The Forever Home by Sue Watson
Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller, Suspense
Read: 31st May 2021
Published: 4th June 2021
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
You thought you’d always be safe there… you were wrong.
Carly had thought they’d always live there. The beautiful Cornish cliffside house they’d taken on as a wreck, that Mark had obsessively re-designed and renovated – a project that had made him famous. It was where they’d raised their children, where they’d sat cosily on the sofa watching storms raging over the sea below. It was where they’d promised to keep each other’s secrets…
Until now. Because Mark has fallen in love. With someone he definitely shouldn’t have. Someone who isn’t Carly. And suddenly their family home doesn’t feel like so much of a safe haven.
Carly thinks forever should mean forever though: it’s her home and she’ll stay there. Even the dark family secrets it contains feel like they belong to her. But someone disagrees. And, as threats start to arrive at her front door, it becomes clear, someone will stop at nothing. Because someone wants to demolish every last thing that makes Carly feel safe. Forever.
An utterly unputdownable psychological thriller about what lies are hidden in the most beautiful homes. Perfect for fans of Date Night, Gone Girl and The Woman in the Window.
MY REVIEW:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Sue Watson's psychological thriller THE FOREVER HOME.
I'm sure Sue Watson sits and dreams up ways to tie her readers in knots with her characters that just love to get under your skin! She once told me that I'm one of her favourite readers...probably because her characters get me so worked up I could happily poke my own eyes out they do my head in so much! Now she says "I write them just for you Stina! I know you love to hate them!" lol The last time she did that to me was in "The Sister in Law"...but in that case there was only one irritating character. In THE FOREVER HOME there are two of them! Give me strength...!!
But having said that, I know when I pick up a Sue Watson book I am going to get a good fast paced thriller with plenty of twists that will have me turning pages long into the night. This book is no exception. And the setting...omg! Cornwall is one of my favourite settings and just visualising the house on the cliff overlooking the Atlantic and those stormy nights with the rain beating against the windows and those mornings you wake to see the colours reflected in the ocean depths...I was in heaven. Always a perfect setting for a thriller.
The house was in dire need of repairs when her mother gifted it Carly as a wedding present when she married Mark, but to Carly it is her forever home. The house of her childhood. Where her memories were made. But it has been open to the elements for so long that it needs bringing back to life. Newly married with a baby on the way, Carly and her architect husband Mark set to renovating and repairing the house.
Carly captured the many moments spent renovating on video as Mark talked through the process, uploading to their YouTube channel and social media sites and quickly gaining followers. Tagging DIY suppliers where they purchased supplied, this generated support from the various businesses and in turn their costs were kept to a minimum enabling the project to keep going. It wasn't long before their renovation was picked up by producers and turned into a TV programme titled "The Forever Home" watched by millions around the UK. And while Carly is the brains behind the concept, Mark is the handsome charismatic face of it and soon went on to renovate homes all over the UK for TV. And now a US streaming service is interested in "The Forever Home" with the promise of a multi-million dollar contract and the temporary relocation to America for TV's perfect couple. It's a dream come true. But is it really?
On the surface, Carly and Mark appear to be the perfect couple with the perfect marriage and living in the perfect house...their forever home where it all began. But on the night of their 25th wedding anniversary celebrations, the perfect facade to the perfect life comes crashing down.
Not only is Mark late for their own party leaving Carly to welcome their guests alone, but she finds herself at the forefront of a media circus that her husband has created for a PR show! But when she catches her husband arguing with her best friend Lara she wonders if she is just another in his long list of affairs...but the truth is far worse. Mark, it seems, has been sleeping with Lara's 24 year old daughter Erin. The same girl who used to play with their children and they sometimes babysat for as a four year old! But it gets worse...Erin is pregnant and the couple are in love. Could things get any worse?? Trust me, it does...
While Carly remains in the house that was her family's, it appears Mark is telling Erin a different story. Added to that, Mark's agent creates a narrative that puts Carly in a bad light but she agrees to the "story" they will tell the public to enable Carly to keep the house and Mark to get the US deal and therefore an amicable divorce settlement that will benefit them both. It is what they agreed. But then Mark and Erin go on national TV, rewriting the narrative yet again when Erin announces sweetly that she wants people to know how generous Carly is and that she said how "the house is too big for her, that she's too old to have any more kids, so rather than rattle around in there she is giving Mark his house back". Carly is livid. This is NOT what they agreed. And it seems that Erin mistakenly believes that THE house, the forever home, HER house is Mark's...since she stupidly believes everything Mark tells her. But Erin has always been spoilt and thrown tantrums whenever things never went her way, even as a child, and she's too greedy to let Carly live in that gorgeous spacious house alone while they are forced to rent a tiny two bedroom cottage with a baby on the way.
And then Carly starts getting threatening notes, seeing shadows and hearing noises in the house. A shattered vase, photos rearranged on the wall, a dead rat. A campaign to scare her from her home? Or is there something more sinister going on?
At first she suspects Ryan, the thirty five year old builder who she employed to start much-needed repairs and maintenance on the house...which Mark neglected after reaching the heights of success the forever home had brought him in the first place. But Ryan has been incredibly supportive throughout everything she couldn't see him behind the scare tactics. But then her daughter Phoebe warns her to be careful of him as "the Jarvis boys have a bit of a reputation". Is Ryan all that he appears to be? Should she be worried? But as their relationship becomes more intimate, Carly finds herself sharing the true nature of her marriage to Mark and the dark secrets that they kept from the public. And while they portrayed the image of the perfect couple to the nation, no one knew the truth of what happened behind the closed doors of their marriage.
So why didn't Carly kick him out years ago? Why keep up the pretense for the world, her friends, her children even when they clearly were not? Even after the children grew up and made lives of their own? What did Mark have over Carly to keep up the facade? And is it that which now keeps Carly from revealing the truth about Mark and shattering his perfect persona to the world? And what secrets does the forever home hold?
Then when Erin disappears having last been seen at Carly's house, the tension mounts as police are called in to investigate. A blood-spotted throw of Carly's is found on the beach and Erin's shattered phone hidden behind the shed and suddenly Carly finds herself in the spotlight and under suspicion of having done something to her husband's new girlfriend in an attempt to keep her house. But Carly can't help but think maybe Mark was behind the disappearance...after all, he admitted to her that he was finding Erin far too high maintenance and her behaviour was threatening the American deal. Could he behind it after all?
Oh my word! What a tension-filled suspense-driven thriller THE FOREVER HOME is! I could not swipe the pages quick enough waiting for Mark to get his comeuppance...not to mention the awful Erin as well. She was just vile. The way they both treated Carly was despicable I could hardly believe it. I was so angered on Carly's behalf. Mark was complete b****** and Erin behaved like a spoilt princess - they were perfect for each other. But it was the scene in the cafe soon after their separation that had me reeling with disbelief. The nerve of that woman! And then to turn it all around to make Carly out to be the vengeful ex-wife that Erin lived in fear of just made my blood boil.
The story is told from the first person narrative in Carly's perspective throughout, making the reader sympathise with her from the start. I was Team Carly from the beginning and like her, I didn't know who to trust or believe. Even Ryan, who Carly grew attached to and fell into a relationship of sorts with after her separation from Mark, I felt I could never quite trust him either. He just always seemed to be there at the right time when something happened. He even turned up moments after Erin disappeared which seemed somewhat suspicious. This added to the tension and left us wondering if Carly was doing the right thing letting him in...
And then there is the whole cliffside house setting, particularly on stormy nights which simply adds to the suspense on a Daphne du Maurier scale. The house which is a character in itself. It's the centrepiece of the entire story. Like Manderlay in "Rebecca", the house is the beginning and the end. I had visions of it burning down so no one could get it, particularly when it seemed like Carly had no way out when Mark depleted their entire savings and left her with nothing and no way to pay for the upkeep on the said house that is open to the coastal elements year round and in constant need of maintenance.
THE FOREVER HOME is the perfect title for this tension-filled tale of secrets, lies and jealousy. I could not devour it quick enough although I had real life rudely get in the way making the journey a little longer than anticipated. But still, it was an enjoyable ride that Sue took us on with an ending that you might think you know is coming...but it isn't. Although I thought it would have been a slightly more evil touch had the result been one of my other theories, the ending was still satisfactory and very well done. And as always, I love the short snappy chapters that just add to the building tension.
If you're a fan of psychological thrillers, I'm sure you will devour THE FOREVER HOME. There are so many secrets and lies that it is one truly twisted read drawing you in from the beginning and doesn't let go till that final page.
I would like to thank #SueWatson, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheForeverHome in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Sue Watson was a TV Producer at the BBC until she wrote her first book and was hooked.
Now a USA Today bestselling author, Sue has written sixteen novels (many involving cake), and many have been translated into several languages. Sue is now exploring the darker side of life with her latest thrillers OUR LITTLE LIES, THE WOMAN NEXT DOOR, THE EMPTY NEST, THE SISTER-IN-LAW, FIRST DATE and THE FOREVER HOME out on 4th June.
Sue explored the darker side of life for her latest book 'Our Little Lies,' a dark, psychological thriller completely devoid of cake. She's hoping this change in direction will be reflected on the weighing scales.
Originally from Manchester, she now lives with her family in leafy Worcestershire where much of her day is spent writing – and procrastinating. Her hobby is eating cake while watching diet and exercise programmes from the sofa, a skill she’s perfected after many years of practice.
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