The Manor House

A Novel

By: Gilly Macmillan

Narrated by: Ethan Reid, Nathalie Buscombe, Clare Corbett, Fenella Woolger, Josh Dylan, Ben Allen, Sian Thomas

Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Nanny and What She Knew comes the terrifying story of what can happen after all your dreams come true

Be careful what you wish for...

Childhood sweethearts Nicole and Tom are a normal, loving couple—until a massive lottery win changes their lives overnight.

Soon they’ve moved into a custom-built state-of-the-art Glass Barn on the stunning grounds of Lancaut Manor in Gloucestershire. They have fancy cars, expensive hobbies, and an exclusive lifestyle they never could have imagined.

But this dream world quickly turns into a nightmare when Tom is found dead in the swimming pool. Was Tom’s death a tragic accident, or was it something worse?

Nicole is devastated. Tom was her rock. And their beautiful barn —with all its smart features that never seem to work for her—is beginning to feel very lonely. But she’s not entirely by herself out there in the country. There’s a nice young couple who live in the Manor itself along with their middle-aged housekeeper who has the Coach House. And an old friend of Tom’s from school has turned up to help her get through her grief.

But big money can bring big problems and big threats. And is Nicole's life in danger as well?

Nicole’s beginning to feel like a little fish in a big glass bowl.

Surrounded by piranhas.

Don't miss these other chilling novels by New York Times bestselling author Gilly Macmillan:

The Long Weekend

To Tell You the Truth

The Nanny

I Know You

Odd Child Out

The Perfect Girl

What She Knew

©2023 Gilly Macmillan (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers

Kept me guessing

Great narration. I especially enjoy multiple cast who all did excellent. I also liked that the outcome was not obvious from the start.

Kept me guessing

The narrators are great and really brought the characters to life. The storyline kept me guessing until the very end. I loved it!!

Think twice about this one

You know how you sometimes eat a rich, delicious, well-prepared dinner, but then it disagrees with your stomach and you wish you'd just had a good salad? That's what this novel was like for me. I really got into it during the first half. I don't enjoy non-linear stories much, but I kept up, and it built some good tension and suspense. The author had me in her grip until maybe the last fourth, but then the tale took an unexpected turn that made me feel a little ill. I am all for twists and surprises, but the ending of this novel was a complete turn-off. I won't spoil it, especially since many readers may experience it very differently. For me, though, I came away hating almost all the characters and admiring none of them.

We all experience literature differently, but for me this was just well-written "trash"--trash for both my mind and my soul. As I approached the end, I was reminded of The Virginian, by Owen Wister, an early 20th-century novel that bears the honor of the first Western taken seriously as literature. I didn't enjoy that book much, either, but in both novels there is a strong theme of vigilante justice and natural law in the absence of civil law to mete out justice. But where The Virginian is edifying with characters who show honor, integrity, and a well-formed conscience, even in the absence of civil law, in The Manor House most of them are godless, soulless, and bestial, yet seem to have almost no conscience at all. They behave with English manners and decorum, yet adopt a relativistic moral code that is sickeningly depraved. I don't know if this was the theme the author intentionally built her novel on, especially considering the very last line of the book, which I won't spoil--and other readers may not see it like I do--but that's my perspective, and I wish I hadn't read it. Despite the excellent performances, now I just feel icky.

Page turner

Payback is awesome. I had to use patience to get through but enjoyed the twists and turns.

Way too long

Started out strong but then just swirled and swirled. I gave up as it was taking too long to make any progress in the story.

This book had me guessing

This book was full of surprises and kept me guessing. Well done by author and narrators.

finally a great listen Bravo

well all is not lost in the thriller/DRAMA genre. UK just does it better thsn the US period.
as always there will be no spoilers in my reviews.
this fabulous listen kept me going for 2 days , I couldn't be more pleased. everything was wonderful. the twists the turns the end all if it. narration was beautifully done. 5 stars all the way. if give it a 10 if possible. don't hesitate if you like domestic noir / mystery. freakin Bravo to the author.

A good mystery

From the description, I thought the story would be completely different. Even so, I enjoyed the mystery and it kept me guessing. I found Anna to be difficult to understand. Her character had a complete change but a reason really wasn’t explained other than she just decided it was so. I found the ending to be satisfying although I feel sorry for Tom, who seemed to be the most innocent character of all.

Soooo Good!

The description of this book does not do it justice. There is a much bigger story about what's going on next door. Twist and turns that continually kept me rapt! Great for mystery fans!

Story itself and character development

Terrific read! This was a book I thought about when not listening and couldn’t wait to get back to. Perfect narration, as well.