The Follower by Koethi Zan - extract for Blog Tour

I am delighted to be today's stop on the blog tour for The Follower by Koethi Zan. The Follower is being published by Vintage in e-book on 23 February 2017. Read on for an extract.

Extract from 

The Follower by Koethi Zan

He didn’t even appear to register her words.

Then she heard a door slam and turned toward the sound. Her heart leapt, though she could hardly believe what she saw. For there, just a few hundred yards away, was a farmhouse all lit up. A plump, middle-aged woman headed straight toward them. She looked like someone’s favorite aunt, wearing a loose-fitting housedress, her wispy brown hair pinned up messily.

It was surreal, unfathomable, yet there she was, walk- ing across the moonlit yard filled with scrubby brush, past an overturned wheelbarrow and a clothesline where shirts twisted precariously in the wind, the cuffs of the sleeves nearly touching the ground.

Julie thought at first it was a hallucination, but no, she was real. Hope welled up in her. It’s so hard to kill hope.

Her abductor still had her by the arm, with the nose of the gun now pushed into her back, but she took a chance that he wouldn’t kill her in front of a witness.

‘Help me! This man kidnapped me. Call the police. Run! He’s dangerous. He has a gun!’

In that moment she felt a rush of relief. Help was here. Maybe there were even others inside who had heard her scream.

But the woman didn’t react. She just walked toward them, calm and unhurried.

‘Do you hear me? This man abducted me! I need help!’

Everything began to unfold in slow motion. The woman’s lips were pressed tightly together, her eyes fixed steadily on Julie’s captor. There could be no mistaking the situation. She had to get it. But her expression wasn’t right.

If anything, the woman’s eyes glistened with a kind of adoration. She ignored Julie, who stood there frozen. Julie realized at that moment that this woman was not appalled or outraged or terrified. She wouldn’t be her savior, delivering her from evil.

No, she wouldn’t help her. She was in on it.

About The Follower

The Follower
By Koethi Zan
Published by Vintage (E-book: 23 February 2017; Paperback: 18 May 2017)
ISBN: 978-1784702335

Publisher's description

SHE'D DO ANYTHING FOR HER HUSBAND.

Julie has the perfect life

A kind boyfriend, loving parents and good grades. She has everything ahead of her.

Cora’s life is a nightmare

A psychopath for a husband, a violent father and a terrible secret. There’s no way out.

But one night, their worlds collide

Locked in an isolated house together, they must work out what has happened – and who they can trust to set them free.

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In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

In a Dark, Dark Wood
By Ruth Ware
Published by Vintage Publishing (30 July 2015)
ISBN: 978-1473512344

Publisher's description
Someone's getting married. Someone's getting murdered.

In a dark, dark wood

Nora hasn't seen Claire for ten years. Not since Nora walked out of school one day and never went back.

There was a dark, dark house

Until, out of the blue, an invitation to Clare's hen do arrives. Is this a chance for Nora to finally put her past behind her?

And in the dark, dark house there was a dark, dark room

But something goes wrong. Very wrong.

And in the dark, dark room…

Some things can't stay secret for ever.

My verdict
In a Dark, Dark Wood is an atmospheric psychological thriller. I read this in two one-hour-long reading sessions, unable to put this highly-addictive book down. Set in an isolated house in a dark wood, it lives up to the title, with a creepy story about catching up with old friends.

Nora hasn't seen Clare for 10 years so is very surprised to get invited to her hen weekend, although bizarrely not to her wedding. Torn between deleting the emailed invitation or accepting out of curiosity, she decides to take the plunge, unaware that this is a decision that she may come to regret.

Nora joins a handful of Clare's past and present acquaintances in an Agatha Christie-style plot. Take a group of virtual strangers and stick them in an isolated location, cut off the rest of the world as the phone lines go down and mobile coverage is scarce. Then see what happens when the going get tough…

On the whole, the writing is edgy, the pace is fast and the plot is fairly dark and sinister. The chapters alternate between the present day and Nora's memories of the weekend. She's confused and can't remember exactly what happened in the woods.

The plot strikes close to the bone. Most people have had an opportunity to meet up with old friends (whether just on a day out or at a school reunion). This book may make you think twice about accepting the next invitation.

The only reason I can't give this five stars is because of the ending. The culprit did come as a surprise. But without giving away spoilers, I felt that Nora's actions were a little too clichéd for me and, as a crime fiction writer, I would have expected her to have had more common sense. I also felt that while there were some good twists, the underlying reason for the whole book wasn't quite dark enough for me (and not as dark as the story suggested).

But I would certainly recommend this to anyone who loves psychological thrillers.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.