One fateful night. One unthinkable family tragedy. One survivor. This is Alison's story. Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train and Apple Tree Yard, this stunning psychological thriller from the author of The Loving Husband follows one woman's search for the truth about her family history. Alison is as close to anonymous as she can get: with no ties and a backroom job, hers is a life lived under the radar. But once Alison was someone else: once she was Esme, a teenager whose bedroom sat at the top of a remote house on ...
Read More
One fateful night. One unthinkable family tragedy. One survivor. This is Alison's story. Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train and Apple Tree Yard, this stunning psychological thriller from the author of The Loving Husband follows one woman's search for the truth about her family history. Alison is as close to anonymous as she can get: with no ties and a backroom job, hers is a life lived under the radar. But once Alison was someone else: once she was Esme, a teenager whose bedroom sat at the top of a remote house on a bleak estuary. A girl whose family, if not happy, exactly, was no unhappier than anyone else's - or so she thought. Then one night violence was unleashed in the crooked house, in a nightmare that only Alison survived and from which she's been running ever since. Only when she falls for the charismatic Paul does Alison realise that to have any chance of happiness, she must return to her old life and face a closed community full of dark secrets. As she seeks to uncover the truth of what happened that terrible night, Alison begins to question everything she thought she knew. Is there anyone she can trust?
Read Less
Add this copy of The Crooked House: a Novel to cart. $1.05, good condition, Sold by ZBK Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Woodland Park, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Sarah Crichton Books.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Used book in good and clean conditions. Pages and cover are intact. Limited notes marks and highlighting may be present. May show signs of normal shelf wear and bends on edges. Item may be missing CDs or access codes. May include library marks. Fast Shipping.
Add this copy of The Crooked House to cart. $1.99, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. A copy that has been read, but remains in excellent condition. Pages are intact and are not marred by notes or highlighting, but may contain a neat previous owner name. The spine remains undamaged. An ex-library book and may have standard library stamps and/or stickers. At ThriftBooks, our motto is: Read More, Spend Less.
Add this copy of The Crooked House to cart. $2.23, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Sphere.
Add this copy of The Crooked House to cart. $2.23, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Sphere.
Add this copy of The Crooked House: a Novel to cart. $2.25, fair condition, Sold by Goodwill of Greater Milwaukee rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Milwaukee, WI, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Sarah Crichton Books.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fair. The cover has visible markings and wear. Some corner dings. The dust jacket shows normal wear and tear. The dust jacket has stickers markings or sticker adhesive on it. The pages show normal wear and tear. There is writing discoloration or markings on the edges of the pages. This is a Ex Library book stickers and markings accordingly. Codes or product keys that accompany this product may not be valid. Fast Shipping in a Standard Poly Mailer!
Add this copy of The Crooked House to cart. $2.67, like new condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2016 by Sarah Crichton Books.
Add this copy of The Crooked House: a Novel to cart. $3.17, very good condition, Sold by Bookoutlet rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Bridgeton, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 2017 by St. Martins Press-3PL.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Ships Within 24 Hours M-F-Satisfaction Guaranteed! Has a publisher overstock mark. Item is in Good Condition. Clean Copy With Light Amount of Wear.
Add this copy of The Crooked House to cart. $3.89, good condition, Sold by Books From California rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Simi Valley, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2015 by Sphere.
Add this copy of The Crooked House: a Novel to cart. $4.00, like new condition, Sold by Academic Book Solutions rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Medford, NY, UNITED STATES, published 2017 by Picador.
Add this copy of The Crooked House: a Novel to cart. $4.00, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Emerald rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2017 by Picador.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
This is a difficult one for me to explain how I feel about it. On the one hand, I really enjoyed it but on the other, I found it a little confusing.
So, what did I like about it? Well, it's a dark, psychological thriller about the murder of family 13 years ago with the lone survivor returning to the scene of crime to attend a wedding which brings the whole horrendous experience back to the fore. The setting, within a closed-knit coastal community, is dark and foreboding which lends itself to the story extremely well. The cast of characters is quite large but all are interesting and well developed with many being as dark and foreboding as the story and setting! The main character, Alison, is interesting and believable but I'm not sure she is particularly likeable as I didn't seem to warm to her that much and I wasn't convinced about her relationship with Paul - it came across as uncomfortable and lacking in any feeling or proper intimacy. The story is full of atmosphere and palpable tension and is an exploration of Alison's memories of the night of the murder of her entire family and her quest to uncover the truth albeit with fear and trepidation. The way this is done throughout the book is commendable - the author provides clues and snippets of the truth which are drip fed throughout never quite giving enough information to enable to reader to piece them all together and I loved that about this book.
What didn't I like about it? I found it a little confusing and all over the place in its writing style that took some getting used to as it kept jumping between times with no obvious separation between them. For me, this meant that I struggled to differentiate whether I was reading about something that happened years ago or 5 minutes ago. There were times when I felt this jumping around was totally unnecessary, for example, Alison and Paul were asleep in the hotel room, there was a fire alarm which forced them outside and then the author went on to tell us what happened in the hotel room before they fell asleep ... why not just tell us before, it didn't add anything to the story for me it just annoyed me and resulted in a "head shaking" moment.
Overall though, I found there was more to like than not. Yes, it's a little annoying and confusing with the shifts in timelines but the story outweighed the frustration I felt about this. Would I recommend this book to someone else, yes I think I probably would but with a caveat to be prepared to have to use your brain to keep track of what's going on.
I must thank the publisher, Little, Brown Book Group UK via NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest review.
