The House in the Woods by Mark Dawson is an atmospheric crime novel which I enjoyed a lot. It’s set in Wiltshire where bodies are found at a remote farmhouse on Christmas Eve. Most of one family has been murdered and the police, led by DCI Mackenzie Jones, suspect that it is a murder/suicide by the son of the family. As the case continues, however, suspicion falls on the brother, who was the one who, allegedly, discovered the murders.
Atticus Priest is a Private Investigator who used to be a member of the investigating team and had a personal relationship with its leader. He’s creative and capable but suffers from a lack of empathy and social skills. He’s retained by the wife of the living suspect to clear her husband’s name and this puts him up against his ex-colleagues as he runs a parallel investigation. Mack and Atticus find themselves working together and sometimes opposing each other as they try to get to the truth of the matter.
I was carried along by this excellent crime novel which is full of atmosphere and lots of hidden secrets. The main characters are sympathetic and not too quirky and the solution to the crime is complex but well thought through. There are plenty of twists and turns along the way and the story is gripping – this is a novel which is hard to put down.
This is the first in a series featuring the same investigators and I shall look out for others, in future.
Anne Is Reading 