Book Review of The House of Ashes by Stuart Neville 4.5/5

A darkly woven, tension filled, psychological thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat.

You won’t find any rainbows and fairy tales here, my friends.

I only just recently became aware of Neville’s work and, I must say, Wow.
How did I not know about this author?

Over the last year+ of blogging I’ve had the pleasure of reading from a good many brilliant authors, even so, Neville has managed to stand out in the crowd.. and that’s saying something.
You’ll see below that there are quite a few potential triggers, this is not a happy read, but I do believe it is worth it.

Enjoy!

Trigger Warning: Mental/Verbal/Emotional Abuse, Neglect, Child abuse, Attempted suicide, Sexual assault (mentioned), Self harm, Death of a child (mentioned), Graphic violence, Murder

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The House of Ashes by Stuart Neville

Publication date: September 7, 2021
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Crime fiction, Psychological fiction
Pages: 305
Standalone

First line: Glass breaks downstairs and she freezes in her bed, the blankets tight around her.

When a married couple, Sara and Damian Keane, move to Ireland and into The House of Ashes, an all too generous gift from Damian’s father, it’s not exactly the new beginning Sara was promised.

Something about the house leaves her restless and unsettled, shadows move and twist in the corner of her eye, the feeling that she’s being watched..
So when an obviously distressed older woman shows up insisting that it’s her home, despite her husband’s demands to let it go, Sara begins looking into the house’s history

The shocking knowledge that it was previously the site of several brutal murders only increases Sara’s determination to expose the truth of what happened there.. and whether it’s all connected to her own strange experiences.

She’ll soon find out that, sometimes, the past should stay buried..
and that some secrets could get you killed.

Four and a Half Stars!

I’ll just give myself a pat on the back for how completely and utterly vague that ↑ is.
Now.. for the spoilers!

“Some things are better left alone. No good can come from digging under the stones of someone else’s life. None at all.”

Storyline: Darkly compelling.
Characters: Damaged. Interesting.
Pace: Perfect in all the right places.
Writing: Deeply engrossing.
Cover: Fits with the story. 4/5

POVs: Four.
Alternating between Sara Keane in the present.. Mary, grown and as a
girl. As well as small snippets of Esther and Joy in the past.

Location: Northern Island, Ireland

This book opens with a fire that rages through a home in Northern Ireland, appropriately named, ‘The House of Ashes’
The highly detailed description of destruction immediately drew me in and set the pace.
The fact that a woman (and her poor kitty) were still inside when the fire began only added to the horror and intensity of the scene.

Soon after.. Sara Keane and her husband, Damian, arrive at the house looking to recover after some dark experience back home.
We’re not told what, it’s merely suggested that something terrible befell them, and this move is their chance to start over.

“Memory is a liar; it tells you things that never were and forgets the things that were real.”

Right away you can tell something isn’t right with the house or the characters.
Strange things begin happening to or around Sara, already plagued with sleepless nights, she chokes on the feeling of being trapped. Things only continue to get worse after a disturbing encounter with the previous owner, Mary, causes Sara to start asking questions about their new home.

“Sara looked to the door across the kitchen, the one that led to the basement. She remembered the feeling of walking on graves and could not suppress a shiver.”

But Sara’s life isn’t the only one we’re sucked in to..

Many years ago The House of Ashes was a place of sickness and depravity.
The owner and his two sons bodies were found, along the with that of three young woman, all brutally murdered.
This is where we begin to follow Mary’s POV, a little girl born in the basement of that house, her prison. I won’t go into it too much but these were the most heartbreaking and emotionally distressing parts of the book. Mary is such a sympathetic character and reading through her young eyes is difficult considering the circumstances.

“Here, now, till I tell you.
I always lived in the house. I never knew any different. Underneath, in the room down the stairs. In the dark. That’s what I remember the most, when we were telt to put the lamps out. They locked the door at the top of the stairs and that was that. Dark until they opened it again.”

But it’s the interactions between Sara and Damian that held the real tension in this story.
I swear my breath caught during several scenes, in shock, in disbelief. The way Neville skillfully creates this taut, menacing atmosphere around these two is impressive. A lot of work was put in to realistically portraying Damian’s abusive nature and Sara’s responses.

“A wash of loneliness came in, the crushing weight of it almost pushing her to the floor. She turned away from it, blocked it out. It would do her no good. Isolation was his weapon and she would not use it against herself”

This, to me, was a fantastic read and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my review!

If you’ve enjoyed the dark, nail biting works of Simone St. James, Lisa Jewell, and Nina Siegal?
I highly recommend picking up The House of Ashes.

Are you familiar with this book or any of Stuart Neville’s other work?
What did you think?