Caleb Crowe is a new author to me and, as far as I can ascertain, this is his debut novel. It’s a fast-moving story of a young couple being intentionally terrorised by a neighbour who is intent on forcing them to sell their new home to him at a ridiculously low price. It’s a pretty basic plot covering well trodden ground, so kudos to Crowe for ramping up the tension and keeping it at fever pitch throughout the book.
His characters are vividly portrayed if a trifle over-drawn, especially the villainous Ron, who is almost cartoonish. We get it. He’s evil incarnate, but even the most horrid of antagonists need a touch of saving grace. I note that the author has attracted some criticism from the wokerati for ‘fat-shaming’ this character. To me, these people are merely attempting to curb the author’s creativity. They can dislike the character, of course, but not dictate how he is portrayed.
I skip read two parts of the book. Firstly, all the remembered advice from Tiffany, who never actually appeared in the book. Secondly, Megan’s dreams and the transcribing of them into a notebook. Neither of these added anything to the story but, without them, it would have been a much shorter book so I guess they served their purpose. It would have been better to know a bit more about Megan – why she left the admirable Niall for the untrustworthy Nick; a bit about the loss of her mother which was fleetingly referred to a few times but never enlarged on.
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Overall, though, it was a ripping good yarn although a little rough round the edges and needing more editorial input than it got. I have already downloaded Crowe’s second novel and I would recommend this one as a fresh voice in the psychological thriller genre.
JJ Grafton 