The Survivors by Caroline Mitchell
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 27th April 2025
Published: 1st December 2024
★★★ 3 stars
DESCRIPTION:
My grip on the steering wheel tightens, my knuckles turning white as I navigate each dangerous curve of the dark Irish road. The cliff edge looms ahead and my baby’s cries suddenly pierces the silence, sharp and relentless. I reach back to her, taking my eye off the road for just a moment. There is a terrifying crash of tearing metal before everything goes black.
I’m so looking forward to meeting Aunt Maura, my mother’s twin sister who lives on the rugged west coast of Ireland. With my own mother dying so suddenly, and my sweet baby daughter arriving, I need family around me. But instead of arriving at Maura’s house safe and sound, I wake up in hospital, badly injured. Then I remember the crash. Where is my baby?
Maura hands my little girl to me, and I hold her tight. I look closely at my baby’s precious face and something has changed, but Maura reassures me I just need time to recover. I’m so grateful to Maura for looking after us, but am I losing my mind? Have I made a terrible mistake coming here?
And every day, I’m remembering a little more about the night of the accident. I remember Maura’s face, even though my aunt swears she wasn’t there. Why is Maura lying to me, what’s wrong with my baby?
What really happened that night?
MY THOUGHTS:
Only one person saw...only she knows the truth...
This is a dark, chilling and atmospheric tale set on the coast of Ireland and despite it's ambiguous context, the story is pretty predictable. I'm not entirely sure what I expected when I began the journey on the windy mist-filled road on Misery Hill and despite the unlikeable characters, I found I had to keep turning the pages until the end.
It's hard to feel any sympathy for Maura, who is her own worst enemy. She has grown up in the cottage on Misery Hill which was home to both her and her twin sister Daisy, their parents and their formidable grandmother, Maura's namesake. But with only Maura left in the dank dark cottage on the lonely hill above Doolin, rumours soon began to circulate about the strange young woman who turned into a bitter old one.
Decades have passed since a family shared that cottage so when Maura receives a letter from her niece Finn in England, informing her of her mother Daisy's death and that she would like to visit with her newborn daughter Saoirse to delve into her roots. Maura is looking forward to the visit and the house once again being filled with laughter. She has lived a lonely existence since Daisy left for England and never returned.
Finn is eager to uncover the secrets surrounding her mother's roots and why she never returned to Ireland or brought her here to visit. But as she approaches the cottage with the windy roads are treacherous on a dark and misty night, she is involved in a collision with a car coming from the opposite direction. The other driver is Kathryn Toibin, daughter of Dublin kingpin Danny Toibin, with her baby daughter Keira. The accident results in the death of the one of the babies.
Finn awakes from her unconscious state four weeks after the accident with the vision of her mother by her side until she realises it's her mother's twin Maura. She asks after her baby Saoirse and is assured she is fine and in the care of family friend Geraldine. Kathryn also awakes from her nightmare to her furious parents, her father informing her that her baby didn't survive having been flung from the vehicle. Both women must now come to terms with the accident and the injuries they sustained as a result.
Maura has settled Saoirse in the little cottage when she brings Finn home to recover. A lonely woman, she is eager to keep her there and fusses over her daily, caring to her every need. But then little cracks begin to appear in their cosy little life on Misery Hill and Finn finds herself questioning the wisdom of her situation. Meanwhile, Kathryn has questions of her own and thus takes on a mission to uncover the truth - no matter the cost.
There are so many layers to this story - both past and present - with some shocking secrets to uncover. There is plenty of atmosphere in this tale with the chilly eerieness shrouded in the mists that descend over the hill upon which the cottage rests. It has a claustrophobic feel that is filled with secrets, lies and deception throughout, keeping you rooted in the locked room. I felt no sympathy for Maura throughout. She showed little remorse for anything she did and she was most definitely difficult to like. I sympathised with Finn but I felt like this was more Maura's story so couldn't get a huge read on her. Kathryn was her father's daughter so she had little sympathy also.
This was a strange read. I'm not even sure I liked it much. I guessed most of the twists that were revealed along the way, with the exception of one. But that never ruins the enjoyment of a good read. I just still don't know how I feel about this book though it oozes eerieness and atmosphere which is perfect for a thriller.
I would like to thank #CarolineMitchell, #Netgalley and #AmazonPublishing for an ARC of #TheSurvivors in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
As well as her crime series, Caroline also writes stand-alone psychological thrillers. The most recent, Silent Victim reached the Amazon number 1 spot in the UK, US and Australia and won first place as best psychological thriller in the US Reader’s Favourite Awards. Her previous thriller, Witness, was shortlisted for the International Thriller Awards in New York. She has also been shortlisted for ‘Best Procedural’ in the Killer Nashville awards. Her crime thriller, Truth And Lies recently became a No.1 New York Times best seller and has been optioned for TV. Her works have been translated worldwide and her book, The Silent Twin, has been converted as an interactive app in the Chapters Interactive game.
Set in Shoreditch, London, her DS Ruby Preston trilogy is described as terrifying, addictive serial killer thrillers. Of her psychological thrillers, the most recent, Silent Victim, has been described as 'brilliantly gripping and deliciously creepy'. Her thrilling new DI Amy Winter series is published by Thomas & Mercer.
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