Newlyweds Tricia and Ethan are searching for the house of their dreams.
But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them at the estate… with no chance of escape until the blizzard comes to an end.
In search of a book to keep her entertained until the snow abates, Tricia happens upon a secret room. One that contains audio transcripts from every single patient Dr. Hale has ever interviewed. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance.
Tricia plays the tapes one by one, late into the night. With each one, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Dr. Adrienne Hale’s web of lies slowly unravels.
And then Tricia reaches the final cassette. The one that reveals the entire horrifying truth.
The Sexy Nerd's Review. . .
What do you get when placing a couple trapped in a lavish estate due to a blizzard, strange noises, lights on and portraits that seem to be up one minute and down the next? A creepy story one might conclude. Dr. Adrianne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist, lived among the upper echelon of Westchester, New York in a beautiful home. Many referred to it as a mansion, but Dr. Hale considered it just a home. Not only was it her home, but she saw her patients there as well. Several of her colleagues warned that she shouldn’t live in a huge estate like that by herself without any security. It’s one thing to live alone, but her patients had access to it as well which could pose all sorts of problems.
As it did with one such patient, EJ. EJ was an entitled narcissistic personality disordered patient of Dr. Hale’s whose treatment was paid for by none other than his mother. EJ was full of himself and a bit of a super sleuth of sorts. One day while Dr. Hale was trying to make her appointments to the free-clinic she volunteered her services, another motorist stole her parking spot. This angered her that this man was so insensitive and saw that she signaled that she wanted the spot. Once she calmed down and found another spot, she was fine.
That is, until one day she receives a text message from EJ advising her he had a video for her to review. Curious, Dr. Hale opens it up to discover that someone had been following her and found her in a rather sticky situation. She knew that video could destroy her whole career and ruin her book sales. Fast forward to the present, Tricia and Ethan were standing in Dr. Hale’s home contemplating purchasing it since it was on the market for such a steal. Only problem was, Tricia felt eerie being in this monstrosity that the good doctor once called home. The place gave her the creeps, especially since she saw a light on in the upper bedroom and the place was abandoned, right? Ethan assured his wife that she was just being paranoid for no reason, that is until he started hearing some of the same things his wife had. As the story continues, the past and the present will collide in a major way leaving in the reader’s wake a path of mass confusion and chaos.
This is the first time I’ve ever read McFadden’s work. I found this story quite intriguing and a nice read for my October Spooktacular reads. Sadly, though, I was able to figure out the story, but McFadden made me work to find out if my sleuthing had paid off or not. It paid off in a major way, but she still managed to throw me off the scent with a few surprises here and there. I love when an author can throw me off and McFadden did do that to a point. Even though I figured most of the story out, it did not deflect from the amazing story you’re going to read. I found the characters to be quite entertaining, but I will say the storyline was a bit overreaching for my tastes. I didn’t find everything that happened to be believable and I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending, although the reader will get an ending—no cliffhangers here.
The Sexy Nerd gives Never Lie four additional plots to add to the mountain of confusion. Overall, this was a great thrill to read. It’s quite engaging and will hold your interests and cause you to think one way, when the author will turn your head in a completely different direction. You’ll be hard pressed to figure the scenario(s) out. Until next time, Nerds, you know what to do!
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