Published By: Hodder & Stoughton
Pages: 416
Released On: 05/09/2024
A state of emergency has been declared in the UK. A complete night-time switch off has begun. From now on, at 8pm every night, all electricity cuts out.
The Government promises it’s a temporary measure. They promise they are always thinking of your safety.
But for Grace, the darkness is anything but safe.
Someone is coming into her house under its cover every night while she lies in bed upstairs, too terrified to sleep. It’s something who knows her past, who knows why she has more reason to fear the dark than most…
And every morning she wakes to a new note from the intruder:
I have you in my sights. Love, The Night.
But how can Grace hide, when there’s nowhere left that’s safe?
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I have only read one of Louise’s books – End of Story – and I thought it was marvellous,; it was so clever, with a great storyline, fantastic characters, and an interesting twist, and so I’ve been keeping an eye out ever since for her next one.
I must say, I am a complete and utter wuss when it comes to scary things, especially scary things in the dark, so this really shouldn’t have been a book for me, but knowing how much I love her writing, I wanted to at least give it a go.
Oh and I was scared of the dark until I was about 18, and had to sleep with some kind of light on, so that really didn’t help.
I really felt for Grace. She’s clearly had some childhood trauma and it seems like the world world is using that trauma against her. Even her loved ones.
This was Grace’s story, for me. Yes there are other characters – her husband, colleagues, neighbours – and they’re all fine (although I didn’t particularly like her husband for reasons I won’t spoil), but she steals every scene. She’s a phenomenal creation.
We also have, every so often, some scenes that are seemingly unrelated, revolving around a character and counsellor we do not know, and we do not know how they’re connected to Grace. But there were occasions where things were suggested and I found myself going, “oohhhhhhh” like I’d solved it, but of course I hadn’t.
I did have to take breaks frrom it. It’s not horror per se, it’s just very jumpy and very tense and for me, I find that scarier than if it was full of scary violent moments. So I made sure that every couple of chapters, I took a pause and read a chapter of a kids book, just to take the edge off.
It isn’t a particularly happy book, and it does contain some difficult topics, including parental abuse, domestic abuse, end of life care, mental illness, fears, phobias, affairs, missing people, violence etc.
I struggled to begin with, this eery thrill, it was frightening. Not in the obvious way, but in the secrets, the shadows, and the unknown. But now I’ve finished it, I would say it wasn’t as scary as I first feared. It hits the right level which makes it scary but still enjoyable.
After reading End of Story, I was expecting some big twist like that, and it wasn’t there. Not a negative, because what is there is fantastic, but I suppose yeah, the reveal wasn’t as shocking as I expected, but it’s still very good and she will still be a go-to author for me.
Books By Your Bedside 