"The Secrets of Mill House" by Anne Wyn Clark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The Secrets of Mill House" by Anne Wyn Clark is a slow-burn thriller with some very dark undertones (and triggers). It is more a family drama than a thriller, but it does has a mystery in its heart.

The book follows the life of Flora as a child and as an adult. When she was ten years old, a baby was kidnapped from her neighborhood. Flora was an only child and lonely at that. She didn't have an easy life and her only friend was Iola, a girl who had a drunken woman as a mother. Decades later, Flora takes a job as a live-in carer in a creepy watermill place. Her only companion is her cat Rufus. She takes care of an old lady, Agnes, and tries to stay away from her husband Abraham, and their son, Hector, who is not all there. Pretty soon, Flora realizes something odd is going on. However, Flora has her own agenda, and the more she digs, the more she gets in over her head. 

Overall, I liked the book. It had an interesting locale, a chilling atmosphere, and interesting themes such as loss, bereavement, and physical and verbal abuse. The book moves between dual timelines, past and present, until the two connect.

The book bought all the characters to vivid life. The author did a good job capturing the personalities of the all characters, even the minor ones. Hector with his weird hobby gave me the chills, as well as his father's odd conduct.

Flora was a likeable heroine. I felt so much emotion from her that I felt as if I knew her. She has some deep emotional baggage right from the beginning of the novel, and I felt invested in her. She deserved better.

While I liked gothic atmosphere and the premise, the book was very slow-paced and wandering at times, and it took me longer than usual to finish it. I loved the beginning, thought the middle dragged a bit, and was absorbed in the last third of the book. Some developments caught me by surprise, while others I guessed. The ending is bittersweet and wasn't to my liking. The author did tie up all the loose ends.

I think that a tighter plot would have improved the book, but I still found it a worthwhile read and recommend it. I rate the book 3.5 out of 5 stars, rounded up to 4 stars.

* Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for the opportunity to read this arc.  All opinions are my own.

* For more info about the book: "The Secrets of Mill House" by Anne Wyn Clark