The Octopus Nest

by Sophie Hannah

Claire and Timothy are chilled to discover that the same strange woman keeps popping up in the background of their holiday snaps. Who is this apparent stalker? The answer is more frightening than Claire ever imagined. The Octopus Nest, Sophie Hannah's prizewinning short story from her collection of 'glittering darkness' The Fantastic Book of Everybody's Secrets is the first to be published as an exclusive eBook short.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Thriller

36 pages, ebook

First published November 15, 2014

About the author

Sophie Hannah is an internationally bestselling writer of psychological crime fiction, published in 27 countries. In 2013, her latest novel, The Carrier, won the Crime Thriller of the Year Award at the Specsavers National Book Awards. Two of Sophie’s crime novels, The Point of Rescue and The Other Half Lives, have been adapted for television and appeared on ITV1 under the series title Case Sensitive in 2011 and 2012. In 2004, Sophie won first prize in the Daphne Du Maurier Festival Short Story Competition for her suspense story The Octopus Nest, which is now published in her first collection of short stories, The Fantastic Book of Everybody’s Secrets.

Sophie has also published five collections of poetry. Her fifth, Pessimism for Beginners, was shortlisted for the 2007 T S Eliot Award. Her poetry is studied at GCSE, A-level and degree level across the UK. From 1997 to 1999 she was Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge, and between 1999 and 2001 she was a fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. She is forty-one and lives with her husband and children in Cambridge, where she is a Fellow Commoner at Lucy Cavendish College. She is currently working on a new challenge for the little grey cells of Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie’s famous detective.

Reviews

[Alice-Elizabeth (Prolific Reader Alice)]

Borrowed from my library's e-book service!

The Octopus Nest had such a promising, atmospheric story-line about a couple, who realise that after looking through some of their holiday photos, discover the same woman standing close to them each time. This sets off a chain of events, as they try to work out who the woman is and why she is popping up all the time. I just didn't feel fully scared enough, I also struggled to connect with the characters and found the ending to be a little rushed.

[Stef]

17 pages too short for the story. Gila baca nya ga sampai 10menit tapi tegang nya masih kerasa. I know that xxx is the suspect from the start, dan aku masih bertanya bagaimana nasib si xx satu nya. Well, short mystery that giving you thrilling till the end of the pages.

[NHasanah]

WoW, didn't see that ending coming, loved it!

[Anni]

Beware - this author can really mess with your mind!

[Ainay]

Hah, gila! Cuma seuprit tapi berhasil ngobrak-abrik emosiku. Gils, sejak halaman pertama udah tegang. Cakep bener Sophie Hannah mendeskripsikan suasana tegang dan mencekamnya. Aku sampe ikutan takut dan merinding wkwkwk.
Memang sudah curiga kalo yang bermasalah si X, tapi ga kepikiran kalo kayak gitu heeeyyy.

[Amy]

Ok I love a good short story and this one left me begging for more

[Marisa Viljoen]

Bad ending

I love Sophia Hannah but did not get this short story at all. Very frustrated to not get the ending

[Hestia Istiviani]

I read in English but this review is written in Bahasa Indonesia

Mendengar nama Sophie Hannah rasanya familiar dengan dua novelnya yang sudah diterjemahkan ke dalam Bahasa Indonesia. Keduanya meminjam tokoh detektif milik Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot. Tetapi ternyata sebelum itu, Sophie Hannah punya karya yang lain.

The Octopust Nest merupakan salah satu dari cerita yang terdapat dalam kumpulan cerpen "The Fantastic Book of Everybody's Secret." Dengan hanya 17 halaman, aku terdorong untuk mencoba membaca tulisan Hannah. Siapa tahu, membawa plot twist yang serupa dengan The Grownup karya Gillian Flynn itu.

Cerita dibuka dengan keadaan mencekam. Claire dan Timothy adalah pasangan suami istri. Sepulangnya dari menonton film di bioskop, ia menemukan Becky, pengasuh anaknya, berdiri di depan rumah. Pasangan tersebut pasti khawatir. Takut ada sesuatu terjadi dengan Alex, anak mereka. Namun ternyata bukan itu. Becky mengiringi Claire dan Timothy masuk ke rumah dan menjelaskan beberapa hal yang ia temukan malam itu, sembari menjaga Alex. Awalnya pasangan tersebut menyangkal dan memutuskan agar Becky segera pulang.

Merasa ada yang tidak beres, Claire mencoba mencari tahu lebih dalam. Pikiran Claire semakin berkecamuk. Memikirkan banyak kemungkinan yang bisa terjadi dengan keluarga kecil mereka.

Tulisan Hannah ini menarik. Dia bisa membuat pembaca langsun merasa takut, persis seperti apa yang dirasakan oleh Claire ketika menguak satu per satu temuan. Dan tentu saja, Hannah bisa menuliskannya ke dalam cerita sepanjang 17 halaman saja.

Aku rasa, kekuatan Hannah terletak pada deskripsinya. Ia lebih dari sekadar menuliskan keadaan Claire dan sekeliling rumahnya. Beberapa kali Hannah mencoba "menyetir" pikiran pembaca dengan menuliskan hal yang lumrah dilakukan oleh seseorang yang merasa terancam.

Kosakatanya tidak sulit untuk dipahami. Bagiku, kosakatanya sendiri ramah terhadap pembaca baru. Pelan-pelan dan mengajak pembaca untuk masuk lebih dalam.

Jangan tanya bagaimana akhir dari penemuan Claire. Coba baca sendiri (meskipun aku membutuhkan waktu untuk memahaminya...). Yang pasti, The Octopust Nest, sebuah bacaan 10-15 menit yang bisa membuatmu merasa deg-degan.

[Marina]

** Books 23 - 2019 **

3,5 of 5 stars!

Actually this mystery thriller books isn't in my TBR list. As Always non TBR books is curious me a lot.. Especially when i saw my Goodreads friends Hesti and Faizah give this books so much praise. Don't worry guys it is just short story books and trust me you can finish it by sitting around 10-15 minutes alone

The ending is unexpected! hahaha i thought it will be xxx but turn out to be xxx. I just silent for a while and then voila the ending is amazed me.. But what i can say Gillian Flynn and Keigo Higashino works still the best one for me.. for Mystery and thriller fans, you should try read this books! :)

Thankyou Bookmate!

[fayza]

INI KENAPA CREEPY BANGET ENDINGNYAAAAAAAA
Short, literally short, baca 15 menit juga beres setelah itu perasaan anda akan campur aduk ga jelas setelah twist akhir dan merasa digantung
CREEPY WOY

[Valerie Wicks]

The shortest of short stories - I read it on BorrowBox in 15 minutes - but it packed in a lot of creepiness. Good ending, although so abrupt I had to think twice about whether or not I’d fully understood it.

[Vasilis]

This is a short (very short!) story of a couple that one evening get a shock finding out that a random woman keeps popping up in all their photos. The writing is good, a very atmospheric read, the only letdown being the ending.. I think that this story would benefit from an extra 10 pages or so..

[Maria]

Beautifully written with so much promise but the ending felt rushed. I understand the ending but wanted more interaction between Timothy and Claire at the discovery of the stalker’s identity.

[Lusi Rusi]

I enjoyed the menacing build-up but it ended very abruptly with the feeling of an annoyingly long joke with an unsatisfactory punchline. Well written for the first 80% but unfortunately for me the twist at the end fell quite flat.

[Samantha]

Literally read this in 15mins and you will too. I gradually realised the ending but it took nothing away from the feeling of getting there. Great short read :-)

[Claire]

I'm always amazing how much authors can fit into a short story. Sophie Hannah's The Octopus Nest is all of 17 pages long but is packed with a very concise creepy story.

[vyara ♪]

Ohhh, so my bad, NOT a book, but a short story! And I read it in approximately 15 minutes lol.
Creepy and intriguing concept but the execution was kinda meh: at first I didn’t even understand the ending and I wondered if there are pages missing🥲
I guess this is like these two sentences short stories on instagram but instead of two sentences, it’s 15 pages.

[Kelly]

Short really means short! :P it's about a 10/15 minute read. I found it quite enjoyable! A twist in the tale and some excitement. The only thing really that bugged me was it's written in first person but the narrator talks about other character's thoughts/feelings.

[Rachel]

A haunting short story.

This is so short yet you are sucked in so quickly. I begun to suspect what was happening but it was still a surprise. I love these kind of short thrillers. Sometimes you don't need a whole book to make an atmospheric mystery!

[Samantha]

This story gave me goosebumps as any good chiller should. I was engrossed from the first page and was shocked by the ending. Sophie Hannah won the Du Maurier prize for this, Daphne, a fantastic short story writer herself, would have approved.

[Jess Manley]

I’m torn between wishing there were more and accepting that this was the perfect length. Now I’m really looking forward to reading Sophie Hannah’s collection of short stories in The Fantastic Book of Everybody’s Secrets.

[Niken Savitri]

A nicely done short story with a twist in ending! Love it

[Titish A.K.]

Becky! You good? 😓

[Nicki]

Didn't predict the end. I wish it was a little more fleshed out, but that is usual for me with short stories. Interesting idea, and I do like this author.

[Katherine]

3.5/5. A very SHORT short story (I read this in 15 minutes.) I got to the end and realized that was it- would have liked a slightly longer conclusion (but a nice twist nonetheless.)

[Aro~]

Whelp, I'm dying to read another work from Sophie Hannah.

[Bonnya Ghose]

Did not expect that ending, really liked this short story!

[Vindri Prachmitasari]

Well, short story yang gak kepirikiran kalau ending nya seperti itu. Twisted banget. Dan itu juga baru ngeh setelah baca bagi an akhir 3x. Hahah.. Dasar Kau!

[Vani]

Thrilling and heart-pounding.

[Karen Patrick]

Short, sinister and fun.