Here’s a bit of backstory. It can be read as a stand-alone. I’d like to see where this goes if there’s more to this story.

First line: I used to play a game where I imagined that someone had abandoned me in a strange, unknown place and I had to find my way back home.

Summary: Arden Arrowood returns to her childhood home in Keokuk, Iowa. The old stately home has sat empty since her family moved away after the disappearance of her twin sisters’ years before. Arden was the last person to see the twins before they disappeared and her return to Arrowood brings back all the nostalgic memories. With the help of local mystery buff, she begins to search her memories and find out if what she remembers is real or not. Maybe they can solve the mystery of who took her sisters almost twenty years before.

Highlights: The big old home in a Midwestern town. It reminds me of many of the towns in Kansas. The old businesses are being replaced; old homes are falling in disrepair and filled with the ghosts of the past. They mystery of the twins disappearance was great. I kept suspecting several characters with each new chapter. The character of Heaney creeped me out. He was a great piece of the story. But that ending. Wonderful. Just what the book deserved.

Lowlights: A slow burn. At the last quarter of the book, the pace picks up and the tension builds. The beginning is a lot of buildup and tricks to divert the reader.

FYI: Great little story about a mystery in the Midwest.

Perfect atmosphere permeates this book. The setting, the characters, the plotting pace all contribute to make this creepy sort of ghost story come to life and dig its way into your head.

Three Cheers for Laura McHugh! I did not know what to expect when reading her book Arrowood. I could not put it down. Her descriptive way of writing made me feel I was there seeing the twins run across the lawn never to be seen again. Big sister Arden is only 8 years old and returns to her home Arrowood after many years.

The mystery of finding out what happened to her sisters was so suspenseful. You will not be disappointed in reading this novel. It's one you don't want to miss. I loved it!!!

My first book by Laura McHugh but definitely not my last. A gothic-type mystery about a young woman, Arden Arrowood, who returns to her childhood home after experiencing some failures in her life. Arden was just a child when her baby twin sisters disappeared mysteriously while she was watching them playing in their yard at Arrowood. The book goes into the whole story with flashbacks to Arden's unhappy childhood and family dysfunction, and her present life where she is staying alone in the spooky old mansion. Highly recommended!

I read this after reading The Weight of Blood and probably did an unfair comparison the entire time. Had I read Arrowood without the highest expectation that came after reading Laura's first novel, I probably would have enjoyed it much more. The story was good, the characters were well-developed and it kept me guessing. I think Mrs. McHugh is a wonderful author and I can't wait for the next.

Arrowood by Laura McHugh is a 2016 Spiegel & Grau publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Arrowood lives up to the hype as a good old fashioned Gothic mystery!

After Arden’s ne’er do well father dies, she is surprised to learn she has inherited her childhood home…Arrowood, located in the town of Keokuk, Iowa. One part of her is excited about inheriting the house, reuniting with her former friends, and getting a fresh start, but she also feels trepidation about facing the memories associated with the house…

When Arden was a child, her twin sisters disappeared and were never found, dead or alive. Now, just as she is returning home, a mystery buff, with his own troubled history,begins writing an article about the twins for his website, and is convinced the prime suspect may be innocent. As Josh gently probes Arden’s memories, the secrets of the past slowly reveal themselves as Arden learns the truth about her parent’s marriage and shocking truth of what really happened to her sisters.

As promised, this story has all the classic elements a good Gothic tale should possess. A big, creepy house, dark family secrets, sinister, untrustworthy characters, and layers of psychological terror and suspense. I love, love. love these kinds of stories. Always have, always will.

My only complaint is the brevity of the book, not only because I didn’t want it to end, but because it did feel rushed at times, which is a no-no in the Gothic genre, which normally employees a slower pace in order to add those delicious atmospheric layers.

So as not to dwell too much on the Gothic elements, this novel also explores the way the mind can play tricks on us, how we can be so sure our memories are right, when in truth we have selective memories, with our hearts sending signals to our brains to protect us from pain, from remembering more than we can digest or cope with. While Arden has very vivid, detailed memories of the day her sisters disappeared, her version of events is challenged, causing her to rethink the past, to dig deeper into her psyche and attempt to keep her mind open to other possibilities. What she finds buried deep in her subconscious mind may be the key to solving the mystery of her sister’s disappearance.

The past collides with the present, revealing the darkest parts of humanity, creating a thick, heavy atmosphere of suspense that had me held me spellbound with an ever increasing sense of foreboding, building the suspense to a fever pitch, whacking with an emotional wallop you will never see coming!

Yep, this is my kind of book. It’s possible the edge and atmosphere may be lost on those unfamiliar with the Gothic tones of the book, but for those who ‘get’ it, this one is a real gem!