Publication Date: 27th May 2024
Purchase Link: https://mybook.to/HouseWaterSocial
Goodreads Page: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/206326604-the-house-in-the-water
Genre: Dual Timeline, Drama
3 Stars
One Liner: Got potential but tries to be too many
things
Book Blurb:
A secluded house. A lost notebook. A wartime secret.
1942: Young
Irish nurse Ellen arrives at May Day House, tasked with helping the men there
rehabilitate. But there’s something strange about the house,
surrounded by water, on its own island in the Thames. And then there are
the men: traumatised by their experiences of war and subject to
troubling methods in a desperate race to get them back to duty. As Ellen gets
drawn into the world of May Day House, she starts to realize this
will be no place to hide away from her own troubles…
2013: Philip and
Meredith are the proud new owners of May Day House. Following a string of
tragedies, the couple have moved to the area in search of a new
start. But all is not what it seems in the riverside community. As their plans
for the rundown house meet resistance from the neighbors, Meredith finds
herself slowly unraveling: she hears voices on the water, sees
figures where there can be no one there. When she finds an old notebook
from the war, she seeks solace in the stories about the former patients of the
island.
But will shadows from the past threaten her future
happiness – and even her life?
***
My Thoughts:
The story comes in the third-person POV of Meredith in the contemporary track and Ellen in the past timeline.
I enjoy books with dual timelines, even if one track
works better than the other. This book promises a blend of history,
mystery, drama, gothic atmosphere, and some romance (it is marked as general
fiction, historical, and romance on NetGalley).
The results are mixed, so here’s what I
liked –
The setting has terrific potential. The initial
vibes of an ancient house on a small island in the River Thames are spot on. It
is chilly, darkish, and alluring.
The historical timeline deals with war patients but
with a twist. Here, those suffering from psychological trauma
are ‘healed’ and sent back to fight the war. The focus is not on
healing but on doing anything that would make the soldier eligible enough to
fight again.
The prologue hooks the reader with a promise of
paranormal and mystery. Also, the prologue is not an extract from later
chapters but the beginning of the book. That’s how it should
be.
The book deals with heavy themes
but doesn’t make things graphic. We get enough information about what
happened. I appreciate this. No excessive detail to shock the readers.
However, there are quite a few aspects that could
have been better –
Characters are the core of the book. We need
to connect with or at least feel something for the main characters. Here,
it was impossible to do so with Meredith and Philip. I could feel a little for
Ellen, but even that wasn’t much.
Most of the time, it seems as if they are mediocre
actors enacting a script on the stage and mouthing dialogues for the sake of
it.
Contemporary thrillers specialize in TSTL heroines.
While the book doesn’t belong to that genre, the FMC does. My eyes
got more-than-good exercise from all that rolling.
The setting’s potential is not fully
exploited. After the gothic feel in the beginning, it becomes just another
dilapidated house with too much mess. I couldn’t see why someone
would love it so much.
The paranormal touch is another
aspect. It’s there but not there, but still there. Confused?
Yep, that’s how it is; as if no one was sure if the book should
go that route or not. Deciding on this would have helped the book (a
lot).
The connection between the two timelines does make
sense, but it could have benefitted from more emotion for the main characters.
This could have been achieved if the previous aspect had been better
handled.
The pacing is uneven, with a slow beginning.
Moreover, some characters have a 180-degree change by the end, which almost
comes out of nowhere. Similarly, the reveals were just okayish.
The author’s note is informative, though.
To summarize, The House in the Water has an
intriguing premise but doesn’t translate to the final output. It tries to be quite a few things at the same time, which dilutes
the core. I’m a bit on the outliner island now, so this may
appeal to you.
Thank you, Rachel's Random Resources and
Boldwood Books, for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest
opinion about the book.
#NetGalley
***
TW: Miscarriage, infertility, car accident, death by drowning, mention of sexual assault, attempted rape.
***
Author Bio – Victoria Drake
Victoria began her working life as a
broadcast journalist at the BBC, before moving into the freelance
world. She’s worked for outlets including the Telegraph, Time Out,
and Al Jazeera, and spent six years living and working in
Qatar. Nowadays she balances novel writing with lecturing in
journalism at Kingston University.
Victoria is the author of three novels, writing as
Victoria Scott - Patience, Grace, and The Women Who Wouldn’t Leave.
Patience, her debut, was the Booksellers’ Association Book of the
Month.
Her first book for Boldwood will be a dual timeline
historical suspense novel, writing as Victoria Darke. The House In
The Water will be published in May 2024.
She lives on an island in the Thames with her
husband and two children and a cat called Alice.
Follow the Author on Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VictoriaScottJournalist
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Toryscott
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/victoriascottauthor/
Newsletter Sign Up: https://bit.ly/VictoriaDarkeNews
***
This has been a stop on the #TheHouseInTheWater blog tour by Rachel's Random Resources (@rararesources) Thanks for stopping by!
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