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.
My thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for the chance to close out the One By One blog tour. I received a review copy from publishers, Flame Tree Press – my thanks to them too.
October does bring out my craving to read creepy books so huge thanks to Flame Tree Press for the opportunity to read DW Gillespie’s latest release – One By One. As you will have picked up from the blurb (above) this one sounded a proper chiller…new family move into big old house. Haunted? Unusual for sure and the child’s stick drawing of a family and their pet dog (uncovered by 10 year old Alice when she peeled away a strip of wallpaper) has a sinister element rather than the cute cheery image the picture *could* have had.
Alice is the main focus for One By One, indeed it is her story we share for the most part. Though for reasons which partly fall into the “spoiler” category there are some necessary parts of the story which are told through the eyes of another.
Alice, her parents and her elder brother, Dean, have moved into their new home. It has very unusual design features, quirky and peculiar interior planning and it really needs a lot of work done. A “fixer-upper” and a bargain…but bargains usually come with a story which Alice’s father seems happy to ignore. Soon after the family move into the house things begin to change and tempers become frayed.
Alice, as the youngest, is scared by the new house not helped by the “face” she saw at her window on the first night. Her imagination runs wild but as a natural daydreamer her parents are not listening to her worries. But they cannot ignore the reality of a death in the household and a large black cross painted over the corresponding figure from the child’s drawing of the family.
I don’t want to share too much more detail about events in One By One but for Alice the danger is very real. Her family are disappearing and more crosses are appearing on the picture – can Alice save herself?
Small cast of characters, isolated location and a child terrified and unsure who to trust. A tense chiller which I zipped through in two fully captivated sittings.
One By One is published by Flame Tree Press and is available in paperback and digital format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/One-Fiction-Without-Frontiers-ebook/dp/B07X3Q89JS/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3ETV6WWVV5DDU&keywords=one+by+one+dw+gillespie&qid=1570124437&s=digital-text&sprefix=one+by+one+%2Cdigital-text%2C759&sr=1-1
