The Holiday Home: The twisty and addictive new thriller from the bestselling author of The Ex-Wife

by Jess Ryder

Unpack more secrets with Jess Ryder this summer in this new unputdownable thriller from the bestselling author of The Villa and The Ex-Wife. Perfect for fans of TM Logan's The Holiday and Lucy Clarke's The Surf House.

'I loved this book! Lots of great twists' - 5-star reader review
'I literally couldn't put this book down' - 5-star reader review
'A gripping psychological thriller that had me hooked from the beginning' - 5-star reader review
'Fantastic twist of an ending!' - 5-star reader review

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When Luna returns to her late father’s farmhouse in the Tuscan hills, she’s hoping for closure.

The last thing she expects is for another family to turn up, claiming they’ve booked Luna’s family home for their holiday.

Reluctantly Luna allows the family full run of the house while she and her husband camp out nearby.

But as the heat rises, so does the tension.

Then the accidents start.
Small at first.
Soon impossible to ignore.

Everyone is hiding something… and someone will stop at nothing to claim what isn’t theirs.

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PRAISE FOR JESS RYDER

'Gripping' Sunday Times Style

'Full of surprises' The Sun

'A great read' Catherine Cooper, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Island

'Kept me up late into the early hours' Ali Lowe, bestselling author of The Running Club

'‘You’ll love the way the chapters switch from the weekend of the murder to the return visit, as the hunt for the killer takes some unexpected, and violent, turns' Daily Express

366 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 16, 2026

About the author

Jess Ryder is a pseudonym of novelist/screenwriter/television producer, Jan Page

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Holiday Home is a great summer beach read, a tense domestic thriller.

It’s very hard to know who to trust, as Luna returns to her father’s house in the Tuscan hills following his death, only to find it has been rented as an airbnb. Scandal abounds as each parties interests are unearthed, and the sultry summer atmosphere turns isolated and claustrophobic.

I would have loved a slightly faster pace, but the second half really picked up, and the ending was well worth the investment. It had much the same vibes as Lucy Clark’s The Beach House - I love a quiet, sinister destination thriller.

I’d recommend for anyone looking for a tense and twisty thriller. Thank you to the publisher for an advance copy of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.

[Heather Cairns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent summer read that kept me guessing till the end! Loved it

[Val Wheeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do love coming across a book I really enjoy, by an author I've not read before and The Holiday Home by Jess Ryder was definitely one of those gems!

An intriguing psychological thriller involving Luna who goes to stay at her late father's home in Italy, only to find its been rented out for the summer to a family. Luna doesn't appreciate having to let them use the house and camps nearby. Lots of secrets and family issues arising making this a really intriguing read and one I really enjoyed.

A great twisty read that keeps you guessing throughout and very well written which allows the reader to picture the location, characters and the farmhouse well.

The narrators also did a good job on the audio version.

I cant wait to read more by this author.

A big thanks to Random House UK, Cornerstone | Penguin for the advance copy for an honest review.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luna arrives at her late dad father’s Tuscan farmhouse, hoping to relax and get closure. When another family turn up, claiming they have the house booked for a holiday, Luna is shocked but reluctantly lets them stay. But she doesn’t fully trust them and soon the line between guest and intruder blur. Then small accidents start and it becomes clear that everyone is hiding something.

I have enjoyed the past books I have read by this author and this sounded like another mysterious, highly intriguing destination thriller, so I was looking forward to reading it. It took me a short while to get into this one, but once I did I was hooked and needed to carry on reading to discover what would happen next. I enjoyed the shimmering tension and especially enjoyed the Italian setting and the descriptions of the house. There was an element of uncertainty and unease running throughout, where there was a sense that something was not quite right, and it was fun working out the mystery as the story continued.

The characters were well written, however many were highly unlikeable. Even so, this made them interesting and entertaining to read about. Although I predicted some parts, others were a surprise, with some excellent twists throughout the story. This was another entertaining, well executed thriller by this author and would make a perfect holiday read. I hope there will be more to come like this. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for an honest review.

[Mona Sami · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy of *The Holiday Home* before publication. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

*The Holiday Home* is a tense psychological thriller about grief, family secrets and a dream holiday that gradually turns into something dangerous. Set in the beautiful Tuscan hills, it combines an idyllic summer setting with suspicious strangers, unexplained accidents and the growing fear that someone has deliberately lured two families into the same isolated place.

Following the death of her father, Luna returns to his farmhouse in Tuscany with her husband. She hopes that spending time at the property will give her an opportunity to say goodbye, deal with everything he left behind and perhaps find some closure. The house is filled with memories, making the visit emotionally difficult even before anything begins to go wrong.

The last thing Luna expects is for another family to arrive and announce that they have booked the farmhouse as their holiday accommodation. They appear to have a legitimate reservation and are equally surprised to discover Luna already there. With nowhere else immediately available, Luna reluctantly agrees to let them stay in the house while she and her husband camp nearby.

From the beginning, the arrangement feels uncomfortable. Luna is grieving and does not want strangers occupying her father’s home, particularly when she has returned to deal with such a personal loss. Allowing another family to use the bedrooms, belongings and private spaces makes her feel as though she is losing control of the house before she has even decided what to do with it.

The visitors initially appear friendly enough, but tension quickly develops. Small disagreements, intrusive questions and strange behaviour make Luna wonder whether their arrival was really an innocent booking mistake. The situation becomes increasingly disturbing when a series of accidents begins. Each incident can be explained individually, but together they create the impression that someone is deliberately placing Luna and her husband in danger.

The central premise immediately caught my attention. A double booking is an ordinary inconvenience, but in an isolated farmhouse it becomes far more threatening. Luna cannot simply leave without abandoning the home she has travelled to protect, while allowing the strangers to remain gives them access to a place filled with her family’s history and secrets.

The Tuscan setting is one of the strongest aspects of the novel. The beautiful landscape, intense summer heat and remote farmhouse initially suggest peace and escape. As the tension rises, however, the isolation becomes dangerous. Help is not always close by, mobile communication cannot necessarily be relied upon and the heat seems to increase the hostility between the characters.

I particularly enjoyed the contrast between the attractive holiday setting and the growing sense of menace. From the outside, the farmhouse appears to be the perfect place for a relaxing summer break. Inside, the atmosphere becomes claustrophobic as Luna begins watching the visitors and questioning every unusual sound, missing object and unexplained incident.

The story also explores how grief can affect a person’s judgment. Luna is already emotionally vulnerable because of her father’s death, and returning to the house forces her to confront memories she has not fully processed. When she begins expressing concern about the other family, it is easy for those around her to suggest that she is tired, overwhelmed or allowing her grief to make her suspicious.

This makes Luna increasingly isolated. She cannot be certain whether her instincts are warning her about a genuine threat or whether the emotional pressure of returning home is causing her to interpret harmless events as dangerous. The more she questions the visitors, the more difficult it becomes for her to persuade anyone that something is seriously wrong.

Luna’s relationship with her father is gradually revealed through the house and the secrets connected to it. Her return is not simply a practical visit to sort through his belongings. It becomes an attempt to understand a man she may not have known as completely as she believed. As new information emerges, she is forced to reconsider parts of her family history and question whether her father had been hiding something from her.

The other family adds an effective layer of uncertainty because their motives are difficult to read. At times, they seem like ordinary holidaymakers who have been placed in an awkward situation through no fault of their own. At other moments, their behaviour feels calculated, and their interest in the farmhouse appears to extend beyond wanting somewhere to stay.

The balance of power constantly shifts. Luna is the legal and emotional owner of the property, but the visitors occupy the house while she sleeps outside. They begin behaving as though the place belongs to them, leaving Luna feeling like an outsider at her own family home. That reversal contributes strongly to the tension.

There is also something unsettling about strangers becoming familiar with a private family space. They can open cupboards, examine photographs and move freely through rooms containing objects connected to Luna’s childhood. Even if their booking is genuine, their presence feels invasive. Once Luna begins suspecting that they are lying, every part of that access becomes potentially dangerous.

The novel raises interesting questions about hospitality and social pressure. Luna agrees to an arrangement she clearly does not want because refusing would appear unreasonable. She does not wish to ruin another family’s holiday or create a confrontation before she understands how the booking occurred. That initial politeness gradually traps her in a situation that becomes harder to control.

The chapters are short, and the story moves quickly once the visitors arrive. New suspicions and incidents are introduced regularly, making it easy to continue reading. The narrative relies heavily on uncertainty, with almost every character appearing capable of concealing something.

As the accidents become more serious, Luna begins investigating the booking and the family’s connection to the farmhouse. The questions extend beyond who arranged the reservation. She must also determine whether the visitors knew her father, whether they expected her to be there and what they might be searching for inside the property.

The gradual suggestion that the double booking may have been deliberate is effective. It changes the situation from an unfortunate mistake into a possible trap. If someone arranged for both families to be present, then the apparent accidents may be part of a much larger plan.

The book is strongest when it focuses on the tension inside and around the farmhouse. The isolated setting, the increasingly hostile interactions and Luna’s inability to prove that anything deliberate is happening create a convincing atmosphere of paranoia. I wanted to know why the family had arrived and what connection they might have to Luna’s father.

However, some aspects require suspension of disbelief. Luna’s decision to allow complete strangers to occupy her late father’s house while she camps outside is difficult to accept, particularly once their behaviour begins to make her uncomfortable. Although the lack of alternative accommodation helps explain the situation, I still questioned why firmer boundaries were not established.

There are also moments when Luna and her husband could have communicated more directly or sought outside help sooner. Some of their decisions appear designed to keep them isolated and allow the tension to continue. This is common in psychological thrillers, but it occasionally made the characters’ behaviour feel less natural.

The plot uses several familiar devices, including a remote holiday property, suspicious guests, a grieving protagonist and a dead relative who left behind secrets. These elements are entertaining, but they also make parts of the story easier to anticipate. I suspected some of the explanations before Luna discovered them.

A few of the supporting characters could have been developed further. The members of the visiting family are primarily viewed through Luna’s suspicion, and greater depth might have made it more difficult to decide who was genuinely dangerous. Some characters seem deliberately unsettling from an early stage, reducing the ambiguity slightly.

The relationship between Luna and her husband also becomes increasingly important as the pressure rises. A frightening situation can either bring a couple together or expose existing weaknesses, and the novel uses the holiday to test how honestly they communicate and how much they trust one another.

I would have liked a little more emotional exploration of Luna’s grief and her relationship with her father. The mystery surrounding the farmhouse is compelling, but the personal significance of returning there could have carried even greater weight. Some discoveries arrive quickly when they might have benefited from more time to affect Luna emotionally.

The final section becomes much faster and more dramatic as the apparent accidents, the booking and the secrets connected to Luna’s father begin to come together. The beautiful holiday setting is replaced by a genuine sense of danger, and Luna must decide whom she can trust before someone is seriously harmed.

There are several twists and changes of direction. Some are effective, while others feel slightly convenient or more dramatic than realistic. Although I predicted parts of the truth, I remained interested in seeing how the different characters and secrets were connected.

Overall, *The Holiday Home* is an enjoyable and fast-paced psychological thriller with a strong summer setting and an immediately unsettling premise. The idea of returning to a family home only to discover strangers claiming the right to stay there creates tension from the beginning, while the isolated Tuscan farmhouse provides an effective backdrop for secrets and danger.

The story kept me reading, and I enjoyed the growing suspicion surrounding the other family and their connection to Luna’s father. However, some character decisions, coincidences and later revelations required considerable suspension of disbelief. The premise was stronger than parts of its execution, and several elements felt familiar from other holiday-based thrillers.

Nevertheless, this was an entertaining summer read that should appeal to fans of isolated settings, family secrets, unwanted guests and holidays that go disastrously wrong.

[Diane Elizabeth Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some houses don't need ghosts to feel haunted, just heat, isolation, and the wrong guests.

The Holiday Home by Jess Ryder is a gripping psychological thriller set in the sun-baked hills of Tuscany. The family's longtime holiday sanctuary, a secluded farmhouse, should be a place of comfort, but Luna is grieving for her father and that loss still hangs over every room.

Scorching heat and isolation turn the idyllic views into a suffocating trap. A dual timeline slowly weaves past and present together, peeling back old family secrets even as new danger closes in, giving the story real depth. Luna, still raw from grief and quietly worried about her mother's worsening dementia, is emotionally exposed when unexpected guests intrude on the one place that was supposed to be safe.

As the strangers settle in, the lines between host and guest blur, then vanish entirely, and the house itself starts to feel like enemy territory.
The growing tension between Luna and her partner, Ben, increases the stakes, straining trust and sanity alike.

Ryder builds an atmospheric, character-driven mystery thick with dread , a smart, unsettling pick for anyone wanting a holiday read with real bite.

My thanks to Random House UK Cornerstone for the ARC.

[Morag Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant piece of psychological fiction that kept me hooked from start to finish. The story follows Luna, whose family have always had a slightly hippy, unconventional streak. When her mother is diagnosed with early onset dementia and her father later passes away, Luna returns to the family’s beloved holiday home in Italy — only to discover it’s been let out on Airbnb to strangers.

The author skilfully weaves together two timelines: one set in the past, exploring Luna’s immediate family and the events leading up to her father’s death, and one in the present, following the guests now staying in the house. The two threads gradually pull together into a dark, twisty story where not everyone survives — and the tension builds beautifully as the connections between past and present come to light.

This is exactly what a good psychological thriller should be: easy to read, engaging, and full of unexpected turns. Highly recommended for anyone who loves the genre.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to review an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

Well, I thought I had it sussed, fantastic twist of an ending!

The book was well written once it got going fast paced and packed full of information as the story unfolded! The characters were relatable and I really liked how the storyline evolved.

Luna and husband Ben decided to take a trip out to the family villa after the death of her father to try and come to terms with the grief. Once there she discovers that her late father had infact turned the villa into an Airbnb as another family turn up just as they do. With her plans awry and some strange flings on, Luna is convinced something is not right.

Jess Ryder kept me enthralled from start to finish with this book. What seemed like an innocent mix up turned in to something far more sinister, and who’d have thought….deadly!!

Thanks to NetGalley abs the publisher for the ARC

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Luna travels to Tuscany with her boyfriend Ben to stay in her recently deceased father's vacation home. When she gets there she finds that he had airbnb'd it and the guests were just checking in. She doesn't believe they should be there or that her father would have allowed strangers to stay in their home, so she stays near the property to keep an eye on things. And things start to go wrong pretty quickly.

4.5 stars.

This was a good quick read. I was interested from the start. I liked the Italian setting and I was genuinely interested in what all was going on with this cast of characters. I thought it was one of this author's better books and I usually like her books quite well.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novel full of secrets, lies and suspicion. From the premise it sounded like a tense and gripping psychological thriller but for me, it was a bit of a let down. I didn’t feel the tension at all felt the book went on for far too long. I didn’t particularly like the characters but there were a couple of twists thrown in that compelled me to finished the book. I’d rate it 2.5 stars rounded up. Thank you to NetGalley, Random House UK, Cornerstone and the author for the chance to review.

[Lyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow what a brilliant summer read! Absolutely loved this book which kept me guessing throughout & I didn't guess the whodunit! Def couple of twists at the end that surprised me & a really good writing style. Would definitely recommend 👌

[Kamla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this based on other Goodreads reviews- and I'm glad I did in this instance- thoroughly enjoyable mystery and narrated well. I recommend this and I'll be listening to more books from this Author.

[Elaine M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jess Ryder always does such a good destination thriller. This was no different, based in Tuscany, Italy.
Luna goes to her dad's Tuscan holiday home after his death & finds some air b n b guests have arrived, unknowingly.
I definitely didn't guess the ending, it was quite dramatic with lots going on. I liked the characters, aside from Tamara who i disliked, but I was supposed to!
I enjoyed it. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

[EG · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-paced family drama with an excellent ending. As long as you don't mind one likeable characters this one is well worth reading!

[Bugs Meany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining fluff.

[Hollie Williams]

Zero stars. Not my thing

[Melanie Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tense psychological thriller in an idyllic setting, perfect summer read.

After the death of her father, Luna returns to their Tuscan holiday villa to grieve. Instead of being able to relax and deal with her emotions she finds the villa has been turned into an Airbnb and a family had arrived expecting to spend the summer there.

Luna struggles to deal with the grief of losing her father whilst seeing another family in the villa so decides to stay close.

Luna uncovers secrets her father had kept hidden from her and puts herself in danger in the process.

I loved this book, the setting of Tuscany was a beautiful backdrop against the tense and emotional scenes playing out.
Luna was a great character and the representation of grief was realistic.
The short chapters kept the pace and the tension and I couldn’t put it down.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the advanced copy.

[Fay Cadman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great domestic thriller!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this.

In this novel you are transported to an owners holiday home the Amalfi Coast, however everything is not as it seems as another family turns up saying they have rented it out on Airbnb.

Lots of twists but the book did take a while to get going, hence the 4 stars.

[Maddison Amber · Rating 4.5 out of 5]

4.5* rounded up
My first book by Jess and won’t be my last, I absolutely loved this! Perfect summer destination thriller. Lots of intricate relationships, different dramas, twists and personalities. Easy to read, short chapters and multiple POVs. I flew through and didn’t want to put it down.