Gretchen

A Thriller

By: Shannon Kirk

Narrated by: Rebecca Soler, Allyson Ryan

Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

The new tenants have a terrible secret. So do the landlord and his daughter…

Ever since Lucy was two, she’s been on the run alongside her mother. She’s never understood the reason for a lifetime of paranoia, aliases, and lies. All she understands are the rules: never lock eyes with strangers, never let down your guard, and always be ready to move on.

Finally, after thirteen years and eleven states, their next hideaway seems perfect. An isolated, fortresslike place in the New Hampshire woods is the new home they share with its owner, a gentlemanly pianist, and his lonely daughter, Gretchen. She’s Lucy’s age and soon becomes Lucy’s first real friend.

But Gretchen and her father have secrets of their own - and an obsession with puzzles that draws Lucy into a terrifying new game of hide-and-seek. Lucy’s dark past is about to come calling. And this time, for her and her mother in the house on the hill, it might be too late to run.

©2019 Shannon Kirk (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“…[A] brilliantly constructed novel…The pieces of the characters’ broken lives finally slip into place in a truly thrilling climax. Kirk draws the reader into a fascinating world of shifting truths whose details are by turns grotesque, funny, creepy, thoughtful, and exhilarating.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Gretchen terrified me, made me laugh, made my jaw hit the floor…I had to wonder what kind of sorceress Kirk is, to have wormed her way into my brain and then written exactly the kind of story that makes me jump out of my skin and burns its way into my memory. The best kind.” - Emily Carpenter, bestselling author of Until the Day I Die

“I’m so glad I read this during the daytime, when the sun was shining and I was in a plane full of people…Five terrifying stars.” - Kimberly Belle, bestselling author of Three Days Missing and Dear Wife

Interesting for sure!

I wanted to love this book more than I did, but that doesn’t mean anything negative. The story was creative and Shannon’s writing was definitely decent in Gretchen.

However, the plot had so much going on and I don’t know if the story was executed as well as I wanted. After the second chapter, I predicted what ended up being the shocker in the middle of the novel. The ending’s twist didn’t surprise me, but I enjoyed it for plot-purposes.

The “mom” chapters (until she got deeper with Laura) bored me slightly. I also really found the names to be super confusing at first, but I can see why the author chose to have two Gretchen’s and two Laura’s. But I commend Shannon for attempting to use red herrings with the names to throw me off—I just got a little confused instead.

I also am not sure why two animals were almost harmed, but I’m glad they weren’t!!! Harming animals isn’t the only thing that defines a psychopath.

I will remember this book for the interesting dynamics between the main characters (Laura, Mags, and Lucy).

weird but good

well written good character development not for the faint of heart somewhat violent bordering on horror

Best book in a long time

This is the best book I have read in a LOOOOONG time. Excellent story, excellent narration, all around perfection.

Great Adventure Mystery.

The was superbly descriptive, the characters easily seemed real and the development of the story was steady. I was pulled into this biok and had a lot of fun.

Decent, until the end

I thought this was a decent mystery, until the bonkers final act where everyone went insane. I guess they had to deal with the whole Gretchen storyline somehow, but what they did was pretty unbelievable and kinda ruined it for me.

A must have suspense audio book!

A wonderful & thrilling book that will keep you spell bound until the end.

LOVED THIS BOOK!

I really don't like to give reviews because I don't have time to really get into it but I will say that this book definitely deserves 10 stars if I could get it. Super exciting and literally could not stop listening to. All the twists and turns and excitement I wish there were more books like this

Such a deliciously narrated twist!!

Wow I loved both of these narrators so much they are so expressive. Amazing storyline with twists there is no way you're going to be guessing!

Meh

Meh. This was just ok. I don’t regret the credit, but not the best. Narrator was decent.

Princess Mary Sue

I listened to this because of Amazon Prime/books. If I would have paid for it, I would have never finished it and would have asked for a refund. This is a YA "thriller" / "horror" (not classified as such) and is hardly believable. It's a thriller only because the reader can't wait for the main character to stop her very drawn out / high-drama internal dialogues and GET ON WITH THE STORY.