Challenge Corner discussion

A family’s past pursues them like a shadow in this riveting and emotional novel of psychological suspense by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of All the Little Children.

American journalist Rose Kynaston has just relocated to the childhood home of her husband, Dylan, in the English village of his youth. There’s a lot for Rose to get used to in Hurtwood. Like the family’s crumbling mansion, inhabited by Dylan’s reclusive mother, and the treacherous hill it sits upon, a place of both sinister folklore and present dangers.

Then there are unwelcoming villagers, who only whisper the name Kynaston—like some dreadful secret, a curse. Everyone knows what happened at Hurtwood House twenty years ago. Everyone except Rose. And now that Dylan is back, so are rumors about his past.

When an archaeological dig unearths human remains on the hill, local police sergeant Ellie Trevelyan vows to solve a cold case that has cast a chill over Hurtwood for decades.

As Ellie works to separate rumor from facts, Rose must fight to clear the name of the man she loves. But how can Rose keep her family safe if she is the last to know the truth?

okay, finally started!

10 chapters

Sergeant Ellie (view spoiler)[ I don't 100% know how she fits in yet. she must have the old reports on what happened at the house? (hide spoiler)]

Rose(view spoiler)[ don't 100% know what happened in her past thast she has trauma from but it sounds bad.
also not sure I like her husband
but I hope she gets the job (hide spoiler)]

Hurtwood(view spoiler)[ so the mom is odd and I'm not sure I like her
the dad clearly did some bad stuff- hurt kids?
and what's with the door that opens on its own? (hide spoiler)]

10 Chapters and I'm loving it so far...great mystery.
Ha ha! I have the same questions as you.

Seargent Ellie (view spoiler)[I think at some point Rose or someone called her (based on the first several pages). It seems like Rose's son went missing and she went to investigate? (hide spoiler)]

Rose (view spoiler)[I think she's in a pickle. Gwendoline is very odd and a bit "scary" to me. Dylan is like a deadbeat. I think she will get that job. (hide spoiler)]

Hurtwood House (view spoiler)[ I like the mystery surrounding it! The door opening on its own gave it even more of a creep factor. I mean Grim's Holm does mean Devil's island in a river" or something very much like that, right? So the house or the entire area perhaps is possessed. Can't wait to find out. (hide spoiler)]

20 Chapters

This section got a bit confusing for me.

Stanley (view spoiler)[ I don't think he was the pedophile but I might be wrong. But I can see why if people think that, that the town hates the entire family. (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[The archaeological dig brings up a cold case situation, so how will that fit in? (hide spoiler)]

Alden (view spoiler)[has seen or heard things, or Gwendoline perhaps is telling him things. When he said, "I'm the ghost," it gave me goosebumps. (hide spoiler)]

Why was there a sudden part that talked about (view spoiler)[a kidnapping, the cell and teenage boy, etc.? It was begun suddenly and ended even quicker or did I miss something? (hide spoiler)]

Vicki wrote: "10 Chapters and I'm loving it so far...great mystery.
Ha ha! I have the same questions as you.

Seargent Ellie [spoilers removed]"

oh man, I completely forgot about that part!!! Good remembering!!!

20 chapters

The Quest(view spoiler)[ YES! now they've unearthed a body. I don't remember anyone going missing.......that they've mentioned. But could it be someone they thought moved away or left for a better situation and didn't really?? Would this be her husband than, and not his father? (hide spoiler)]

Aled(view spoiler)[ I agree. he's definitely hearing stories or something.....his stories are creepy and too much about ghosts and death (hide spoiler)]

The kidnapping(view spoiler)[ huh, I don't have anything about that yet....did you happen to read ahead?? (hide spoiler)]

30 chapters

So(view spoiler)[ now that there's the missing finger, we know the story of how the kid got it...but not how he ended up at the bottom of that area in the water (hide spoiler)]

Photos(view spoiler)[ horrible. and her husband is in the pictures. how can he not remember? is he lying or was there some kind of brainwashing/hypnotism to forget it all? and was it his dad or mo or both that were arranging and hurting these kids? (hide spoiler)]

Rose(view spoiler)[ I can't believe she is okay with believing him. he's in the photos. photos from the 90's found on a floppy disk of a dead body on his property. I mean.......I don't know, I'd struggle to be putting some things together right now (hide spoiler)]

40 chapters

Journal(view spoiler)[ the journal makes me so sad, the mom writing out such strict rules.I'm glad she made it work but I hope they get her the help she needs (hide spoiler)]

Cottage(view spoiler)[ so I guess the new guy, Thorn if I remember right, was the last person to "see" Shawna and Rhys. Why would he hurt her? and then hide the bodies on the property
didn't Rose get a yucky feeling from him the first time she met him? I guess I should have paid better attention to him at the time (hide spoiler)]

Dylan(view spoiler)[ I'm glad they figured out the photos was doctored, crazy for the times but doctoring photos in 1990 and 1999 were definitely two very different times with a lot of technology between those years! (hide spoiler)]

I’m on my phone right now and I watched my grandkids today so I was able to read through chapter 30. I hopefully plan to read the rest of the book tonight or at least through chapter 40 but I will post my comments on chapter 30 in just a little bit.

no worries! I'll be here as you get through each 10! I hope the grandkids are good!

and I"m done

I never(view spoiler)[ guess it was Rhys, not even when they talked about how odd he was or the murmurs from the other kids at the school. horrible.
and Shawna died because she was trying to run and then hurt the mom again. so sad that she's had to hide and keep hiding it! (hide spoiler)]

Dylan(view spoiler)[ I'm glad he finally came clean about what happened. it helped them to get that gross guy and get him arrested for raping the girl in the nail salon(view spoiler)[

Sergeant(view spoiler)[ and I'm glad she got to go to her sister and see where her life leads her (hide spoiler)]

this was good, I liked it! (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Finished

Sorry I didn't keep coming back, but when I read the book at my daughter's house and listened to it coming home I had actually read 38 chapters, so then I thought I'd read 40 and then come on. But I got into the story too heavily. LOL

My grandkids were fine and they bring me so much needed pleasure.

Response about kidnapping. No, I didn't read ahead. In chapter 12 it said, (view spoiler)["Our cell was stifling. Like having my face pressed into someone's crotch. Time skips beats. I'm dizzy with dehydration. Our kidnapper is in the cell, and I didn't realize the door had opened." And it continues where she said only three people knew about the ransom: her, the kidnapper, and Victor Carlson. I just thought the interjection of that right there was strange. I had NO idea what she was talking about. (hide spoiler)]

Indiana Bones(view spoiler)[ I just thought that was funny but it crossed my mind I wouldn't think so if that was the remains of my loved one. (hide spoiler)]

Gwendoline (view spoiler)[ We knew she was off but I felt bad for her by the end of the story. But she killed Rhys's mom, so she still deserved consequences. She had really mentally deteriorated. (hide spoiler)]

Rhys (view spoiler)[ I kind of find it weird that he was the molester. Weren't he and Kenny the same age? I would think that if they were the same age that Kenny would've felt more inclined or okay with telling him no. But I could be wrong. (hide spoiler)]

Dylan (view spoiler)[I was starting to wonder if he had something to do with everything, especially after Meredith's confessions (hide spoiler)]

Disc (view spoiler)[ When they found that and it had the pornographic photos on it, I can't even imagine looking at them. I'm not surprised Ellie couldn't. SO disgusting! (hide spoiler)]

Rose (view spoiler)[I'm glad it worked out in the end and that her husband was not a bad guy. I guess they got their HEA. (hide spoiler)]

Vicki wrote: "Finished

Response about kidnapping. No, I didn't read ahead. In chapter 12 it said, [spoiler].."
Oh gotcha!! Yeah, that was from their time when they were reporters!! lol

Rhys(view spoiler)[ I agree, but I think he was more physically scary and rough than the other boy but I'm not 100% sure. I agree, I was really surprised! (hide spoiler)]

Yay, I'm glad we both liked it!!

I love it when BR's end up pretty good for everyone involved. It's funny because most of the time you and I either rate a book the same or I rate it ONE star higher than you. LOL