Someone In the Attic by Andrea Mara

If you're new here you might not know that Andrea Mara is one of my favourite authors of all time. My first experience of reading Andrea Mara was with the book 'All Her Fault' which Blew. My. Mind.! The red herrings, the twists, the mastery with which Andrea designs a plot to lead you so off course and then BOOM, lands an ending on you that leaves your jaw hanging open - that is a great book. It's difficult to even imagine how Andrea plots her books, how she can so skilfully manipulate our minds into thinking one thing and yet the true answer was there all along, usually an obvious, in-your-face character who you really shouldn't have taken at face value. #EveryonesASuspect

I'd like to take you back to my first ever experience of reading a 'scary book.' I was about 12 or 13. I’ve no recollection of what the book was called but it was about a monster beneath a child’s bed and nobody believed him when he told them about it. I remember reading it before bed and, even though I was definitely beyond believing in monsters, checking under my bed before I went to sleep. So 13 year old Claire was nervously laughing at herself, checking under the bed before sleep and if we flash forward 22 years you’ll find 35 year old Claire who had just spent the evening reading the first half of Someone in the Attic was also nervously laughing as she turned out the lights and locked up before bed.

That’s the power of a good story, it can make you believe what you’re reading and feel the fear or joy or sadness that it describes. Despite what I’ve just told you, I’m not easily spooked. I’m the one who will go check out the scary noises, not the one who gets freaked out by them. However, when Andrea Mara writes a book called Someone in the Attic you just know that the Queen of Suspense is going to have you quaking!

Andrea Mara has an innate ability to grip me from the very start of her books and Someone in the Attic is no different. That first chapter gave me chills! I read more than the first half of the book on release day, and as the kids were asleep and the house was still I read about Julia and her family, how they had relocated back to Ireland and how her son Luca was convinced that there was someone in their attic; a frightening concept in itself. Andrea simply knocks it out of the park when it comes to freaking the crap out of us. With TikTok videos being posted that suggests that someone might actually be in their home, things start to get serious. Julia and her childhood friend Eleanor try to figure out what’s going on and when they start to put the pieces together, they think that Julia might just be getting targeted for something that happened a long time ago. 

This book is brilliant. Filled with scenes that are eerie, creepy, and unsettling, you’ll genuinely be getting a bit nervous in your own home as you read it and feeling that giddy kind of fear when you know deep down it’s just your imagination at play. With Andrea’s trademark twist and multiple red herrings you’ll be completely absorbed in this page-turner. I’ll always recommend Andrea Mara as an author to anyone looking to get into reading, or for someone looking for a book to get them out of a reading slump because she has an amazing talent to write books that will absolutely captivate you and leave you counting down the months until the next release! Someone in the Attic is no exception and I loved how invested I got in the story. A great book, out just in time for summer holidays, and one you won’t want to miss!