The Haunting of Emily Grace

by

Elena Taylor

An exquisitely wrought domestic thriller!

The Haunting of Emily Grace by Elena Taylor is an exquisitely wrought domestic thriller, a genuine page-turner that I was compelled to read from cover to cover in a single sitting. With its emotionally struggling heroine and the isolated modern mansion built into the cliffs on land that local legend claims is cursed, I was hooked from the start. 

Emily Grace Turner, a finish carpenter by trade, is contracted to complete the interior work of the End of the World, the Monk’s Island home of Cameron and Katrina Lang, both renowned professionals in their fields: he is an engineer with several patents to his name, and she is a famed architect. The house was their grande idée, but Katrina suddenly disappeared, and the home had yet to be completed almost a year later. Emily Grace is the third carpenter hired to follow through on Katrina’s unrealized plans after the first had also gone missing and the second had suffered a mysterious on-site accident that prevented him from continuing to work. Having just clawed her way out of a two-year depression after experiencing her own devastating loss, this job is a final lifeline to get her back on her feet, and failure to successfully fulfill the contract is not an option. When Cameron Lang’s estranged daughter shows up at the house for an unplanned visit, odd interactions with the young woman and bizarre accusations begin to poison Emily Grace’s relationship with her client and threaten her livelihood. 

Emily Grace is such a vulnerable and brittle character, who seems only a breath away from spiraling back into her deep grief. You can’t help but feel protective of her and hope for her success and healing. Her need for caffeine leads to a friendship that proves crucial in her healing journey and helps her navigate the emotional chaos she encounters. Juniper is her timely ‘ride or die.’ Cameron Lang is a wealthy and genius engineer, but rumors among some of the island’s full-time residents paint him as a suspect rather than a secondary victim of his wife’s suspicious disappearance. He’s also a desperate dad trying to make connections with an adult child he’s had little contact with during their lifetime. Chloe is Cameron’s daughter from a previous short-lived marriage and is a piece of work from the get-go. I couldn’t help but wonder what her endgame was from the moment of her arrival, and there were hints sprinkled here and there that had my suspicious nature working overtime. 

The author begins building suspense from the start, with Emily Grace’s uneasy ferry crossing from the mainland to Salish Island. (Besides her recent trauma, she has an absolute phobia of deep water.) Either through interactions with the brooding, wet, and grey, secluded setting or successive surreal episodes with Chloe, the tension continues to mount until I couldn’t have put the book down if I had wanted to. What results is a complex tale, with several unexpected and surprise factors impacting the plot, and an exciting rush of an eleventh-hour resolution. 

I recommend THE HAUNTING OF EMILY GRACE to readers of modern gothic suspense novels and domestic thrillers. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours.