Published By: Sphere
Pages: 320
Released On: 08/10/2026
Tom Wade arrives at a remote coastal lodge desperate to salvage his PhD and his fragile marriage to Julia. But as the couple settles into the windswept house, old secrets begin to surface – echoes of betrayals and a haunting presence that refuses to rest.
Locals say this part of Dorset is a ‘thin place’, where the boundary between worlds is perilous, and strange things can happen – from unnerving figures seen in the cemetery, to the unexplained crash of a young Spitfire pilot decades ago.
In their new home, they are confronted with night-terrors, glimpses of a shadow in the mirror, and the calling of a bird that sounds eerily human. And as the past threatens their present, they must confront the dark truth that lives in the lodge, and at the heart of their marriage…
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Sphere for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I am a big wuss and hate scary books, yet I always manage to read Carly’s books – including The Toll House and The Infirmary. That’s not to say she doesn’t write scary books she does, but the way she tells the story, the characters, and everything is just so well done that the fear is manageable because you’re so lost in everyone’s story.
I’m probably not meant to see it this way given the fact this is sort of a horror/ghosty type story and the house is part of that, but the idea of an isolated house on a cliff, overlooking the sea near a small village, oh it just sounds so wonderful. And maybe if I shut myself somewhere with no WiFi, I might actually get one of my 100 part-written novels finished.
It flits between the current period (2024 in this case), flashbacks to 2023, and then flashbacks from other past periods that I don’t want to specify due to spoilers. I am a fan of multiple POVs and timelines so I thought this was a good way of telling the story. I thought it was interesting to see the 2024 scenes from the POV of Tom and the 2023 ones from the POV of Julia.
This one was more eerie than scary (and I don’t mean that in a negative way at all). It’s all about that quiet fear, the voices you hear, that moment you think you see something out the corner of your eye but then suddenly it’s gone and you start questioning yourself. It’s unsettling rather than in-your-face fear and for me, I actually think that can be more frightening.
We have our main couple – Tom and Julia. I wasn’t sure what to make of them. Tom was clearly struggling with something but he’s keen and I liked him. His wife Julia is a complex character – I won’t spoil her history – and I think I liked her more than Tom. There was something mysterious about her that I wanted to draw out. Tom’s characteristics are more obvious and loud, but hers are quieter and more intriguing.
Something happens around 85% of the way through – again, I’m not going to spoil it – that gave me a full 180 that I didn’t see coming. Maybe I should have but it’s so masterfully executed that it was a proper sit up and read it again kind of thing.
This will stay with me for a long time. It’s definitely my favourite of her books. It’s still frightening and unsettling but in a smarter, less in-your-face kind of way. I found it mysterious and tense, looking over my shoulder. The characters are so well written with such depth. The linking of the three time periods was a clever way of telling the story. It’s so easy to read that I flew through it and couldn’t put it down – I HAD to know how it ended. Definitely her best one yet.
Books By Your Bedside 