Beneath the Shadows - a Review

Beneath the Shadows is the chilling debut gothic suspense novel by Sara Foster.

Grace and Adam move from the non-stop hustle and bustle of London to the countryside of Yorkshire with their little girl, Millie. The open countryside and few neighbors are a drastic change from the crowds of London. Things are going well until the day Grace returns home and finds a note from Adam that says he has taken Millie and gone into town. He will be back soon. But he doesn't come back soon at all. Later, she finds Millie in her pram on the doorstep, but no Adam. They had only been there for a week.

Grace leaves the deserted moors with Millie, but one year later she returns, determined to find out what happened to Adam. Her neighbor, Meredith, has taken care of her home while she has been gone. She settles in to go through everything in the cottage and see if she can discover the reason that Adam left. She begins hearing tales of ghosts, the grandfather clock starts and stops at odd times, and things are moved around.

She discovers that what Adam had told her was a closed-off cupboard is actually a cellar that is piled high with boxes. In these boxes she finds clues that suggest Adam did not run off and leave her. She never felt that he would have intentionally run off in the first place. So what really happened to him?

A handsome stranger is renovating the house for her so she can rent it out in the future to tourists. Can she trust this seemingly kind, handsome man?

Her really strange neighbors aren't making her feel welcome there at all. Sometimes she feels comfortable around them, but not often. Most of the time she feels they are urging her to leave and give up on find out what happened to Adam. One of them even offers to buy the house from her so she doesn't have to worry about it anymore.

But no one seems to have any clue about what happened to her husband. Something is going on in this out-of-the-way place that someone wants to be kept a secret. Will Grace discover the truth about what happened to her husband before something happens to her?

Some of the believable characters are in a race to discover the truth as the suspense builds little by little. Other characters never want the truth to be known. Towards the end of the book, secrets are revealed and discoveries are made that tear everything apart. I admit that I did have an inkling of what really happened, but it was only an inkling. This book was a very satisfying read, and everything was wrapped up in the end.

I was sent an ebook copy of this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review. If you would like your own copy to read and enjoy, I have provided an Amazon link for you below.