Zoe works in a Dublin cafe. Leaving work early because of illness, she finds an altogether too familiar face awaiting her in her flat: a man known as the Hand of God.

It turns out that Zoe was raised in a reclusive and oppressive religious commune and the Hand has appeared to convince her to return.

The narrative is split between Then, when Zoe was a young woman struggling to adhere to the strict rules, and Now, with Zoe seeking to free her friend Amy from the clutches of the sect.

The story convincingly portrays the ways in which a religious sect controls and manipulates its followers and exposes the hypocrisies of its leaders.

There is mystery and intrigues and the pace never lets up. A superb read.

I love being given the opportunity to update our school library which is a unique space for both senior students and staff to access high quality literature. This is definitely a must-buy. It kept me absolutely gripped from cover to cover and is exactly the kind of read that just flies off the shelves. It has exactly the right combination of credible characters and a compelling plot thatI just could not put down. This is a great read that I couldn't stop thinking about and it made for a hugely satisfying read. I'm definitely going to order a copy and think it will immediately become a popular addition to our fiction shelves. 10/10 would absolutely recommend.

Very informative book about cults, I now know more about them than I ever did. I enjoyed this book.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Cailean Steed for the advanced copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

Great premise! I love stories about Cults. So fascinating. And this one was really creepy. Fast-pacing, exciting thriller, set in two timelines.

A story of life after being raised in a cult, escaping, but not forever.
Zoe is raised in a cult in Ireland, fully indoctrinated into everything that they have raised her to believe. When she finally manages to escape, she realises that she wont be content whilst her sister is still living with the cult and goes back to rescue her, knowing that it may not be possible to escape a second time.

Chapters alternate between then (in the cult) and now, building the tension and explaining more about life within the community and how they treat their members. Tense urgent writing propels the story along.

Its not a book that you can say you enjoyed reading but it is a book that I am glad to have read, if that makes sense.

Home by Cailean Steed. Zoe has escaped a cult, which was clever and then she pops in to say hi to them, which isn’t very clever at all. It’s told in two timelines (not something I love), now Zoe and young Zoe and yeah being in a cult is a bit shit. Zoe goes back to free her sister from the clutches of the cult and honestly I just think she was far too gullible. I know she’s lived in a cult but she’s been living in Dublin for bloody ages and she just came across a bit dim. There are so many plot holes that never get answered and I just didn’t think it was very suspenseful. It just wasn’t for me but my takeaway from this is if you’re going to join a cult, join a good one.

Thanks must go to Netgalley, the publisher and Cailean Steed for the ARC of ‘Home’.


A split perspective thriller written surrounding a cult. Interesting plot, slightly flat characters but overall a good read.

Stories about cults fascinate me and this did not disappoint.
It had a touch of The Handmaid's Tale to0 with the women being submissive etc.
Told in 2 timeliness, when the main character was a child in the Home (cult) and again when she returns later to rescue her sister. I did sometimes find the present time line confusing as I felt it jumped around a bit in her memories and so many things she was confused and couldn't remember about her time as a child. I was unsure if we was meant to believe that the past storyline was untrue as she had remembered it so differently.
I would love to give this 5 stars as I enjoyed it so much but just had to knock it down a little due to the confusion.
A great cult read, thank you #NetGalley #Home

I've not read many books about cults but they really intrigue me. Unfortunately this book was a bit of a disappointment to me personally as it felt very surface level. Everything about it felt a bit flat. The characters lacked any traits/personality/depth and the plot just wasn't particularly interesting or gripping. I wish I hadn't ploughed on with this one as I found the ending to be quite unsatisfying and rushed.

This book blew me away, and I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I love books based around cults. There’s something about them that fascinates me and leaves me wanting to dig into the foundations and discover everything I can about the mechanisms of how they work.

The characters were so lifelike and made the story come to life. They complemented the plot and made the book an even more compelling read. I’m excited to read more from this author in the future as I have a feeling this won’t be the last brilliant masterpiece by them. Thank you to netgalley, the author and publisher, for a chance to read and review this book.

Zoe lives a content life in Dublin, working as a waitress in a city centre cafe. When a man from her past unexpectedly turns up at her apartment, she’s terrified. He’s known as The Hand of God, a senior member of the cult that Zoe grew up in and escaped from six years ago.

Reluctantly and on a mercy mission, Zoe returns to Scotland and back ‘Home’ to the cult of the Children and their restrictive compound, but of course, going back isn't as simple or straightforward as Hand of God promises.

The narrative is told from a split perspective, one from present-day Zoe and one from her past as ‘Catherine’ in the cult, as she navigates the horrors of her past and what the cult is still doing.

It is a slow burn of a story, almost entirely set with the ‘Home’ of the cult, so you slowly navigate through their beliefs and lies. The cult itself is very focused on gender roles and has an almost Handmaid’s Tale vibe at times, with it being particularly interesting as it is told from the perspective of Zoe, who was born into the cult.

The book is tense and focused on character development within the realities of a cult. The horrors are mostly alluded to rather than shown, so though a lot of the stuff that goes on is quite heavy, through a combination of Zoe’s lack of awareness and trauma, it's not through unnecessary shock tactics. The conversion therapy type parts are pretty intense, though.

I liked the exploration of gender within the book, particularly how the cult frames gender and, then, outside of that, Zoe’s relationships and feelings.

While I enjoyed the introspective on life in and escaping a cult, I couldn't help but draw comparisons with After the Fire by Will Hill, which I loved. Overall 4⭐

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this advance copy in return for an honest review.

Someone has broken into Zoe's flat. A man she thought she'd never have to see again.
They call him the Hand of God.
He knows about her job in the cafe, her life in Dublin, her ex-girlfriend, even the knife she's hidden under the mattress.
She thought she'd left him far behind, along with the cult of the Children and their isolated compound Home – but now he's found her, and she knows she must go back to rescue the sister who helped her escape all those years before.
But returning to Home means going back to the enforced worship and strict gender roles Zoe has long since moved beyond; back to the abuse and indoctrination she's fought desperately to overcome.
Going back will make her question everything she believed about her past – but could also risk her hard-won freedom. Can she break free a second time?

This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.

I’m fascinated by cults and love cult stories. This one is very well told and the writing is very immediate, though be warned, it’s quite upsetting at times and potentially triggering as the cult is very abusive towards the main character.

I loved that the main character was queer, which added an extra dimension to her discomfort with the cult’s strict gender rules. It’s told in two timelines, one following her growing up in the cult, the other following her once she has escaped but then had to return. It frequently chops between the two so it’s for the short chapter lovers.

If you like cult stories this one is fast paced, intense and intriguing. There’s a lot of mystery that isn’t always explained but that’s part of the frustrating nature of the cult itself. A great debut.

I absolutely loved this book. It was gripping and full of atmosphere, with plenty of twists. I enjoyed the alternative timelines, and Zoe’s character development. Such a good read!

I have always found stories about cults fascinating, so when I saw what this was about, especially the whole escaping and returning element to it, I was immediately intrigued. The dual timelines, of 'then' and 'now', were a good plot device in providing a sense of mystery and tension for the reader, propelling us towards finding out what happened in the past to lead Zoe/Catherine to where she is in the present day. However, I do think that the rigidity in every chapter alternating between the two, with no leeway, did cause some of the flow of the story to be lost at times. There were a couple of instances where I felt it would have been better off if Steed allowed for more of one story to be told before swapping to the other. The relationship between Steed's protagonist and the 'Hand of God' character was interesting, and added an extra layer to this story, and I will definitely be keeping my eye out for whatever the next work from Steed is!

A powerfully told narrative that provides so much light, as well as darkness. I really enjoyed Home. I found the scenes of violence really well captured and I thought it was a very convincing look at how cults work. looking forward to the authors next book

This was an interesting read, told from two points of view 'Catherine' as a child born and raised into a cult and adult 'Zoe' as she goes back to try and rescue her sister.
What I assumed would be a fast-paced thrilling read was a somewhat quiet and meandering horror, told in a peaceful unsettling way - aided by the main character's total unawareness of how messed up her situation is.

This was a really disappointing read as i thought it would go another way and it didn't. The characters were written in a way that didn't make me like them. I found this dull and the action wasn't great. Overall the premise was interesting but this just failed to do what it promised to.

I have been interested in cults for a long time and watch documentaries on it whenever a new one comes out. I was happy with this book. It was dark and that's what tends to capture my interest. There was a good level of jepody involved. All in all it was enjoyable read.

I was really looking forward to reading this one, I have watched so many documentaries about Cults, and find it hard how some can stay there and leave their families behind. So seeing this was about that I really wanted it to be good.

As I was reading I picked up little bit that I have heard or seen about cult life. But as I was reading it I was starting to struggle. The story is told in the Now and Then the chapters are mostly quite short but I found myself having to go back and see if it was now or then.

Catherine/Zoe has escaped the cult she is living for free in Ireland working in a cafe, her sister had left the cult before her but she had no way of finding her. She was adapting to her new freedom, everyday learning things she had never know whilst in the cult. But then someone she had hoped she would never see again turned up. The hand of god. He tells her her sister Amy is back with the cult, that she is with the Hand. Catherine feels she has to go back to rescue her sister.

When she returns she obviously has to prove that she wishes to atone, and the sisters really put her through things. For me the problem was I found my mind kept wandering away from the story, I wanted it to grip me but sadly it didn’t. I couldn’t understand all the killings and why no one ever seemed to investigate. The Hand of God would take Catherine out and train her how the boys (the warriors) were trained.

Even when I finished this, I wasn’t sure of what had really happened, I know there will be others out there who love this but it just didn’t grab me enough. The writing is good I think for me it was the plot that didn’t grab me. But I will look out for what the author writes next. 3⭐️ read.