Here to Stay

This is my first Mark Edwards book and now I'm wondering what on earth I've been missing out on. Here To Stay is a brilliant read in every way.

Elliot Foster is a quiet man, a scientist and teacher of underprivileged children. He owns a beautiful home that he has renovated to the highest standard and he lives alone with his cat, Charlie. Until, that is, he has a whirlwind romance with Gemma Robinson and they marry after only a couple of months together. All is good on the home front until Gemma's parents, Jeff and Lizzy, and her younger sister, Chloe, return home from France and need somewhere to stay. Elliot, being the nice man that he is, is happy to welcome them into his home. He soon discovers he has made a huge mistake; these are show more the house guests from hell.

I don't think I have ever experienced such a visceral reaction to a story. I wanted to howl in anger, I was completely enraged by it. To be clear, this is the author's intended reaction and he's done an amazing job at making the Robinson family characters that it is impossible do anything but hate. These are people who made Elliot wish the world was ending just so he wouldn't have to put up with them any longer. God, I was off the scale annoyed by them.

It's all so very plausible too. It's so easy for people to get their feet under the table but so difficult to get them out again. I really felt for Elliot, somebody who had worked hard to build a life for himself only to have these leeches come and ruin it for him.

I just loved this book. It's such a compelling read. I didn't want to put it down at all. There are characters I loved and characters I couldn't stand, and a plot that is ingenious and yet not overly convoluted or trying to be clever.

The ending is unexpected and chilling and I closed the book with a real sense of satisfaction. I loved every minute of it, it's a skilful tale of domestic horror! show less

I chose this book as my Amazon First Read for August because it had so many glowing reviews. Then I started reading... and I'm convinced I must have a different book than everyone else. Go ahead and spew curses my way, because I didn't like anything about this book at all.

First, the characters are ridiculous. Elliot is supposed to be a really smart guy, and yet he fumbles through his own life like he's a doormat. He doesn't ask his new wife questions because he doesn't want to intrude, or upset her, or invade her privacy, or any combination of stupid excuses. He allows his rude, obnoxious, clearly crazy in-laws to take over his home, despite all the red warning flags dropping all over the place before they even walked in the door.

The show more in-laws aren't even believable. They're so extremely bizarre that I can't imagine how they managed to exist in the world. And Gemma, the new wife, has no personality at all, unless you count aversion and alcoholism as personality traits. Why Elliot even fell in love with her is a mystery.

Because all the characters are ridiculous, the story is also ridiculous. No one makes even the most basic rational decision. The story kept spiraling into some sort of twilight zone. I forced myself to the 31% mark on my Kindle, with the hope that the story would get better. It just kept getting worse, and so I gave up. show less

OMG, talk about the in-laws from Hell! But...are they really as bad as they seem? I picked this as my Kindle FirstReads book for August, and boy, I was not disappointed. I've loved most of Mark Edwards' stories that I've read, but this one truly tops them all.

It starts off normally enough, a whirlwind romance and marriage, and then the fun starts. But things aren't exactly what they same and not everyone is as they seem...

It's written in first person POV by our protagonist, Elliott, with "Before" chapters interspersed in the book, revealing the Robinsons' twisted history, little by little. The characterization and plot progression are really well-done, things slowly build on each other until it comes to an explosive end. The MC is show more sympathetic, Gemma and Chloe are complex and tough nuts to crack, but do they have hidden motives? And Lizzy and Jeff...wow, after awhile, you really start to hate them, and I really could feel Elliott's pain and frustration.

And I honestly did not see that ending coming, though I also wasn't surprised there were so many twists, considering this is a psychological thriller.

My mom always told me to be careful of who you invite to stay in your house...because getting them to leave can be a heck of a lot tougher. This story definitely made me think of her words.

Another job well done by Mark Edwards! Highly recommended to psych thriller fans. show less

OMG, talk about the in-laws from Hell! But...are they really as bad as they seem? I picked this as my Kindle FirstReads book for August, and boy, I was not disappointed. I've loved most of Mark Edwards' stories that I've read, but this one truly tops them all.

It starts off normally enough, a whirlwind romance and marriage, and then the fun starts. But things aren't exactly what they same and not everyone is as they seem...

It's written in first person POV by our protagonist, Elliott, with "Before" chapters interspersed in the book, revealing the Robinsons' twisted history, little by little. The characterization and plot progression are really well-done, things slowly build on each other until it comes to an explosive end. The MC is show more sympathetic, Gemma and Chloe are complex and tough nuts to crack, but do they have hidden motives? And Lizzy and Jeff...wow, after awhile, you really start to hate them, and I really could feel Elliott's pain and frustration.

And I honestly did not see that ending coming, though I also wasn't surprised there were so many twists, considering this is a psychological thriller.

My mom always told me to be careful of who you invite to stay in your house...because getting them to leave can be a heck of a lot tougher. This story definitely made me think of her words.

Another job well done by Mark Edwards! Highly recommended to psych thriller fans. show less

Billed as a psychological thriller, Gemma breezes into Elliot's life--then so do his in-laws. Though they keep saying they'll find their own place, their actions don't match their words.

On the plus side, I was kept guessing as to what was going on and who was doing what. I did suspect the character it ended up being, but I also suspected other characters.

On the minus side, I was confused through most of the book as to what really was happening. The ending was obvious that the author was going for a second book to the series.

WARNING: REMAINDER OF REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION
*****

I am still unclear as to whether Gemma really loved Elliot and the rest just came about or whether she manipulated him into marrying show more her so that she could have a place for her parents and sister to go--and perhaps in the hop that he would stand up to them for her. I'm also unclear on why she couldn't have stayed at her "bedsit" until her parents and sister arrived, got them established there and then moved out to live with Elliot (since she seemed to know what kind of people they are). In either case, I can't blame Elliot for doubting her love given the timeline.

I felt like the author misled readers in at least one of the italicized portions because he made it seem like Jeff was the killer rather than Chloe.

Is it easier to kill again once you've stepped over that line initially? This author makes it seem so--at least for Elliot. For Chloe it seems more a sociopathic thing--she likes the feeling it gives her so when the feeling wears off, she finds a way to get that feeling again.

I found it odd that Gemma would rather die than have to separate from Elliot and take care of her younger sister. Did she know what Chloe was and not want to deal with her or be stuck with her? Did she want to prove her love to Elliot? Could she just not face what she'd done? show less

Mark Edwards paints a terrifying picture of new love gone wrong, murder, and mayhem. When Elliott, at the request of his new wife, let's his in-laws into his home, he finds himself trapped in his worst nightmare. He never bargained for Jeff and Lizzy. As he struggles to deal with his new situation, he finds his whole world slipping away, including his humanity. This story is well crafted and brings a surprise ending that is not an ending at all...just an opening for another nightmare to begin. Well done and very entertaining.

“You know I don’t have much experience of big families, but from what I’ve seen there are two types. The type where everything is out in the open, where they argue and shout and slam doors, and where disagreements are dealt with loudly and quickly. And the other type, where no one really says what they mean, where everyone tiptoes around and emotions are kept buried.”
― Mark Edwards, Here To Stay

I will try to explain why I did not like this novel, especially because I love his writing and I adored "The Magpies".

Basically, for me, this is the same story as Magpies only with In laws rather than neighbors. As a result..I kind of knew everything that was gonna happen before it happened. I liked Elliot and I thought I would like show more this book, despite how closely it resembled Magpies.

I felt "Here to stay" had all the creepiness of Magpies but none of the real riveting aspects. In Here to stay, EVERYONE are so insane and twisted. And here's the thing: there had to be ways of getting the in laws out without resorting to Elliot's final plan. Here are a few.

In the age of Social media, Elliot could have put his story up and made it go viral..or hired someone to do it for him. Heck, these two were running, I bet they would not have wanted the notoriety that comes with that.

Hired a detective to get the goods on them.

Gone to the newspapers.

Implored people on social media for help..maybe even given a reward to the person who could LEGALLY get them out of his house.

If all fails..just leave.

So I did not buy the final solution nor did I buy how incompetent the police were made out to be. There is so much killing in this book and it seems the police cannot even solve ONE of the murders.

Also..the constant tension about Charlie and whether he'd survive did not help. I felt like I had to get to the end to see if Charlie remained unharmed. I see from other reviews many felt the same. Which goes to show..Charlie is the sanest character in this book. Meow.

Final twist? did not see coming and almost rated a three because of how clever it is. I am not dissing the author. He is such a good writer. I AM dissing the nutters in this story because I just could not stand them. And I'd have liked a more complete ending or barring that, a sequel. Elliot had been so battered I do not k now how he still had his sanity at the end.

But I wlil say this..his books are page turners and I am not ever tempted to DNF. I just wish I had liked it a wee bit more. I still will look for other books by this author. show less