THE HOUSE ON DEVIL’S LANE is a chilling tale of psychological terror and things that go bump in the night…

What if the home of your dreams turns into your worst nightmare?

Young mum Kat Riley has reasons for wanting to escape her family. When taxi driver Steve Burns comes into her life in the most unusual of circumstances, she sees a way out. With her baby Matthew, she leaves behind a chaotic existence and all that is familiar to make a new life in the Durham countryside.

When Kat first sets eyes on 11 Derville’s Lane, she falls in love with its quaint charm. The interior, however, tells a different story. Recently vacated by Steve’s father, Tommy, there remains a lingering presence and the sense of secrets waiting to be revealed. Soon Kat is struggling to cope with the house’s troubled past and her own dark secrets, while her fledgling career as a blogger soon plunges her into a world of paranormal podcasts, wild conspiracy theories and internet trolls who threaten her safety and her sanity.

Is the house on Devil’s Lane really haunted, or are the ghouls closer to home?

My Review

This was great fun! Ok, I hear you say, hardly fun. But it was in a strange kind of way. Horror? Not in a Freddie Kruger or Drag Me To Hell way. Supernatural, creepy, scary at times, I really enjoyed it.

Kat Riley lives at home with her mum and sister. She is pregnant, but no-one knows who the father is (except Kat of course). When she is in labour, Steve Burns is the taxi driver who takes her to hospital and they become friends. Now I have to admit that I did not like Steve all that much. By the end I still wasn’t keen, but we’ll leave it at that.

Eventually, Kat, Steve and baby Matthew move to Steve’s house at 11 Derville’s Lane in the Durham countryside. Steve’s father Tommy is in a nursing home, so the house is empty. And though from the outside it looks quaint and charming, picket fence, roses round the door etc (not literally), inside it’s a tip. Kat refuses to stay there with Matthew, so she spends the first night in a B&B run by an older woman called Rowena.

It’s at this point that things turn really weird. Rowena claims to know nothing about the house, but it soon becomes clear that she has history, as does Tommy, and the whole town knows about it. Is the house haunted, or is that just a conspiracy theory or a wicked rumour? Tommy became quite the local celebrity on the back of it, but was he just cashing in on the house’s reputation for things that went bump in the night.

Poor Kat. She has her own issues to deal with, but she is going to make the best of it. She sets up a social media profile with pictures of herself and Matthew in the house they are renovating. Steve does not approve – well he wouldn’t would he. Then she gets trolled and threatened, but she should have guessed that would happen. And it all starts to get very dark.

The podcast about the house is all very Battersea Poltergeist and I can just see the house being featured on Uncanny. But is any of it real? Well we’ll have to read the book to find out. Best read under the covers, in the dark, with just a torch for company.

Many thanks to @lovebookstours for inviting me to be part of #TheHouseOnDevilsLane blog tour.

About the Author

“For many years, I thought I’d been born ON Doncaster Racecourse. This was not the case, but the result of classic parental misdirection. “You were born there, Sandra!” Ma and Pa would cry, waving at the TV screen whenever the St Leger was on. I was nine before I realised they meant the town, not the racecourse. I do love horses though.

“Growing up, we moved to North Yorkshire (a garden with fruit trees and room for the pony I never got), to Sheffield (a newbuild beside a Gothic Rectory) and Northumberland (old castles, stepping stones in the river).

“After dropping out of uni at 18, I ran off to Éire to live The Good Life (goats, pigs, chickens) before returning to Scotland with two children and a pile of skulls skills I’ll probably never use again. A stint as an heraldic artist and a café owner followed, before the writing bug bit deep.

“It was always my mother’s wish that I go back to education, and I eventually did, at a time when most folks are calculating their pensions. I’m a great believer in following your heart. Age shouldn’t get in the way of being creative or achieving your dreams. I began writing fiction after my Mum died as a way of coping with grief, and that led to me enrolling at the University of Dundee as a mature student. Studying wasn’t easy, and I did an early morning cleaning job before lectures in order to make ends meet. I graduated in 2013 with a First Class Honours degree in English and Creative Writing, and went on the study for the Mlitt in Writing Practice and Study with the help of Carnegie- Cameron Scholarship.

“Just a few months after graduating in 2014, I took part in a Book Week Scotland Pitch Session and caught the attention of top literary agent Jenny Brown. A publishing deal with Polygon followed, and Beneath the Skin hit the shelves in September 2016. My second novel Bone Deep will hit the shelves in July, and the rights have already been sold in Germany, India and the U.S.

“So, keep reading, folks! I don’t want to have to go back to my old cleaning job, but if all else fails, I can fall back on those skills I thought I’d never use again. If you want a cow milked, a rabbit skinned or your coat-of-arms painted, call me.

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