‘Clever, chilling and surprising, The Short Straw is an outstanding thriller. Just make sure you read it with ALL the lights on.’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘All the wows!!!’ Reader review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘The setting of the story is deliciously creepy and gothic and gives very Shirley Jackson vibes.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
‘An addictive read. . . Patricia Highsmith meets Shirley Jackson’ GILLIAN MCALLISTER
‘Utterly gripping and unputdownable’ JANE FALLON
Leaving isn’t safe…
But staying would be deadly.
Three sisters find themselves lost in a storm at night, and seek safety at Moirthwaite Manor, where their mother once worked. They are shocked to find the isolated mansion that loomed so large through their troubled childhoods has long been abandoned. Drawing straws to decide who should get help, one sister heads back into the darkness. With the siblings separated, the deadly secrets hidden in the house finally make themselves known and we learn the unspeakable secret that binds the family together.
Holly Seddon is the international bestselling author of TRY NOT TO BREATHE, DON’T CLOSE YOUR EYES, LOVE WILL TEAR US APART, THE HIT LIST and THE WOMAN ON THE BRIDGE.
After growing up in the English countryside obsessed with music and books, Holly worked in London as a journalist and editor. She now lives in Kent with her family and writes full time.
Alongside fellow author Gillian McAllister, Holly co-hosts the popular Honest Authors Podcast. You can find her on Twitter @hollyseddon, Instagram and Facebook @hollyseddonauthor.
It’s my pleasure to hand over to Ellen Devonport, my guest reviewer for her review for the blogtour:
Ellen’s Review:
I have been a fan of Holly Seddon’s books for quite a few years now so am delighted to be able to share my review of her latest The Short Straw.
Already from the title you get a feeling of what’s to come, no-one wants the short straw right!? The mere thought of picking the short straw evokes feelings of dread! This is exactly what happens to three sisters (Nina, Lizzie and Aisa) whose car breaks down on a stormy night in the middle of nowhere. Luckily (or not as the case may be) they are within walking distance of Moirthwaite Manor, a house their mother worked at when they were children. This book starts with a bang and just gets creepier by the page.
The sisters take shelter in the manor and must draw straws on who must go back out into the wild weather and return with help. To be honest I’m not sure where I’d rather be – spooky, abandoned manor filled with spiders (eek), a creepy doll’s house and bad memories or wandering in the dark woods with a storm thrashing! Actually, give me all the stormy weather over spiders!
All is not as it seems in the manor and slowly the sisters remember things that had happened when they sometimes accompanied their mother to work. We also get to read her side of the story which adds to the intrigue…Rosemary slowly reveals the events and what happened to make her leave the job so quickly and uproot her family.
I loved how the sister’s dynamics were portrayed and how we got an understanding into why they all reacted so differently to what was happening. There’s nothing more compelling than reading a family drama! I couldn’t wait to see how all their stories would fit together and deliver the truth.
The setting was very reminiscent of a gothic horror to some extent – if it was a TV series I would have been struck by all the jump scares! With short chapters and the story being told over one night (with flashbacks), I found the book easy to follow and hard to put down. Highly recomment!!
