Blurb
Fear blisters through this town like a fever…
When Teddy Colne arrives in the small town of Rye, he believes he will be able to settle down and leave his past behind him. Little does he know that fear blisters through the streets like a fever. The locals tell him to stay away from an establishment known only as Berry & Vincent, that those who rub too closely to its proprietor risk a bad end.
Despite their warnings, Teddy is desperate to understand why Rye has come to fear this one man, and to see what really hides behind the doors of his shop.
Ada moved to Rye with her young son to escape a damaged childhood and years of never fitting in, but she’s lonely, and ostracised by the community. Ada is ripe for affection and friendship, and everyone knows it.
As old secrets bleed out into this town, so too will a mystery about a family who vanished fifty years earlier, and a community living on a knife edge.
Teddy looks for answers, thinking he is safe, but some truths are better left undisturbed, and his past will find him here, just as it has always found him before. And before long, it will find Ada too.
My Review
Ronnie Turner may have the looks of an Angel with her peaches and cream complexion, bright blue eyes and flowing blonde locks but don’t let that fool you as she has a mind as dark as Satan’s cloven hooves.
This is some seriously dark sh*t! At first I thought the shop Berry & Vincent reminded me of Stephen King’s Needful things but Leland Gaunt is sunshine and flowers compared to Mr Vincent. He gave me and all the locals of Rye a severe case of the heebie jeebies. Children hold their breath as they walk past the shop and the window displays are brutally gruesome in their depictions of recent traumas.
Before long it seems he is infecting newcomers Teddy, Ada and her son Albie, like a virus looking for new hosts is the best way I can describe it. I had really come to care for them as they have overcome troubled childhoods and were desperately lonely. Was it too late? Were they already too damaged by their parents? I hoped not, but as I was reading this didn’t feel like a book that would have a happy ending.
Does evil lurk behind the door of Berry & Vincent? I dare you to step inside and find out!
About the author
Ronnie Turner grew up in Cornwall, the youngest in a large family. At an early age, she discovered a love of literature and dreamed of being a published author. Ronnie now lives in the South West with her family and three dogs. In her spare time, she reviews books on her blog and enjoys long walks on the coast. Ronnie is a Waterstones Senior Bookseller and a barista, and her youth belies her exceptional, highly unusual talent.
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