Title: The Sanctuary
Author: Emma Haughton
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Synopsis:
Very few people get the opportunity to stay here.
And some don’t get to leave …Zoey doesn’t remember anything about last night. But she knows something went badly wrong. For she is no longer in New York. She’s woken up in the desert, in a white building she doesn’t recognise, and she’s alone.
When she discovers she’s been admitted to The Sanctuary, a discreet, mysterious, isolated refuge from normal life, to avoid jail, she is stunned. She knows she has secrets, troubles, but she thought she had everything under control. But as she spends more time with other residents, she begins to open up about what she’s running from. Until she realises that not everyone in The Sanctuary has her best interests at heart, and someone might even be a killer…
My review:
What an opening chapter! This book drew me in from the start and made for an entertaining, gripping thriller.
The Sanctuary follows Zoey, who wakes up in a treatment centre with no idea how she actually got there or who has paid for her to spend time here – but if she leaves, she’ll be stuck with the bill for the private plane over there – a cost she can’t afford! So for now she’s stuck there – and for a while everything feels OK (ish) but after a while, things start to become a little unsettling, and Zoey realises people have been keeping things from her…
I really liked reading about Zoey. I can imagine her really getting on people’s nerves with the many, many questions she asked to try to work out why she was there, but wouldn’t we all want to know what on earth was really going on?
The story slows down a little after the beginning but we find out more about the characters (and there aren’t too many to keep track of which I liked!) but the tension really ramps up again later in the book as Zoey starts to investigate more deeply. The setting of the novel is almost a character in itself – that dessert which may appear to be calm but is hiding a lot of secrets… the heat becomes almost suffocating as Zoey desperately tries to work out why she is there.
I love a good twist and I think Emma Haughton has struck the right balance between intrigue and reality. I don’t want to give too much away but I would just say if you fancy a fast, addictive read, give The Sanctuary a go!
My rating: 4/5
Thanks to Hodder for providing a copy of this book for the blog tour, on which I chose to write an honest review.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emma grew up in Sussex; after a stint au pairing in Paris and a couple of half-hearted attempts to backpack across Europe, she studied English at Oxford University then trained in journalism. During her career as a journalist, she wrote many articles for national newspapers, including regular pieces for the Times Travel section.
Find out more at www.emmahaughton.com or www.facebook.com/emmahaughtonwriter. Or get in touch via Twitter: @Emma_Haughton.