Published: 24th October 2019 Publisher: FlameTree Press
Format: Hardcover, Kindle, Paperback, Audio Genre: Horror
Mike Carter and his girlfriend Helen, along with their friends Alex and Kay, travel to a remote loch side cottage for a post-graduation holiday.
But their celebrations are short-lived when they hit and kill a stag on the road.
Alex’s sister Meggie awaits them in the cottage, adding to the tension when her dog, Oscar, goes missing.
Mike becomes haunted by a disturbing presence in the cottage, and is hunted by threatening figures in the highland fog.
Reeling from a shock revelation, Mike begins to lose his grip on his sanity.
As the dark secrets of the past conspire to destroy the bonds of friendship, Mike must uncover the terrifying truth dwelling within the walls of Hearthstone Cottage.
REVIEW...
This was a fantastic spooky read!
The writer pulls you in and does not let you go until the very last page!
Brilliantly written this scary read makes you not only feel scared to walk up stairs with the dark behind you, but also the grotesque horrifying detail in which this is written makes you see everything play out in your mind as you read.
All four friends are on there way to a cottage in the middle of the Scottish highlands, owned by Alex one of the friends, to celebrate graduating from university.
Just as they get close to the cottage Alex who is driving accidentally hits a stag in the road and as they all climb out to see if it is ok they realise they are watching it take its last breaths.
Deeply troubled and in the hire car that is badly damaged, they just about make it to the cottage.
This is the beginning of things to go wrong for Mike, but he has yet to realise it..
When they arrive, Alex's little sister Meggie is already there and has arrived as a surprise for her big brother..
All five of them settle in and prepare to spend there break together, but something is not quite right..
Mike's character is hard to warm to as he is a weed smoking, borderline alcoholic but as soon as the nightmares start and eerie things start to happen to him you can't help but feel sorry for him.
The friends find a book in the cottage that tells them of the local history, they find out that a witch was killed there by the locals for killing animals and children! the Spindle stones where she practised her magic is nearby and they Mike soon realises that the cottage has stones from that circle within the hearth inside the cottage.
Mike wakes up and hears the laughter of a child in the night and sees shadows running past his bedroom doorway, when he follows them downstairs he finds himself standing at the hearth looking into the black mirror that is upon the fireplace, seeing horrifying images of the past reflected back...
There is something in the cottage that wants a hold of mike and will not give up until it has him.. I had no clue how this was going to end and absolutely loved the huge twist at the end.
I felt that if I had been Mike I would have left after that first awful night within the cottages eerie walls,
but then I found myself wondering if that would have even been possible knowing how it ended??
This is definitely a great scary read and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to spend there time reading an amazing story with fear in every word..
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR....
Frazer Lee’s debut novel The Lamplighters was a Bram Stoker Award® Finalist for ‘Superior Achievement in a First Novel’.
His other published works include the Amazon number 1 horror/thriller Panic Button: The Official Movie Novelisation, novels The Jack in the Green and The Skintaker, and the Daniel Gates Adventures series of novellas. Frazer’s short stories (one of which received the Geoffrey Ashe Prize from the Library of Avalon, Glastonbury) have appeared in anthologies including the acclaimed Read By Dawn series.
Frazer Lee is also a screenwriter, filmmaker and University lecturer, and lives with his family in Buckinghamshire, England – just across the cemetery from the actual Hammer House of Horror.
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