{I've Been Reading} The House Hunt

 The House Hunt by C. M. Ewan 

The real estate agent is running late and the potential buyer is on a tight schedule. Knowing how badly they need to sell their house, Lucy lets the stranger in, forcing back all of her fears and phobias. Her boyfriend will be there soon.  It'll all be okay. 

But then the man insists on seeing the basement, the one place in her own home where Lucy absolutely won't venture. And he doesn't come back upstairs. He doesn't answer when she calls out to him. And Lucy's fears become full fledged panic. 

The plot is extremely fast paced, told in very short chapters that alternate between Lucy and another character. The description reminded me of We Used to Live Here, but it's not the same thing at all. About halfway through, I thought I knew where it was headed, but I was very wrong. 

He Loves Me Not by Lorraine Murphy 

I couldn't put this thriller down. Except for one threatening event in an early chapter, the plot moves slowly, but Ruth is an absolutely fascinating character and I was immediately plunged into her life. The cult that she fled a few years earlier isn't just a group of vaguely scary religious people, the Messengers of the Messiah are explained in detail and chillingly plausible. Ruth has left behind some of her more extreme beliefs behind and held on to others. She's been living a normal life with her daughter, but now things are beginning to happen that have her looking over her shoulder for men in black suits. It's a chillling, suspenseful read that left me wanting to look for the author's earlier books. 

Disclosure -- The publisher provided me with an advance review copy.