“THE PERFECT OFFER

When struggling influencer couple Adele and Jack post a crowdfunding video online, they’re amazed when a mysterious benefactor offers to buy them a crumbling French chateau. It’s the lifeline they need to leave all their troubles behind.

THE PERFECT DREAM

For Adele, it’s a dream come true. She will post videos of the renovation as thousands of online subscribers follow their journey. But the chateau is not all it seems and the local community is far from welcoming.

THE PERFECT NIGHTMARE

Then Adele’s videos suddenly stop. Her sister Erin visits to make sure she’s OK, but the couple have vanished. Between the obsession of Adele’s fans and the claustrophobic secrecy of the nearby town, Erin must unravel the shocking truth behind the couple’s disappearance . . .”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of The Escape by Ruth Kelly. The Escape is published by Pan in paperback today (that’s Thursday 7th December 2023) and is also available in audio and digital formats. I chose to read a free ARC of The Escape but that has in no way influenced my review. My grateful thanks to Chloe at Pan Macmillan for sending me a proof copy.

Adele, a budding influencer, dreams of more from life. Things just don’t seem to be going right for her and partner, Jack. So when, in the middle of the night, the idea of reaching out to her followers and asking them to crowd-fund a project to purchase and restore a French chateau dramatically backfires, Adele is left heartbroken. That is until a mysterious benefactor offers to buy the couple the very chateau Adele had her eye on. It’s a dream come true. Adele plans to vlog the restoration, drawing in more and more followers and as a result, she can start to earn a reasonable living as an influencer. But a few months into the project both Adele and Jack disappear. Erin, Adele’s estranged sister, travels to France to find out what has happened to the couple. But what she discovers makes no sense. The locals are secretive and reluctant to help, the house is cold and empty and Erin can’t help but feel something has gone terribly wrong…

The Escape is a thrilling, page-turner of a novel that I struggled to put down. So much darker than I ever expected and with something incredibly intriguing always happening, it was a real effort to tear myself away from this one for any length of time. The story is told using dual timelines approximately six or so months apart. In the past, Adele and Jack are down on their luck, nothing is going right for the couple and when Adele brings out the begging bowl on social media, it doesn’t go down well. Unsurprisingly. So when an unknown knight in shining armour steps in via their solicitor and offers everything Adele has ever dreamt of, with a few contractual caveats thrown in for good measure, the couple sign on the dotted line and become the proud owners of Chateau Bellay. Adele and Jack begin to adjust to life in France, Jack initially more so than Adele. Perhaps the dream wasn’t all it was cracked up to be after all. In the present day, Adele’s sister, Erin, arrives in France ready to take Adele home so their terminally ill mother can spend her final days with both daughters. But there’s no sign of the couple. The more Erin discovers about the house, the area and the townspeople, the more concerned she becomes. Reaching out to the local police for help, she is rapidly dismissed and told that she’s panicking over nothing. The couple have probably gone away for a few days. But Erin knows something terrible has happened to Adele. Has unstable Jack harmed her, has one of her obsessive fans taken things a step too far, or has the mysterious person dressed in black she’s seen loitering in the grounds of the chateau hurt her sister…?

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. I loved reading The Escape with its ominous feel, creepy chateau setting, atmospheric snow-covered landscape and its page-turning, thrilling, high-speed plot. Very much a ‘one more chapter before I turn the light out’ book. The characters are very well-written and convincing. Adele has that over-positive, everything-is-perfect vibe when presenting her vlogs. She tries to carry this ‘forced joy’ over into normal life, after all life in France was meant to be perfect, but even she doesn’t really believe her own spin. Erin and Adele are very different. Erin sees Adele as prettier, more sociable, generally better at everything which creates tension between the siblings. As time progresses though and fear for her sister’s safety increases, the bond between the two women outshines every falling out, every argument that’s gone before. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed The Escape from start to finish. It’s a compulsive tale, an absolute thrill-ride of a read and I loved every second of this dark, addictive book. Recommended.

I chose to read and review a free ARC of The Escape. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

The Escape by Ruth Kelly was published in the UK by Pan on 7th December 2023 and is available in paperback, audio and digital formats (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | Foyles | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop | damppebbles amazon.co.uk shop | damppebbles amazon.com shop |

Ruth Kelly is an award-winning journalist who has ghosted a string of Sunday Times top ten bestsellers – most recently THE PRISON DOCTOR, which sold over 250,000 copies, and THE GOVERNOR, which went straight in at number one on the Amazon charts and number five in the Sunday Times bestseller list.