Lie of the Land

by Kerry Hadley-Pryce

Lie of the Land is a dark, domestic literary thriller set in the Black Country in the Midlands, UK. When Rory and Jemma meet, Rory already has a girlfriend, but that doesn’t stop them getting together and, much sooner than Jemma would like, they’re buying their first house together in the heart of the grimy Midlands.

‘The Rocks’ is a run-down, ‘doer-upper’ and right from the off, Jemma is reluctant and unhappy, far from ready for commitment. But there is something about the house that is both compelling and sinister, and the situation takes a darker turn when a terrible accident happens involving their new next door neighbours, forcing both Jemma and Rory to tackle their inner demons.

Themes of toxic relationships, secrets and deceit are intensified by a judgmental narrative voice which propels the plot to its even darker resolution.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

169 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2025

Reviews

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jemma Crawford, (a family lawyer), meets Rory on a night out in a pub. Rory is already engaged to Sophie, however, that doesn’t stop Jemma from making a move on him, and almost in the blink of an eye things have moved on to a point where they’ve had an offer accepted on a house named ‘The Rocks’ in the Black Country in the Midlands, UK.


‘The Rocks’ is in dire need of restoration, a complete doer upper. This Victorian three bedroomed semi is in the very best part of town, but Jemma hates it on sight. Rory thinks it’s a bargain, especially as when it’s completely renovated, it’ll be worth an awful lot of money. It’s not just the house that’s bothering Jemma though, their relationship has moved way too quickly for her liking, and quite honestly she’s not ready for this sort of commitment.

After moving in, they discover that the house is really quite sinister, and then something strange happens that involves a neighbour, and it leaves them both questioning everything they’ve seen.

It has to be said that the author uses a very unusual (nay strange) style of writing, and yet there’s something really poetic about it too. This is a bleak unsettling story where the house is almost a character in itself, brooding, sinister, cold, like a dark cloak has smothered all the joy from it. Strange writing or not, it did make me want to read on, however, the ending just petered out, and offered no real answers.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Salt Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest unbiased review *

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've got to be honest, I'm not even sure what I've just read. The story seems to follow a couple - Rory and Jemma - who had a one night stand following which they end up in a relationship destroying the life of Rory's fiancee.

I think the tone of the book was supposed to be one of tension ramping up but it simply felt bleak throughout and didnt really go anywhere.

However it was the style that I found most irritating. I hoped that the "Jemma would say..." "Jemma would tell you ..." way the majority of the sentences began would fizzle out but it continues throughout the book. It is almost as if someone is writing a secondhand report for a criminal case. Whatever it was supposed to be simply annoyed me. It wrecked any kind of fluidity of the narrative. It jarred my reading experience and I almost quit reading several times.

I gave it 2 stars because I finished it, the story could have been interesting had it actually gone anywhere but it ultimately gave me a headache. Not for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Salt Publishing for the advance review copy.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is NOT your typical thriller or horror. This is quite an unusual book both in terms of the story and the writing.
The book is written in a specific way. There are odd repetitions and not everyone will like them, but these repetitions have a purpose. The language is poetic and sublime as if the author writes the story on your latte's milky foam.
The story is delicate, slow, and somehow blurry. The reader can't be sure if all the strange things are hallucinations or dreams or if they are real. Jemma, the female protagonist, drinks a lot of alcohol, so maybe this is a story about visions of a drunk woman. Nothing is clear here, there are no sharp edges, only blurs. Add to it darkness, an old house, weird neighbors, and falling snow, you get an atmospheric novel with eerie vibes. The author creates the mood in this book effortlessly, which is a rare skill.
In the end, the reader is left with more questions than answers, but this does not diminish the joy of reading this book. Highly recommended for those who like slow lyrical prose, and eerie and unsettling vibes. Perfect for the Halloween season.

[Aoife Cassidy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This literary thriller by Kerry Hadley-Pryce from a small publishing house (Salt Publishing) is a curious one. Set in the Black Country in England (an area in the West Midlands), it’s creepy and atmospheric, with some good descriptive writing, but ultimately the story peters out and goes nowhere.

Rory and Jemma meet in drunken circumstances and seemingly against Jemma’s better judgment she becomes involved in a serious relationship with Rory and they buy a dilapidated house as a doer-upper. From the get go, it’s apparent that the house is strange, with dead animals appearing in the garden and oddly intense neighbours Ed and Catherine next door.

The book has a strange narrative style in the sense that the story is written from the retrospective perspective of someone observing Jemma. I didn’t mind this too much as it added to the sinister atmosphere, but ultimately the characters remained unknowable and the mysteries at the heart of the story unsolved.

I’m not the sort of reader who needs everything tied up in a neat bow but I’m not sure what the author was trying to do here. Nothing is ever explained and every loose thread is left hanging. Portray a woman having a nervous breakdown, buckling under the pressure of a relationship she doesn’t want to be in perhaps? A just ok 2.5 stars for me, though there is some decent writing here. 2.5/5⭐️

Many thanks to Salt Publishing for the arc via @netgalley. As always, an honest review.

[Kayleigh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lie of the Land.

Lie of the Land.

I've got to be perfectly honest here; I'm not exactly sure about what I've just read. This book is like the literary equivalent of 'no thoughts just vibes', and didn't really give me the mysterious thriller I was hoping for...more like a constant feeling of 'eh?!' with barely any clue on what was going on from page to page.

The narration style and lack of chapters being properly laid out didn't do it for me, and any hope of tension being built simply didn't happen. It felt dirgy, like wading through treacle, and barely anything of note occurred. Then when things did occur it was so outlandish and not fitting with the tone of the book it was what I imagine a psychotic break feels like. Perhaps that's actually the point of the book and I've accidentally experienced it as intended.

To read the full review check out my blog post: https://kayleighannaleise.blogspot.co...

[Rachel Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for a honest review.

Lie of the Land is an atmospheric novel that explores the darkness simmering beneath the surface of a deteriorating relationship. The story dives into the complexities of guilt, suspicion, and buried secrets, with an eerie tension that keeps the reader intrigued. Hadley-Pryce’s prose is dense and unconventional, which, while stylistically bold, sometimes feels difficult to follow and may disrupt the narrative’s flow.

The protagonists move into a run-down house becomes a metaphor for their crumbling relationship, as the novel builds tension around the secrets each character is hiding, the strain of their financial situation, and the isolation they feel in this unfamiliar, unsettling rural environment. Some aspects were very reminiscent to my first purchase of a property, the underwhelming excitement of owning land and overwhelming burden of making it your own.

While the novel’s mystery elements are compelling, there are points that feel inadequately researched, particularly regarding how the media would handle details around suicide attempts. This oversight can be jarring and pulls the reader out of the story, especially for those familiar with these topics.

Overall, Lie of the Land is an intriguing but challenging read, suited to those who appreciate psychologically rich stories and don’t mind an unconventional, sometimes disorienting narrative style.

[vince weldon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kerry Hadley-Price is a new author to me, though this is her fourth novel from Salt Publishing...I'm left wondering if they're all as dry as this offering.

The book has elements of Urban Horror, young couple buy a "do-er upper", house has a history of failures and an inexplicable malignancy, freaky neighbours with hidden issues...then a tragic event occurs which takes us on a head scratching journey - but no spoilers...not my style

Most of what I wrote above you can get from the cover and the advertising blurb - or from other reviews that serve to repeat such information...

What was a spoiler for me is the strange narrative style that I assume Ms Hadley-Price experiments with here...page after page of "Jemma will tell how..." or "Jemma will say..." or "She'll tell..." or "she'll say"...over time it becomes galling and took something from my enjoyment of the storytelling...there are long paragraphs placed throughout the book, whole pages where there are no indents , no line breaks...long consecutive sentences full of the "will tell/say..." nonsense...they cried out to be skim read and most of the time I obliged as half way through the book I was begging for it to stop...

...and eventually it does stop and Vince will say what was that all about, where did it go, why did we go there...Vince will tell how he feels robbed of four days of his reading life that he can never get back...Vince will not be rereading this book as it offered him nothing.


I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Neville Townsend · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jemma and Rory are in a fairly new relationship when they buy a place that needs a lot of work. A creepy domestic thriller that once you get passed the writing style is gripping and well written. I enjoyed this book a lot. Thanks to Salt publishing and Netgalley for this review ARC.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very creepy.

[Steve Cripwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Rocks’ is a run-down, ‘doer-upper’ and right from the off, Jemma is reluctant and unhappy, far from ready for commitment. But there is something about the house that is both compelling and sinister, and the situation takes a darker turn when a terrible accident happens involving their new next door neighbours, forcing both Jemma and Rory to tackle their inner demons.

There is something wonderful in the way this book is written. It’s different but utterly gripping, impossible to put down. The descriptions and characters live in the pages superbly. I loved it.

[Hugo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A 'literary thriller'—and reviews here would indicate a section of the audience better at reading one of these genres than the other—according to the back cover blurb, an unsettling story of a young professional woman trapped by circumstance in a fledgling relationship and a crumbling, cold house, beginning and ending with environmental metaphors of darkness and flight, told in an impersonal—yet intimate and compelling—style of third-person confessional which itself introduces the possibility of ambiguity, and keeps the tale's protagonist at a distance, leading to a chilling ending which brings us full circle back to the opening chapter.

Kudos to Salt for pushing this book out into the ARC reader community; a shame it's resulted in so many low-star reviews (the lowest rating Hadley-Pryce's work has yet managed on Goodreads). Perhaps offering this sort of book to readers who require likeable characters, those asking "Why does she write like that?" as if it's a personal affront, without stopping and thinking, "Actually, why does she write like that?" and treating "Not exactly sure what I've just read," as the author's fault rather their own isn't quite the outreach the publisher, or the author, intended... or deserves.

[Sandra Vdplaats · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my, what an extraordinary book and what brilliant prose. A gem!

To be honest, the fact that it was published by Salt was enough to make me want to read it, even though I hadn't read the blurb; I've been reading their exceptional publications for years (The Lighthouse, Alison Moore, Looking Out of Broken Windows, Storm Warning, Vanesse Gebbie, The Method, Tom Vowler, An Account of the Decline of The Great Auk, According to One Who Saw It, Jessie Greengrass) to name a few of my favourite award-winning publications, as well as their Best British Short Stories collections) - and I say this will definitely be another winner!!

Jemma is a family lawyer who meets Rory in a bar. She decides to make a move on him - Rory is then still engaged to Sophie - they end up having a relationship, with tragic consequences.
The novel explores how people gravitate towards one another,- and the warning that you shouldn't waste good things on others that they won't appreciate; and it gives us a glimpse of the different stages of a relationship between men and women.
Being in a relationship at the same is a threat of "loss of individuality, a loss of one's own existence and identity"

The strength of the story lies mainly in the almost hypnotic narrative technique, - almost like a stream of consciousness, with an interior dialogue, giving you the characters’ thoughts as they happen.

Once settled, Jemma wonders what possessed her, 'who in their right mind would want to live in a nowhere place like this...[ red ], and we witness things falling apart quite quickly. (‘the slipping of two hands..’) ‘Trying to work out what was real and what was not, this strange dance we have to do to keep going, to keep living..’.[ red].

This dark and haunting, almost hallucinatory story, 'I feel like we've been drugged or something...' 'It was like waking up from a dream or a nightmare. [red.], a world, where real and imagined realities collide in a non-linear plot, was hard to put down, and felt more like a dream, reflecting a state of mind. The hallucinatory and hypnotic style of writing reminded me of that of Anna Kavan, one of my favourite authors.

The style of writing forces the reader to be an observer, you can almost feel the unease, the jokes that go wrong, the bleakness and the dark, poignant, otherworldly, atmosphere. It hangs over the setting like a thick cake, almost like a character on its own; the coldness and damp of the house under construction, with its austere atmosphere and strange noises, versus the warmly styled home of Catherine and Ed, and the almost erotic charge that seems to exist between Jemma and Catherine.
And what happened to the girl, and Jemma’s earring? Surely Rory saw it too?

Beautiful, beautiful! Highly recommended. 4.5 stars.

[Lydia Omodara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jemma isn't sure that she wants to be with Rory, let alone be buying a dilapidated ruin of a house deep in the Black Country with him. Reluctantly, she moves into The Rocks, but immediately feels something off about the house - and about their new neighbours.

It is important to remember when reading Kerry Hadley-Pryce's Lie of the Land that it is a literary thriller rather than a no-frills thriller. If you come to this book expecting breakneck twists and turns, red herrings, cliffhanger chapter endings (in fact, any chapters at all!) and a tidy resolution, then you will likely be disappointed. Lie of the Land is a novel that prioritises atmosphere and characterisation over plot, and, for me, it does so very successfully.

From the opening words of the book, Hadley-Pryce crafts an oppressive atmosphere that becomes more and more stifling as the tension builds, and we delve deeper into Jemma's troubled psyche. The characters feel unlikeable and unsettling, even when they are ostensibly attempting to be loving or friendly. Even Jemma, our protagonist, feels suspect thanks to a unique narrative voice that relays her story as if she were recalling it to a police officer: 'It was cold that day, Jemma would tell.'

I was a little disappointed that several important questions remained unanswered at the novel's conclusion, but then again, that wasn't really the author's point, so it feels somewhat churlish to be frustrated. Perhaps the main question we should be asking is this: how much of what happens in the book really happened, and how much of it is in Jemma's mind? The descriptions of both characters and settings - most notably the house and the nearby canal - are so eerie and laden with portent that they alone kept me gripped; Hadley-Pryce takes Stephen King's concept of slippage and uses it to embue the area of the West Midlands known as the Black Country with a quiet menace.

Thank you to NetGalley and Salt Publishing for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[A.J. Sefton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every now and again, a book captures my attention like a fish hook and I'm painfully pulled into the murky tale, unable to escape. Lie of the Land is one of these. A dark and unsettling story, a bit weird and eerily brilliant.

A young woman family lawyer meets a man with the intention of a brief affair - he is engaged after all. But this quickly becomes something else as they commit to buying an old dilapidated Victorian house with the intention of doing it up and selling it in order to make a profit. They make friends with their next-door neighbours who have two daughters.

The story opens with the main character describing the big oak tree that blocks out the light in the garden, and the birds she believes are nesting in it. These are things she refers to throughout: the oppressive tree and the house, the birds symbolic of freedom and the tenuous link between life and death. She finds herself strangely trapped like a bird caught in the attic. Although she is a successful professional she remains caught in a relationship she doesn't care for in a house she doesn't like.

The writing style is unusual but suits the tone of uncertainty and suggests, perhaps, the mindset of someone in the legal profession. From the lawyer's perspective in the third person, everything is expressed in a future tense, not always clearly and with a fair amount of ambiguity that leaves everything open. Excellent writing.

However, the real main character is the landscape. Set in the Black Country, an area undefined in the the English Midlands, there is a hint of crime and unsafe areas such as the canal. There is a gothic atmosphere highlighted by the tall buildings, cold weather and sunless rooms - even the girl next-door dresses as a 'Goth'. This is a story of stagnation and continuity, from the ancient oak and rituals of birds, to rocks and fossils. If someone wasn't of the Black Country to start with, they would change to become part of that land.

A clever, psychologically disturbing and an original book.

[Mel · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have to be honest...I have absolutely no idea what I've read.

The story follows Rory and Jemma, who have a drunken one night stand, which leads to Rory's fiancee trying to take her own life. Rory and Jemma end up in a relationship. It's unclear whether this happens before or after the incident with his fiancee. They then buy a run-down house together to fix up. Mysterious events happen, but also don't happen. Nothing is explained. Everything is just left hanging or repeated in an endless cycle.

That is the extent of what I managed to pick out of the disjointed, meandering, sometimes paragraph long sentences. The writing style was so convoluted that I often found myself reading the same lines over several times trying to understand the point that was meant to be made, and by about 30-35% of the way through I gave up rereading sections because I realised there was no point to be understood, it was just unnecessary waffle. "She’ll say he didn’t even look back at her, he just dismissed that, like it wasn’t anything, and she’ll say, yes, she called his name, and she followed him down the hallway like she was chasing him but all she could do was watch as he put his coat on and struggled to open the front door." Sometimes whole pages have sentence after sentence like this, with no paragraphs, no line breaks, nothing to break up the wall of text. It got to the point where I was looking forward to the end of the book, purely so it was over. The complete lack of clearly defined chapters, just sudden random timeline changes, didn't help with comprehending what was going on.

Unfortunately, instead of the mysterious thriller I was expecting, this was just a string of ideas with little to no substance. I found the book boring and confusing with flat, unlikeable characters and geographical inconsistencies.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a review copy of this book.

[Carole Tyrrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple, Rory and Jemma, have bought ‘The Rocks’, a dilapidated, almost derelict house. Rory is very enthusiastic and can see real potential and money to be made from it once it’s fixed up. Jemma, however, is less convinced, both about the house and their relationship but she goes along with it.
They met at a club and he told her that it was ‘already taken’. Rory had a fiancée called Sophie and she tried to warn Jemma off. But now that she’s got him as she likes a challenge, she isn’t so keen and has a
‘terrifying vision of him and her still together in five, ten, twenty years time.’
But she also sees the house as a chance to make some real money. However, the house has cold spots, an unpredictable boiler and a strong smell of damp. They meet their neighbours, Ed and Cath, and on returning home, a door slams and a voice says
‘you shouldn’t be here.’
and then Jemma finds a young girl in the back garden on a cold night…
‘The Lie of the Land’ is written as if someone’s telling you the story in an almost aggressive, confrontational tone was as in ‘she’ll tell you’ or ‘she’ll say’ which took a bit of getting used to.
Neither Rory nor Jemma were particularly likeable characters and it was hard to feel sympathetic towards them. The business with the child was never resolved properly and the supernatural element seemed to just fade away.
In some ways it was a strange novel as there were several elements in it, none of which came together; supernatural overtones, crime, toxic relationships and a hint of ‘The Stepford Wives’ which didn’t entirely work as a whole. What was the point of Sophie? Why does Rory kill the bird in the loft?
At the end, Rory and Jemma were trapped; by the house, by the neighbours and their own choices and inertia.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

[Judith H · Rating 5 out of 5]

'A dark, domestic literary thriller' says the back cover copy, and yes, Lie of the Land is these things, exploring as it does the deeply troubled relationship between Jemma and Rory who have taken on a decaying house in the Midlands as a 'doer-upper'. Jemma, we are told, is logical, methodical, but the narrative voice is both forensic in its attention to what might be said or inferred, and deeply, wholly unreliable in its insistence on the future tense for how Jemma might relate events at some unspecified point - almost as if she is preparing for her own interrogation, and defence. This device ('Jemma will tell how...' etc) induced in me a sense of dread. I assume I'm not meant to fully understand what has happened, or what trauma has been activated or reactivated, but hints and signs lurk and scratch and tug throughout; I was constantly guessing, then doubting my own thoughts. A compulsive read, certainly. Once I'd reached the end I returned to the opening pages and found one or two small details I'd missed - testament to the richness of this novel. However, while the setting is 'domestic' and suburban, it is the landscape, the earth, the geology that haunts or perhaps infects the point of view. From Jemma's perspective, the house is stuttering, rotting. The damp, the smells, the plants, the birds, the trees, the rocks are evoked with exquisite, probing specificity; are they telling the truth or covering it up? The seams of damage, psychological or otherwise, run deep. 'There are events that are nameless,' we are told. I suspect I'll be mulling over Lie of the Land for some while yet.

[Andy – And The Plot Thickens · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a sense, isn't there, of being drawn into someone's orbit? Of being, against your will, actually, quietly vaporised. We all understand that. It's nothing new, but a darkness is always behind it.

Jemma and Rory meet in a bar one night and have a one-night stand, even though Rory already has a fiancée. Soon, they enter into a relationship and even though they've only been together for six months, they buy a depressing large fixer-upper together in the Midlands. They make friends with their new neighbours, but a tragic accident will shock the couple and draw them into making an awful decision.

'Lie of the Land' is described as a 'dark, domestic literary thriller'. I would add a touch of horror to that description. The first thing I'd critique about the book is that it is achingly slow. I know that literary fiction often is, but the motivating event only happens in the second half of the book, which, for me, made the first half a bit of a slog.

I'm not averse to literary thrillers: I love Tana French, for example, but while the language in 'Lie of the Land' is certainly poetic and lyrical, I found it tedious at times. There is a certain stylistic choice the author makes in the way she tells the story, which is sometimes brilliant and sometimes frustrating. You'll know what I mean if you read this book.

There is a pervasive sense of darkness and unease in the book, but the author doesn't seem to build on this, so the suspense doesn't increase as the plot develops, and sometimes I struggled to convince myself to pick the book back up.

I think this just wasn't my cup of tea.

[Karine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hauntingly beautiful, mesmerizing, harrowing and poetic. This is undoubtedly one of my favorite reads this year!

Where the storyline is relatively simple (young couple buys a fixer-upper that turns out to be a money pit), the undercurrents that flow through the book is pulling the reader in different directions. Is it the buildup to domestic abuse? Is it about a young woman who is slowly descending into madness? Are the neighbors just plain sociopaths, or is her husband a murderer? There are many interpretation possible, and none lead to the seemingly happy ending that is proposed by the author. What really happend is left to the imagination of the reader, and I must have a twisted mind, because I've rarely felt so uneasy and fearful by a fictional story. At a certain moment (right after the "accident"), I even had to stop reading to collect my thoughts, but I was strangely pulled back to the unusual, addictive prose.

And talking about the prose: yes it is unusual. The way we read Jemma's thoughts can feel irritating at first, but I quickly got used to it and it absolutely adds another layer of strangeness to this already nightmarish narrative. And at the same time it is poetic, lyrical, just perfect to render the bleak atmosphere of the Black Country setting and the uncanny cast of characters.

I can only strongly recommend this book, which is an absolute gem. Bravo !

My heartfelt thanks to NetGalley, Salt Publishing and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[tinalouisereadsbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jemma Crawford is on a girls night out when she meets Rory. Rory already has a girlfriend but that doesn't stop them. The couple are soon buying a house together, a doer-upper. The story then goes on from there.

The story is set in The Black Country. Being from here myself I can easily visualise the places mentioned. Stourbridge (been many times), the cut (walked along), Russells Hall Hospital (been there don't want to go again), Barrow Hill ( haven't been but know it). I have to say the area is not as grim as it's made out but for drama purposes I will forgive the author.

The house does play a big part in the story. It has a very sinister feel to it and I couldn't make my mind up if it is supposed to be haunted or not. Again the house is just another grim element to the story.

The neighbours play apart also in the story and there is one particular part where I was quite lost with what was happening but I ended up just going with the flow. The writing style is a little unusual and not what I am used to but I managed ok.

Overall I liked the book in a quirky kind of way. It had an unsettling feel to it and gosh it was grim.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having read all this author’s books to date, I honestly, truly feel like I’ve been on a journey with her. And as much as each book reads as a stand-alone piece, I love how they almost link together, the author creating a universe of her own, set here, and there, within the boundaries of the Black Country.

Lie of the Land is a haunting, unnerving, uncomfortable read, and yet it is completely addictive and unputdownable. The author, with her mastery of words, pulls you, drags you through a very messy time between the two main protagonists and their rather strange, something-not-quite-right-about-them neighbours. The writing gives off a grimy, greasy, dirty, dusty vibe, that leaves you feeling somewhat unclean yourself, as if you need, as we say in the Black Country, “a good wesh” once you’ve finished.

I particularly enjoy how the writing leaves you with more questions than answers. And where the book could continue, I am glad it stops when it does. There’s no cliffhanger, no duh-duh-duuhhhh, just your imagination going into overdrive at Lie of the Land’s climax.

Yet another triumph by the Black Country’s very own, Kerry Hadley-Pryce.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a dark and sometimes unsettling book about a young woman named Jemma and her boyfriend Rory. They buy their first home together in the Black Country in the Midlands, England. The Victorian home needs a lot of work, and Jemma is not a fan of it. Rory is keen to invest in the house and make it a home.

Their relationship is fairly new, and they are still learning things about one another, including Rory’s previous relationship with Sophie. He was with Sophie when he met Jemma, which brings up many issues for them.

When they move in, they discover that the house is hiding many secrets, and when something happens to the next-door neighbours, they begin to doubt and rethink everything.

Although the dark and spooky atmosphere is a good read, the style of writing made it very difficult for me to get into. The ‘Jemma will say this’ and ‘Jemma will tell how’ writing throughout the book is an unusual way of writing, and it took me out of the story more than encouraged me to continue reading.

If you don’t mind this type of writing, then this is a good, spooky read.

[Murphy Graves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lie of the Land is domestic fiction with a thriller edge and just a sprinkle of horror set in the UK's Black Country. Jemma and Rory have recently started a relationship and bought a fixer-upper in the Midlands. Jemma is ready for neither. Hadley-Pryce takes you gently by the hand and leads you into a bleak, unsettling place where everyone and everything is just a bit…off.

Overall, this is a deeply unsettling fever dream of a novel. It's a quick read, but you won't relax the entire time. The brisk pace keeps you engaged, making it a domestic horror that delves into the awful feeling of being absorbed into another person's life.

The narrative voice takes some getting used to with its constant "Jemma will tell you" and "Jemma will say." It sets up a distrust of our main characters, and their actions don't do much to change that over the course of the novel. Of course, the secondary characters don't seem especially trustworthy, either. You'll be constantly off balance and questioning.

Regarding the characters, Hadley-Pryce did a fantastic job populating her bleak landscape with people ranging from "the worst" to "seems fine, but is probably the worst." The true horror is that these characters are entirely believable. I found myself identifying with some and being repulsed by others.

I won't spoil the ending for you. Still, if you're not okay with a certain
amount of ambiguity, you'll likely be disappointed by this one. I actually went back and reread the last 30-ish pages to make sure I hadn't missed anything. There's definitely more going on than meets the eye, but there are no neat, easy answers at the end of this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Salt Publishing for the ARC.

[e taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really, really didn't like this one at all. The writing was awkward and disjointed. There wasn't a single character who wasn't an asshole. And I'm not sure what was happening to be honest.

I hated the whole "she'd say", or "she'd tell you" way of writing. And the sentences were so so meandering. "She'll tell how, yes, it was freezing, the air was, and it was quiet, and there was an odd feeling there, as if where she stood had been transplanted there, into that place from another time, and she'll say she had a sudden urge to be the same as all the rest of them, to get rid of the weeds and mess, to renovate this place, live the suburban life, and just...be the same, settle down."
THAT IS ONE SENTENCE, and it doesn't really have a point.

The saving grace was that at least it was short, and I was able to read it in one sitting, because I don't think I would have come back to it if I'd put it down.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC, but this one wasn't for me.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lie of the Land offers a haunting exploration of toxic relationships, secrets and deceit that lingers long after the last page and leaves you wondering what actually happened. The unusual and repetitive writing style initially posed a challenge, but ultimately creates a hypnotic, dreamlike feel that encourages rapid reading. The author paints vivid images of the landscape, enhancing the overall sense of creepiness and intrigue. Dark, cold and atmospheric, I could actually feel the chill while reading. The characters add depth to this unsettling world, revealing the complexities of human emotion and the moral ambiguities faced. Overall, while the writing style may be polarizing, it undeniably immerses readers in a chilling, unforgettable experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Salt Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for my review

[Teresa Auden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to read this book - the premise of a dark, suspenseful storyline intrigued me. However I really disliked the author's 'narrative' style of writing. I tried so hard to ignore the continual 'she'll say this', 'she'll say that' but it just irritated me to the point that I found it a chore to keep reading.
The setting of the novel, a dilapidated house in the Black Country with curious neighbours, worked well to convey a sense of foreboding. There was something very unsettling about it, and I can't fault the author's ability to create a feeling of unease. As the story progresses, questions arise that never seem to be fully answered, and the ending left me feeling disappointed.
I am sure that many people will enjoy this novel but sadly it wasn't for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

[Richard Clay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Familiar in tone to those who've read her earlier novels, this onemail introduces a new and, for me, an initially jarring note with Ed, the ghastly crass neighbour of Jemma, the protagonist. To start with, I thought he was the kind of ghoul more at home in something by Helen Zahavi or Sarah Daniels but, by the end, I accepted that, like everyone else in the book, he was mostly the product of Jemma's distorted perceptions. And those perceptions are very distorted indeed! At one point, she enters a subway at the top end of Stourbridge High Street. Readers who know the town will notice that she emerges from a completely different subway half a mlie away. It reminds me of HP Lovectaft's immortal 'angle that was acute bit behaved as if it was obtuse.' With reality so distorted, the reader won't be expecting things to turn out well and indeed, they don't...

[Haxxunne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dark, cold, creepy haunting house thriller

Written in the illeistic, this is a creepy novel of a one night stand that turns into buying a creepier house at the edge of civilisation, and the seeming haunting and apparitions that the female lead, Jemma, sees but never quite believes.

Or is it? Her new boyfriend is not all that he seems, their bright shiny neighbours are clearly hiding something, and the bleak garden is a death trap that appears too claim a life before Jemma’s very eyes.

Or does it? I throw my hands up. I don’t really know. I’ve read some horror/thriller mashups this year, and some have been great, some have been terrible.

Two stars, for the atmosphere.

[jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always enjoy an unsettling story, even more when a creepy house is involved, and I was therefore looking forward to this one, particularly when I discovered the author teaches, and has a PhD in, creative writing.
However, although its always interesting to read different ways of telling a tale I really struggled with having a narrator, and the constant use of "she'll say" and "she'll tell" really grated making it difficult to stay concentrated on the story. Then it just ended.
Thank you to netgalley and Salt publishing for an advance copy of this book.
2.5 rounded up to 3 stars

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plus points for the bleak, unsettling and stifling atmosphere conjured by the author mirroring Jemma’s mental disintegration. Negative points for the jumbled, and what becomes irritating narrative style, especially the retrospective third person “Jemma would say…” telling. Makes me wonder if the author has listened to ‘What She Said’ by The Smiths a few too many times. The ending seemed unsatisfying with no tying of some loose plot threads. But maybe that’s deliberate. To get the reader to come to their own conclusion. A good, but not great, Black Country noir read.