Okay, so you know when you start a book expecting a straightforward missing person mystery, and it suddenly takes a turn into “oh wait…is this place haunted?” territory? Yep, that’s There Came A-Tapping. And I was all in.
We follow Allie, who’s already been through the emotional wringer – she lost her parents in a car crash when she was a teen, and now, just as life is settling with her boyfriend Rory, poof, he disappears while filming a documentary. As if that wasn’t bad enough, a random couple turns up at their apartment in Dublin claiming they live there now?! Talk about unsettling.
So Allie does what many of us dream of in moments of chaos – she moves to a remote cottage in the mountains that her and Rory just closed on as a holiday home. Raven Cottage (top spooky name, by the way) is isolated, atmospheric, and full of creaky floorboards and whispery shadows. It’s the kind of place that makes you question if you’re alone…and if you ever want to be.
What I Loved
- The Slow-Burn Suspense: I was hooked from the beginning but once Allie gets to the cottage, things shift and really kick off. Andrea Carter does a fantastic job of gradually turning up the tension. You never quite know what’s real and what’s Allie’s fraying grief.
- The Setting: Genuinely one of the most atmospheric books I’ve read in a while. The village and Raven Cottage were practically characters themselves – eerie, lonely and oddly comforting at the same time.
- The Twisty Ending: Without giving anything away, I’ll just say I had so many theories. The final 25% of the book had me fully on edge – I was flying through the pages needing confirmation of my theories.
My Thoughts
This isn’t a whodunnit – it’s a psychological untangling. Allie’s grief and trauma are so raw and real, and I love watching her evolve. The mystery of Rory’s disappearance is compelling, but it was actually the history of the cottage and the echoes of the past that gripped me most. It was less about solving a puzzle and more about peeling back layers of memory, lies, and love.
Would I Recommend?
If you like your thrillers with a big dose of eerie vibes, a remote setting, and a heroine trying to put herself back together – 100% yes. This one stayed with me long after I closed the last page. And if your flabber isn’t at least a little gasted by the end, I’ll be shocked.
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