The Retreat by Mark Edwards #BlogTour #Review

I am super excited to share my 5 star review on Blog Tour today for The Retreat by Mark Edwards


‘High-wire tension and a shoal of red herrings…most enjoyable.’ —Daily Mail


‘A white-knuckle, one-sitting read. The crime writers’ crime writer.
Edwards doesn’t need fancy flourishes or clever gimmicks to write the hell out of a story…’—RED


A gripping new read from bestseller Mark Edwards, The Retreat explores our fascination with
urban legends like Slender Man and Bloody Mary, in Mark’s signature style of blood curdling events
happening to normal people.


Julia Marsh has spent the last two years grieving the tragic accident that lead to her husband drowning before
her eyes in a local river. Her eight-year-old daughter Lily is still missing, presumed dead. Now living alone, Julia
finds herself unable to move on, convinced that Lily is still alive. But as money runs out, Julia needs to find a way
to keep hold of their beautiful and secluded family home. She decides to open a writer’s retreat.


Lucas is a successful novelist suffering from writer’s block and one of the first guests. He’s no stranger to
personal tragedy and forms an instant bond with his host, Julia. The longer he stays, the more a local legend of
the Red Widow, a fabled witch who kidnaps young girls, captures his imagination. But as Lucas delves into
details of these disappearances, and as locals take more than a passing interest in his investigations, Lucas finds
himself at the center of a very real horror story. The retreat is harboring secrets: all Lucas must do is separate
the facts from the fiction before the ghosts of this small town.

My Thoughts

I am a massive fan of Mark Edwards and for me this has to be his best book to date. Set in wales
with an OMG prologue this book grabs you right from the start where we follow one chilling and
eerie story where we meet Lucas who has gone to the Retreat to write a horror story. Who actually
finds himself in the center of a real horror story after he finds out that Julie Marsh husband
drowned in a search her eight year old daughter who went missing two years ago and is still missing
and delves into the disappearances.

The Retreat is told in three parts and alternates back to what happened before. I knew just five
percent into this story that it was going to be a corker of a read. and I certainly wasn't wrong.
Mark weaves a well crafted,chilling and creepy story that will make the hairs on the back of your
neck stand up. I loved everything about this book from the story line to the author's writing. It is a
quick and easy read with a story that flows and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Julie and Lucas are very intriguing characters and I loved learning about his
writing journey with references to being a self published author. The more Lucas wanted to know
about what happened with Julie's daughter the more I wanted to know. This is an excellant
who done it story. Which is full of mystery and suspense and keep you guessing until the every end.

Did I mention that horror is favourite genre?! so here we have a crime story with a twist of horror!
This book is simply perfect with references to urban legends and witches...I freaking loved it.
And highly recommend it giving it 5 massive stars.









Mark Edwards writes psychological thrillers in which terrifying things happen to ordinary people. Mark’s first
solo novel, The Magpies (2013), reached the No.1 spot on the Amazon UK Kindle bestseller list, as did his third
novel Because She Loves Me (2014), and Follow Me Home (2015). His previous novels, The Devil’s Work (2016)
and The Lucky Ones (2017) were also published to great critical acclaim and commercial success. He has also
co-written various crime novels with Louise Voss such as Killing Cupid (2011) and The Blissfully Dead (2015). His
titles with Amazon Publishing have reached over a million readers.


Mark grew up on the south coast of England and started writing in his twenties while working in a number of
dead-end jobs. He lived in Tokyo for a year, and is a great admirer of Japanese writers and horror films. Mark
lives near Wolverhamtpon, England, with his wife, their three children and a ginger cat. The Retreat was strongly
inspired by local folklore and urban myths from Mark’s childhood and by his daughter Poppy. When walking
their dog in the woods, Poppy told Mark a story about her friends arguing about whether a local legend was
true or not. Poppy and Mark would brainstorm ideas for the book on their daily walks, and Mark now credits
her as his co-writer and a budding author herself. www.markedwardsauthor.com

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