LatinosUSA

Hi, all:

I’m sharing the latest novel by an author I came across a few years ago and whose books I try not to miss.

Serenity Falls by C. J. Tudor

Welcome to Serenity Falls – the most idyllic town in the US and the safest place for families to grow up together, where crime is non-existent. It seems the perfect relocation option for Dan and his daughter Sadie as they move from the UK. A fresh start, thousands of miles from their troubled past.

But their new idyll is shattered when they find a dead body in their swimming pool.

And it turns out that’s just the start of a series of odd discoveries. Abandoned houses where people have seemingly just upped and left. The strange woman Sadie keeps seeing around town putting up ‘missing’ posters for a child who drowned twenty-five years ago. An ice cream van that drives around at night making sure residents are asleep…

As plans gear up to celebrate Serenity Falls’ fiftieth anniversary, something is stirring beneath the surface of the idyllic façade. Is Serenity Falls really the perfect town or is it founded on something far darker? And is someone so desperate to keep its secrets that they’d resort to anything to preserve them?

Welcome to Serenity Falls – the perfect town. For murder.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216443369-serenity-falls?

About the author:

C. J. Tudor lives with her partner and young daughter. Her love of writing, especially the dark and macabre, started young. When her peers were reading Judy Blume, she was devouring Stephen King and James Herbert.

Over the years she has had a variety of jobs, including trainee reporter, radio scriptwriter, dog walker, voiceover artist, television presenter, copywriter and, now, author.

Her first novel, The Chalk Man, was a Sunday Times bestseller and sold in thirty-nine territories.

My review:

I thank Penguin UK (Michael Joseph) and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC copy of this book, which I freely chose to review.

I was lucky to discover C. J. Tudor when she was about to publish her first book, almost nine years ago, and she has become a favourite of mine. She writes stories that combine horror and thriller elements, and she has been compared to Stephen King, who is a strong influence on her, for good reason. I haven’t been disappointed by any of her books yet, and her newest novel is no different.

Imagine you are a single father, a teacher who has lost his job for defending his teenage daughter, and who has no idea what to do now. And, out of nowhere, you get a surprise inheritance from your mother, who always lived modestly and never talked about making any purchases abroad. But, she has left you a house in the USA. A luxury property, with a swimming pool and all. The house is in Serenity Falls, a unique place born from the mind of a man who created some of the most beloved children’s animation movies, cartoon characters, and amusement parks in the world. His vision was to create a series of towns all over the USA, where families would feel safe and happy; nothing dangerous or bad would ever happen, and life would be perfect. It sounds too good to be true, and you soon discover that there is a catch, or several. You cannot sell the property, and you have to move there (Dan and Sadie, the protagonists, live in the UK at the beginning of the story) and live there for several years before you can think of selling the property. But, you don’t have any better options, so you move there. And you soon discover that ‘nothing ever happens in Serenity Falls’ is open to interpretation, to say the least.

The novel is narrated by a variety of characters —readers need not worry about getting confused, as the narrator is clearly indicated in each chapter— although the main protagonists are Dan and Sadie, his daughter. Sadie’s point of view is told in the third person, and all the rest are narrated in the first person. Although in the beginning we don’t know who everybody is, as the story progresses we get used to the characters, and we learn a lot of what has happened in Serenity Falls, things that Dan and Sadie do not know of- so we might feel we are in a privileged position, but, as is expected of the genre, not everything is revealed, and there are clues and red herrings galore.

From what I am saying, you will probably get the idea that strange things are happening in the town, and that would be an understatement. The nasty surprises and the menacing characters and events keep coming, fast and thick, and the protagonists have no time to adapt and settle to their new life in between all the incidents they experience. On the surface, everything seems quiet and peaceful in the dream town, but as happens with the lake on the outskirts, there might be things hiding in the deep that are more dangerous than anybody would care to admit.

As is the case with all of the author’s novels, there is plenty going on to keep readers turning the pages and wondering what might be happening. The characters are interesting and recognisable (I particularly like Sadie, who understands and knows much more than she lets on and is not afraid to push the boundaries and explore), and although sometimes we might wish Dan was a bit more determined and forceful, his love for his daughter and his determination to do the best for her comes across clearly. There is a full cast of secondary characters, who are fascinating as well, and some that we only hear about but never meet in person, at least. And then, there is the town, which is a character in its own right, perhaps the most important.

The writing flows well, and it helps us understand and know the characters through their dialogue and internal monologues. There are scary moments (although I would not class the novel as pure horror), and there is plenty of dark humour, which eases the tension. I’ve highlighted many quotable paragraphs, and the ending is more than satisfying. Happy? Well, like my favourite horror movies and books, let’s say the ending leaves you with a feeling of uneasiness.

To those of you who like to play detective and guess who and what is behind the events and discover all the secrets, you’d do well to reserve some time to read it without too many interruptions, so you don’t miss any clues. (I guessed some of the main secrets, but the beauty is in how they fit in the larger scheme of things. And I won’t say anything else).

I recommend this book to readers of C. J. Tudor’s novels, Stephen King’s followers, and anybody who likes the sound of the story, even if they aren’t habitual readers of horror novels. There are plenty of bad things that take place in the book, of course, but anybody who enjoys reading thrillers won’t be scared or find it excessive. And readers who haven’t met this author before, check all her books out and start wherever you like. They are all great!

Thanks to the publisher, NetGalley, and the author for bringing us another great story; thanks to all of you for visiting, and remember to like, share, comment, click… And remember to keep smiling!