Name: One by One
ISBN: 9781787581661

D. W. Gillespie

The Easton family has just moved into an old house and Alice, the youngest, is excited to explore the new place. Her excitement turns to dread as she discovers a child's drawing of a family just like hers under the wallpaper. When family members begin to disappear, it is up to her to unlock the mystery before she becomes the next victim.

One by One

D.W. Gillespie

The Easton family has just moved into their new fixer-upper, a beautiful old house that they bought at a steal, and Alice, the youngest of the family, is excited to explore the strange, new place. Her excitement turns to growing dread as she discovers a picture hidden under the old wallpaper, a child’s drawing of a family just like hers. Soon after, members of the family begin to disappear, each victim marked on the child’s drawing with a dark black X. It’s up to her to unlock the grim mystery of the house before she becomes the next victim. FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

Sheena

Well shit. That was creepy as fuck and that only amplified after having a Ghost Adventures marathon the night before. Go big or go home I say. Nevertheless, I was highly impressed by the authors writing style and how he was able to showcase Alice, the ten year old lead, POV and her journey in finding out what was happening in her family's new home. I will note that despite the fact that this story is supposed to be in a 10 year old POV, the lead character had an almost grown-up persona and it didn’t make me feel like I was reading the story from the child’s perspective. Besides that flaw and lackluster epilogue in which case I didn’t think concluded the story in the way I envision, I wasn’t able to put this down. It was a non-stop suspense thriller creepfest surrounding a family who decided to move into a fix-upper while unbeknownst to them, something or someone lingers in the dark ready to strike. Needless to say, this would be perfect for readers looking for a little scare this upcoming holiday and would recommended that everyone keeps this author on their must watch list.

Thank you so much Netgalley, Flame Tree Press and D.W. Gillespie for allowing me to read this in exchange of an honest review.

WOW!! This has to be the most atmospheric book I've ever read. The descriptions of the house were so real and spooky I felt my heart race every time someone walked down the darkened halls or walked up the rickety staircase. When the snow storm came in, I found myself reaching for my favorite throw blanket and cuddling up...not sure for warmth or security! 

Frank, Debra, Dean and Alice moved into fixer upper that was just another one of Frank's "great" ideas. Debra (mom), was never to happy with his decision but went along with it. Dean (typical teenage son), was more interested in video games than helping out with the new move. Alice (young daughter), who was very curious about everything and thankfully never gave up until she had answers. 

As the days go by, members of the family as well as the pet cat start disappearing. Everyone becomes suspicious of each other and the family starts changing. Alice finds a mysterious diary on her bed stand table and seeks the truth as to whats really going on with her family and this house. 

Loved this book and can't wait to read more D.W. Gillespie!

Karolina

Alice is a ten years old girl who together with her parents and older brother moves to the new house. The house is bigger, older, surrounded by forest and completely different than her old house. No one besides the father is pleased about moving in there. They were happy with the old house but as the father wanted to change something in their lives to fix the situation they are in, everyone agreed with him. Alice has a hard time to settle down and call this place her house. Her only reason to try is her father who is very excited about it.
First days are going by quiet and without any problems until they find an old drawing on the wall. The drawing portraits a family that looks just like her: mother, father, son, and daughter. The only difference is a dog on the picture since they have a cat. They decide to leave it be as it must be a drawing done by the old family’s children. The game changes when after few days of absence their cat is found dead and they found a recent painted black X on the dog. 

Parents don’t want to believe their kids that none of them has done it just to scare the rest of the family. Alice, on the other hand, starts to suspect that something needs to be wrong with the house. One day she finds a book in her room that appeared from nowhere, which turns out to be a diary of the girl that was living here before their family. It wasn’t the weirdest thing that happened in this house. The real nightmare begins when her family members start disappearing one by one. 

My thoughts: 

I honestly thought it will be the same story as all the horror movies I watched and that’s how it looked to be for the more than half of the book. The family moves to the haunted house and weird things start to happen. Nope, I am sorry to say that but it’s not a story like this and I am very happy about it. The story kept me in the dart ¾ of the book and surprised me more than I expected. 

Let’s start with the characters. Alice, the youngest and the protagonist in the book, is kind of a loner who most of the time daydream. She is closed for most of the people but tries to open more on her family. Her parents aren’t perfect, but they love their kids and tries to give them a life they deserve. Her father starts to act differently because of the stress that is a result of all the things that happens in the house. I think it’s only because he wanted to fix their family, give them a new start and a better life. With the time it turned out to be harder than he thought. Her brother Dean is an easy-going teenager who seems to care only about himself but with the time we can see that he cares a lot about his little sister and parents. However, her mother Debra is one of my favorite characters. I don’t know even why she just made me like her in the beginning and it stayed this way. 

The story isn’t the most unique one however the ending was more than original. It was brilliant. I fell for it and couldn’t stop reading the last 50 pages when the main action happened. For these 50 pages, I am more than happy that I requested this book and finally read it. Exactly for this ending you need to read this book right away when it will be published. If you like mystery and horror books you will enjoy it. 

As I don’t have much time during the day, I mostly read this book at night. It wasn’t the best choice of the time of the day for this book. I was running to the bathroom before going to sleep because I suddenly was afraid that something is around and will kill me. Don’t get me wrong, I love horrors but when you read a good one, it just stays in my mind and I can’t even look in the mirror because I am scared something will be behind me. As funny and scary it is for me, I still love to get into this late-night dark mood. 

I would like to thank NetGalley and Flame Tree Press for providing me this copy in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed this book a lot and I can’t wait to read more books written by D.W. Gillespie.

One by One

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