I loved the premise of this storyline. This book was very well written and I would say that it would be a perfect holiday read. I would recommend this novel.

I received a copy of The House Sitter by Jill Barry through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Crooked Cat Publishers and to Jill Barry for the opportunity.

A dead mouse can leave giant footprints........more on that later.

Eddie and Suzanne Deacon own a lovely country home on the outskirts of town in mid Wales. They wish to put the house on the market and move closer to their daughter and her family. They are an older couple and the demands of the house can be quite taxing at their age.

Sounds like a good plan, right? Not if you have the likes of Ruth Morgan living down the road. Ruth is the shadow behind you that never seems to leave the corner of your eye. She's taken with the Deacons and makes every excuse to be within the walls of their home on a daily basis. A rattle of a teacup and Ruth is already seated at the kitchen table.

Upon hearing the news that the Deacons will be moving, Ruth devises a plan to sabotage their efforts. Eddie and Suzanne hire Bethan Harley as their realtor. Oh, and Ruth won't be settling for any of that. Footprints will be left. Ruth and the dead mouse will see to that.

Jill Barry begins her story with the eerie touch that one would expect. The storyline moves along nicely and you get a good creep going on because of Ruth. However, the ending was like skidding flat into one of those walls in the Deacons' diningroom. Boom! It was over, folded into an envelope, and tossed into the mailbox. This story had the potential to be ripe for an electric twist at the end. Never happened. The edgy cover promised something that it never quite delivered. I wanted so much more, Ms. Barry. I wanted so much more.

I loved the premise of a creepy house sitter, but found that the characters weren't quite fleshed out enough, and the story ended abruptly. I had expected some kind of twist at the end, but it didn't come. I also disliked the odd sentences, without pronouns, which were on every page. I couldn't see the point and it was distracting. Overall though it was an enjoyable read, despite the sudden ending.

A preview copy was provided by the publisher.