Random Things Tours – Book Review – When The Lights Go Out by Chris Curran

“A jolt and, ‘oh, god. Oh s**t,’ from the driver’s seat.”

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Number of Pages: 384

Date of Publication: 8 December 2022

Publisher: One More Chapter

My Review Summary: A gripping tale with suspicious things happening all the time!

📖PLOT SUMMARY FROM GOODREADS 📖

Who can you trust…

WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT

A group of new friends. But can she trust them?

For struggling actress Ava, landing a role with the Chimera Theatre Group could lead to her big break. And relocating to a remote country village means stepping out from the shadow of her boyfriend—despite his determination not to let her go.

Everyone in the group seems so welcoming, they’re one big happy family. But, like all families, they each have secrets. And someone in the group doesn’t want certain secrets to get out…

💭THOUGHTS💭

I wanted a change to my reading material and thought that this book sounded like something that I would enjoy. I was pleased to be accepted on to the tour and I did enjoy reading it. I haven’t been reading as much as I usually do recently, but this book was easy to read, with plenty of things going on. I was quite happy to be taken on the ride and for things to unravel in their own time.

The writing was gripping and easy to read. I got through it faster than I thought I would and looked forward to picking it up each day. It had quite a fast pace, with lots of different things happening. These different things kept being added, and whilst most were tied up at the end, there were still a few questions that I wanted answering and character developments that I would have liked to have seen. The ending was certainly interesting. It was left very open and allowed for you as the reader to finish it in your own way.

The chapters were fairly short, which gave the story it’s fast pace. I also felt like I had achieved something and motored through it. A couple of the chapters were split, but otherwise we just went straight through.

The story was from the point of view of the main character and had some nice bits of description in it. There was enough detail to give you a good idea of where the main character was and what she was seeing/doing without distracting from the story and slowing it down. It was cleverly done.

The characters were excellent. I was suspicious of all of them. At one point I wasn’t even convinced about the main character! I would have liked to have seen a bit more about the main character’s “partner”. I was interested in his behaviour and wanted to see how that would all pan out. I also wanted to see more on the main characters parents – there was obviously something more there.

Lastly the settings. I liked the shared cottage and the different little rooms that they performed in. The size and the nature of the settings helped to add to my suspicions about the characters. The settings were well thought out and suited what was happening in the story well.

Overall a great story and one that had me hooked from the beginning.

📖THE AUTHOR📖

Chris Curran’s sixth psychological suspense novel, When the Lights Go Out, publishes on December 2nd . Chris also writes as Abbie Frost and her latest under that name is The Guesthouse. Her books have been praised in the media as: truly gripping (Sunday Express), dark, claustrophobic and full of suspense (The Courier) addictive and fun (Daily Mail), addictive (The Sun), chilling (Waitrose Magazine) thrilling (Sublime Horror)

Best selling author, Alex Lake, describes The Guesthouse as a: full of suspense…gripping mystery. And Edgar Award winner Alex Marwood calls When the Lights Go Out: wonderfully mystifying and claustrophobic; and sad and thoughtful to boot. Chris also writes short stories and has twice been shortlisted for the CWA Margery Allingham award.

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