1 of 2 copies available
“Addictive, thrilling, intoxicating.”—Lisa Jewell, author of None of This Is True
“The vacation home of dreams . . . or nightmares? What a ride—I tore through this nail-biting, pacey read.”—Sarah Pearse, author of The Retreat
Nina, still grieving from the loss of her father, discovers that she has inherited property in the British Virgin Islands—a vacation home she had no idea existed, until now. The house is extraordinary: state-of-the-art, all glass and marble. How did her sensible father come into enough money for this? Why did he keep it from her? And what else was he hiding?
Maria, once an ambitious medical student, is a nanny for the super-rich. The money’s better, and so are the destinations where her work takes her. Just one more gig, and she’ll be set. Finally, she’ll be secure. But when her wards never show, Maria begins to make herself at home, spending her days luxuriating by the pool and in the sauna. There’s just one rule: Don’t go in the basement. That room is off-limits. But her curiosity might just get the better of her. And soon, she’ll wish her only worry was not getting paid.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
July 30, 2024 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780593725757
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780593725757
- File size: 2230 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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February 1, 2024
The author of the blockbuster debut Something in the Water offers her fifth novel, a suspense thriller about two women. Nina inherits a vacation home in the British Virgin Islands from her beloved father. Maria, a nanny for the super-rich, is waiting for the kids to show up. The only house rule? Don't go into the basement. Prepub Alert.
Copyright 2023 Library Journal
Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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May 20, 2024
A British academic receives a shock from beyond the grave in Steadman’s propulsive but ultimately disappointing latest (after The Family Game). Nina Hepworth, 34, teaches literature at Cambridge and has lived most of her life in the shadow of her brilliant mathematician father, John. After John dies of natural causes, Nina learns that he owned a piece of prime real estate in the British Virgin Islands, which he’s left to her. Stunned, she flies to the Caribbean to inspect the premises, a glass-and-steel mansion overlooking a private beach. Soon, however, Nina’s elation is tempered by her discovery that the house is rigged with all sorts of unsettling surveillance technology, prompting questions about what her father was up to. In a parallel story line set in the recent past, a young nanny named Maria takes a live-in gig at the same house, only to be ghosted by the people who hired her. She happily sticks around, but before long, she begins to suspect that she’s being watched. Toggling back and forth in time, Steadman briskly builds toward the bloody revelation linking Nina’s and Maria’s stories. Unfortunately, it’s an implausible letdown. This fails to stick the landing. Agent: Camilla Bolton, Darley Anderson Literary. -
June 1, 2024
Nina is left unmoored and alone after the death of her father, her only family or real friend. When she opens the last of his correspondence, she discovers a final secret inheritance: a Caribbean mansion far away from the steady English townhouse where she has lived her entire life. Desperate to understand the mystery her father has bestowed on her, Nina plans a trip to see the house for herself. Meanwhile, Maria has booked another lucrative nannying gig in the British Virgin Islands, bringing her one step closer to her financial goals and getting back into medical school. However, when her employer never shows, she reluctantly waits alone in the luxury home, where the only rule is: do not open the locked door in the basement. Both women are in danger, although if they are able to solve the puzzle of the house, it may unlock their freedom. Steadman's latest (after The Family Game, 2022) is well plotted and cleverly incorporates elements of T. S. Eliot's "The Waste Land," thus endearing it to suspense readers and modernist poetry fans alike.COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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