OK, I'm less than 10 minutes in and I'm sick of wimpy, flighty, pregnant woman already. She freaks out about stuff that is only in her imagination and of course she mostly thinks the worst, can't make decisions and seems to be afraid of life without her husband there to make them for her and deal with awful things like workmen. Oy vey. Are all people of this generation so helpless? OMG - a knock at the door has her going into paroxysms of terror and panic. What an idiot.

And speaking of idiots, Theo is no better; leaping to conclusions, whipping to extreme emotional responses within seconds, blowing everything out of proportion with very little use of logic or reason. Oy vey. Another youngster with very little grounding or sense. Not sure how much longer I can take it.

I'm also getting fed up with the writer's constant use of "but little did they know" type tactics to create tension that isn't achieved with any other tool. No one is in imminent jeopardy because the dead people are far in the past. So during those bits she drops things like "and I really wished we could stay so happy, but we couldn't" and "everything might have turned out ok except for Sean". Stuff like that drives me bonkers. It's lazy.

OK, I did push to the end and it's reasonably satisfying and upbeat with the solution and guilty parties (as well guilty deeds) are revealed throughout the book at a steady pace, so the final picture feels unrushed and graceful. I just wish the characters hadn't been so annoying as well as the awkward devices used to create suspense. ( )

4.5 rounded up ( )

Started a little slow developing the characters however once things started progressing the bombshells kept dropping.

Hidden family secrets that were assumed to be buried forever in 1980, but have been uncovered by the granddaughter and daughter of the person who holds the key but has Alzheimer’s, Rose.

Narration: I thought the narration was great, except I didn’t particularly like when they made a phone call…the person on the other end of the line was fuzzy intentionally which I had to rewind a few times to be able to understand what was being spoken better.
Personal preference perhaps.

Overall, I would recommend this book and narration to anyone who loves a good family thriller that could possibly make your sweet delightful Grandma into a murderous monster?

That sounds like a winner to me ( )

Saffy and Tom have recently moved into the cottage that was her grandmother, Rose Grey's, home years earlier. Rose is now in a home, with dementia. As they are renovating, bodies are found in the yard.
The story then traces back to what happened. Lorna, Saffy's mother, comes to visit and Rose, starts talking about people that neither Saffy or her mother recognize. As the story is told, there are many secrets revealed. ( )

When builders excavating for an addition to the cottage at Number 9 Skelton Place discover two bodies buried at least 30 years earlier Saffy is convinced that her grandmother, the previous owner of the house will know nothing about them. But it becomes obvious that Rose, now in a nursing home, and suffering from Alzheimer's, does know something.

The narrative is told by several voices, among them Rose herself.

The reader is told at the beginning of each chapter who the narrator is, but their voices are also strong and clear. The reader is invited to piece together what happened a little over 30 years earlier when Rose first came to the village with her daughter Lolly and took a lodger.

Saffy, the current owner of the cottage, is Lolly's daughter and has inherited the cottage from her grandmother Rose. She is determined to prove that Rose has nothing to do with the bodies.

An excellent read. ( )