Format: ARC, eBook
“There is always danger for those who are afraid.” – George Bernard Shaw.
Travis Wren, who has a talent for finding missing people, has been hired to find Maggie St. James, a missing author. While looking for Maggie, his talent leads him to place many believed to be a legend.
A perfect community away from it all – Pastoral. It’s a place to be safe, a place to start over, a place to leave everything else behind. But when Travis follows Maggie there, he disappears just as Maggie did.
Years later, Theo, who has lived in Pastoral finds Travis’s truck beyond the boundary of Pastoral. It is forbidden to leave the boundary as you risk catching the pox. But Theo can’t help himself. He is inquisitive and wants to explore past Pastoral. He is not the only one who wants to explore beyond the Boundary, there is another person curious and willing to take risks
There is fear of the Rot and the pox it brings, but there are also secrets lurking there. Deep, dark secrets. Horrible secrets. The adage “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” applies in this book. I enjoyed getting to know most of the characters and in the back of my mind wondered what happened to Travis and Maggie. I really enjoyed this one and it’s strong “The Village” vibes. The fear of the outside world, the stories about what will get you if you leave, the being self-sufficient and the wondering what to do when someone needs medical help.
You will need to suspend some disbelief here and sit through a disturbing scene or two. I had to tell myself not to over think the fact that they were living in two story homes and not in huts or tents. That somehow away from it all, deep in the woods, was a community of built homes that they just moved into or perhaps founders had built. But I digress. After suspending some disbelief, I found this book hard to put down and as thy secrets began to fall like leaves falling in the forest, I soon realized what the real Rot was.
I enjoyed the underlying sense of something not being right of underlying danger, mounting dread and the fear of breaking the rules. It had a very low-key creepy vibe at the heart of it, you won’t feel or notice it at first, but as things are uncovered, you will sense it as the community members begin to sense that their community isn’t quite so perfect after all. This book is atmospheric and dark. Naturally, I was intrigued from the very beginning.
This was my first book by the author, and I look forward to reading more of her work.
Dark, captivating, and clever!
Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.