REVIEW: A Window Breaks by C.M. Ewan (ARC)

A Window Breaks by C.M. Ewan

Genre: Psychological thriller

Read: 30th May 2020

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

(publication date: 20th February 2020)

★ 1 star

I was really looking forward to this book. Isolated in the Scottish highlands. A window breaks. Someone is inside the house. What do you do? But, the most exciting part was the premise...and upon re-reading that, even that wasn't all that exciting.

Tom, his wife Rachel and their 13 year old daughter Holly were staying in a remote lodge in the Scottish highlands, owned by Tom's boss Lionel. The family are still grieving the loss of their 16 year old son, Michael who was tragically killed when he snaffled his father's Audi and took it for a joyride with his girlfriend Fiona, lost control and crashed into a tree. Both were killed instantly. Then the family were mugged that left daughter Holly mentally scarred.

The remote lodge is stunning, the views are spectacular, and it seems to be a perfect place to relax and regroup...until they hear a window break at 2am one night. And that is just the beginning of their nightmare.

Secrets soon begin to reveal themselves at which the centre is wife Rachel, who appears to know more than she is letting on. But what had me the most interested was the intrigue behind Michael's death as this claustrophobic read revealed its secrets.

However, I couldn't connect with the characters. Tom didn't appear to have much backbone, Rachel was secretive and Holly was irritating. But what I really hated was the slow pace that seemed to be going nowhere before anything started to happen. And then when it did, it was confusing and I didn't enjoy it.

I must be in the minority as so many seemed to have loved this book but it wasn't for me. You can't enjoy them all. It's not an easy book to review either because I didn't even finish it. I don't have time for books that are slow burning and fail to grab my attention in the first 10 to 15% as I have many more on my TBR list that will be far more thrilling.

I would have liked to discover what happened with Michael's car crash that seems to be a focus of every few chapters but I just have to resign myself to the fact it is one of those things that I will never learn the truth of. My need to know is not that great that I must read the rest of A WINDOW BREAKS to find out.

I would like to thank #CMEwan, #NetGalley and #PanMacmillan for an ARC of #AWindowBreaks in exchange for an honest review.