Published by Darkstroke on October 30 2020
Format: eARC
Source: Author
Pages: 185
Frightful visions. An unknown manipulator. A force from beyond reason.
Brandon Chapman arrives home to a horrific scene. His wife, Stephanie, is exhibiting behaviour that he can only describe as that of someone possessed – yet he doesn’t even believe in the supernatural. He soon realises that it was nothing other than a frightful, haunting vision.
After discovering a dark secret about Stephanie, Brandon meets a strange figure with knowledge about his own life that no one could possibly know. As his visions become more frequent and terrifying, he begins to question his sanity.
Brandon must either side with this figure or his wife before his daughter comes to harm.
Alice Hamilton, a shy and quiet university student, meets handsome Niel Curtis whilst on a night out with friends. They very quickly fall for one another, but their happiness is short-lived when Niel ends up in a coma after a traffic accident.
Alice fears he may never wake up again and, unaware of the consequences, strikes a deal with a strange voice. When Niel awakes, his behaviour changes drastically, and Alice – like Brandon – becomes subject to nightmarish, violent visions.
Are Brandon and Alice caught in a never-ending nightmare?
With that beginning, do not ever think it is a good idea to go down to your cellar at night where the lights don’t work. Don’t be a Zoé because that’s what I did. The fear of foreboding in the dark, all down to some words that have been written in front of you! Such a thrill!
Two timelines, two ways to try and scare you and two dark and malevolent entities to mess with your head. As a reader, the story of Alice and Brandon are separate. We have a light story of young love, sickeningly so but still enough to make you smile until it doesn’t, this is contrasted against a dark intense story where you fear time is running and quick. The balance of these stories plays out well. The shocks are aplenty and I found myself getting a bit teary one bit. Yes, I know this is a horror book, it’s not meant to make me want to cry!!
However, both stories Alice and Brandon experience some horrifying visions…but not all of them were visions which makes it all that much worse. It is the sort of thing that could literally make you lose your mind. Can we really trust what is unfolding in front of us?!
I started this book once I had done the bedtime routine with my mini-me, started a couple of chapters and planned to stop as I had adulting to do…I didn’t stop. It was like I was possessed, I had to keep turning the pages I literally could not stop that is how enticing The Stairwell is. There is so much tension in this book you could literally cut it with a knife. This book will suck you into its web and just as you think everything will be ok, it will drag you down to hell. What makes it worse is the ending leaves way too much to my imagination, places I do not want to go! It just all depends on what ending you want.
Until next time xxx
Thanks to Emma at Damppebbles for the tour invite and the author for a copy of the book in return for my honest and unbiased review
Nothing yet as this was a debut book!! Looking forward to what Dean writes next!
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
damppebbles says
Thanks so much x
Zoé says
Thank you as always for having me xx