The Book:
The Manor House by Gilly Macmillan
Published November 7, 2023 by William Morrow
Date read: November 12, 2023
The Characters:
Nicole and Tom
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The Plot (from Goodreads):
Be careful what you wish for…
Childhood sweethearts Nicole and Tom are a normal, loving couple—until a massive lottery win changes their lives overnight.
Soon they’ve moved into a custom-built state-of-the-art Glass Barn on the stunning grounds of Lancaut Manor in Gloucestershire. They have fancy cars, expensive hobbies, and an exclusive lifestyle they never could have imagined.
But this dream world quickly turns into a nightmare when Tom is found dead in the swimming pool.
Nicole is devastated. Tom is her rock. And their beautiful barn —with all its smart features that never seem to work for her—is beginning to feel very lonely. But she’s not entirely by herself out there in the country. There’s a nice young couple who live in the Manor itself along with their middle-aged housekeeper who has the Coach House. And an old friend of Tom’s from school has turned up to help her get through her grief.
But big money can bring big problems and big threats. Was Tom’s death a tragic accident or was it something worse? And is her life in danger as well?
Nicole’s beginning to feel like a little fish in a big glass fishbowl.
Surrounded by piranhas.
How did The Manor House end?
The Reveal:
The housekeeper at the beginning of the book was Anna, the owner of the manor house, pretending to be Kitty. Ollie and Sasha had killed the real Kitty and brainwashed Anna into taking her place. Anna kept a diary of what happened. When the police came to investigate Tom’s death, Anna used the opportunity to tell somewhat what really happened.
Ollie and Sasha were grifters who regularly conned rich individuals out of their money. The real Kitty had been Ollie’s great aunt.
Ollie had killed Tom as well, presumably to trick Nicole into giving Ollie and Sasha their money once Tom was out of the way. Anna and Nicole became friends and began conspiring against Ollie and Sasha. A camper who had seen what Ollie did to Tom came forward and told Nicole the truth. Ollie had snuck into Nicole’s sauna and got trapped, so she left him there to die.
Nicole had killed Tom’s grandmother. The lottery winnings really were hers. She hated Granny so she suffocated her with a pillow, and then “happened” to find the winning ticket on the kitchen table when she and Tom found Granny dead. Tom thought it was Granny speaking to them from beyond the grave.
The Ending:
Nicole and Anna conspired to frame Sasha for stealing from Nicole: they kept her on as a housekeeper and then sent her on a holiday with the company credit card, and then pressed charges against her for misappropriating funds. Nicole had Tom’s baby.
The Review:
Thank you to Bibliolifestyle and William Morrow Books for this gifted copy.
I had no idea we were getting a new Gilly MacMillan book until I was invited by Victoria to be a part of this tour! What a pleasant surprise.
I really needed a good thriller, and The Manor House certainly delivered. This was the sort of semi-closed-room thriller where pretty much everyone was a suspect. The author certainly kept me on my toes, and I loved how it unfolded. I LOVED the revenge plot. There was one shocker I really didn’t see coming.
I will say I don’t quite understand why/how Kitty went along with things for as long as she did and how that portion only came to light after Tom’s death. That bit aside, though, I enjoyed everything else about this book.
For having no idea about this book before it published, I was really pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it.
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