Very few people get the opportunity to stay here.
And some don’t get to leave …

Zoey doesn’t remember anything about last night. But she knows something went badly wrong. For she is no longer in New York. She’s woken up in the desert, in a white building she doesn’t recognise, and she’s alone.

When she discovers she’s been admitted to The Sanctuary, a discreet, mysterious, isolated refuge from normal life, to avoid jail, she is stunned. She knows she has secrets, troubles, but she thought she had everything under control. But as she spends more time with other residents, she begins to open up about what she’s running from. Until she realises that not everyone in The Sanctuary has her best interests at heart, and someone might even be a killer . . .

My Review

I love books like this. At times slightly far-fetched, it never lets up with the suspense and intrigue. Most of the characters are quite unlikeable in a likeable sort of way. (Simpkins the cat is my favourite character said one of my fellow readers.) You almost sympathise with some of them – the ‘poor little rich kids’ like Riley and Finn (I’m not judging). But being rich doesn’t mean you don’t have problems. The staff are all a bit strange as well – an ex-addict, a Shaman, and a psychotherapist to name just three.

Thirty-two-year-old Zoey goes out with her friends one night, gets blind drunk, and finds herself alone in a tiny room in the middle of a desert in some kind of rehab facility, where everyone except her seems to know what’s going on. She’s in a strange place, and there’s a woman screaming in a tent somewhere that resembles a big top.

While The Sanctuary, as she discovers it’s called, is not technically a lock-in, anyone who tries to leave has to walk 20 miles through the baking hot sand, with only scorpions and poisonous snakes to keep them company. Zoey knows, she’s tried and failed.

Of course she can leave on the next helicopter, but then she’d have to pay for the flight, plus the two flights it took to get here from New York and any treatment she has had so far. It costs an arm and a leg to stay at The Sanctuary and she has no idea who is paying for her. All she discovers is that it was part of the deal to keep her out of prison – she can’t even remember what she did or is supposed to have done – but who does she know who has that kind of money? No-one it would seem.

Her life so far has been a mess, never settling, always running, though she tells herself it’s fine and that she’s in control. And as she spends more and more time with the other residents, she realises they all have problems, addictions and secrets.

Brilliant! I couldn’t wait for the next ‘stave’ to land (reading with The Pigeonhole online book club you get one tenth of the book every day and can discuss the story with your fellow ‘pigeons’). Great twists at the end – most of us would never have guessed.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.

About the Author

Emma grew up in Sussex; after a stint au pairing in Paris and a couple of half-hearted attempts to backpack across Europe, she studied English at Oxford University, then trained in journalism. During her career as a journalist, she wrote many articles for national newspapers, including regular pieces for the Times Travel section.

Following publication of her picture book, Rainy Day, Emma wrote three YA novels. Her first, Now You See Me, was an Amazon bestseller and nominated for the Carnegie and Amazing Book Awards. Better Left Buried, her second, was one of the best YA reads for 2015 in the Sunday Express. Her third YA novel, Cruel Heart Broken, was picked by The Bookseller as a top YA read for July 2016.

Find out more at www.emmahaughton.com or www.facebook.com/emmahaughtonwriter.
Or get in touch via Twitter: @Emma_Haughton