She has to know the truth about overtoun estate, but there is a reason it has stayed buried for so long.
When journalist Ava Brent decides to investigate the dark mystery of Overtoun Estate – a ‘thin place’, steeped in myth – she has no idea how dangerous this story will be for her. Overtoun looms over the town, watching, waiting: the locals fearful of the strange building and the secrets it keeps. When Ava starts to ask questions, the warm welcome she first receives turns to a cold shoulder. And before she knows it, Ava is caught in the house’s grasp too.
After she discovers the history of a sick young girl who lived there, she starts to understand the sadness that shrouds it. But when she finds an ominous old message etched into a windowsill, she is forced to wonder – what horrors is the house protecting? And what will it cost her to find out?
With her own first child on the way, Ava knows she should stay away. But even as her life starts to unravel, and she receives chilling threats, the house and the bridge keep pulling her back…
If gripping historical mysteries with subtle nods towards the darker side of fiction are what you enjoy, then there really is no need to look any further than The Thin Place by C D Major. Twisted and devious, with a delicious thread of evil woven throughout, The Thin Place, with its collection of narratives sweeping through time, sat me down on my sofa and refused to let me get back up. From the first page to the last, every chapter took me deeper into a history which unnerved yet fascinated me. Tearing open the topics of motherhood, loss, deceit and betrayal, this novel truly packed a powerful punch and left me reeling at numerous points throughout. I swiftly became a slave to C D Major’s storytelling and found myself thinking about this story, and its leading ladies, late into the night. With such a striking authenticity, and an illicit truth to be unearthed, this novel was fantastic and I could not tear myself away.
In The Thin Place by C D Major, readers are introduced to three women. Ava, who is our leading lady in the present day, Marion, who we step back in time with and whose story begins in 1929, and finally, Constance, who we meet in 1949. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but for me, this format of storytelling, the leaping back and forth through time, never fails to excite and enchant me. I find it utterly compelling to read dual timelines, even more so when the author pulls it off so seamlessly. Gliding from past to present, I fell in love with the structure of this novel just as much as I did with the characters. There is something delicious, something I never tire of, in watching the past unfold and experiencing the effect it has on the present day. C D Major achieves this exact thing beautifully in The Thin Place, and in turn, heightening my enjoyment of the story even more so.
Although we are taken to a few different settings within The Thin Place, the majority of this novel revolves around one place, and one place only, and that place is Overtoun Estate. Menacing and evil, the moment I became aware of this place while reading, it’s almost as if goosebumps arose on my own skin.
“I stepped forward and the house, like an enormous black monster, swallowed me whole.” The Thin Place, C D Major
Major’s sense of place and ability to bring her setting to life in The Thin Place is incredible. I can’t deny that my skin prickled when I first arrived at Overtoun estate alongside Ava. It certainly had a hold over the entire novel itself, and in my mind, it appeared in the most frightening of ways, making my heart race. Everything from the ivy tangling and clinging to the building, to the bridge where many lives had been snatched, the whole estate could not have been described more perfectly. Major absolutely hits the nail on the head here, encouraging all manner of terrifying things to dance wildly and vividly in the readers’ imagination. She captures the very essence of what a demonic, overpowering presence feels like, and how such a thing can feel so incredibly suffocating once it takes hold of you.
Ava, Marion and Constance were a trio of cleverly-crafted women whose lives were intricately laid bare upon the pages. Although lightyears apart in terms of time, there were many things that I found similar between them, and although the tone of the novel mostly remained dark, I found myself finding these similarities endearing at times.
Ava, a determined and bright journalist, is fascinated by Overtoun Estate when she is sent there for work. Mystified by its frightening history, and the myths that surround it, she knows before it even happens that this place is going to become an obsession for her. What is the truth behind the story of the leaping dogs? Who lived in the walls of the dilapidated building? And why does she feel such a intense pull to the place, a pull so fierce that it’s impossible to let go? Ava was a great character, one I felt I’d like to know in real life. She is tenacious and clever, and has a compulsive nature, which I think makes her the perfect person to explore the mysteries of Overtoun. She is brave, much braver than I, for I do not think I’d have the nerves to step foot anywhere near the place myself. I loved the exploration of Ava’s relationship with her mother, and how this bled into Constance’s story, too. There were so many questions that Ava had, and yet her own mother was so reluctant to answer them. This of course ensured my own ears pricked up and I, too, wanted to know the reasoning behind this reluctance. Major ensures that the family secrecy runs deep within this novel. It left me wanting more, and wanting to step into the pages and do some of my own exploring.
I thoroughly enjoyed stepping back in time to discover Marion’s story, too. I adored the young woman’s excitement as she set out to begin her new life with her husband, leaving her family home behind and become a married woman with a husband and responsibilities. My heart ached for Marion when she realised that living with her husband wasn’t exactly the fairy tale that she’d been dreaming of, and now apart from her family, it was almost as though Marion had no one to confide in or share her worries with. The focus of bearing a child and giving her husband an heir was intense, to say the least. It came as no surprise when Marion realised that she missed home, and would have preferred to have stayed there after all. I found Marion’s chapters to be very emotional and they certainly had an effect on me. There seemed to be a sense of foreboding whenever I spent time in Marion’s company, and it only ever seemed to grow stronger as each chapter went by.
I think Constance was the character who fascinated me most, though. She was a mystery and not a pleasant one. There were something that didn’t sit quite right with me whenever I found myself back in Constance’s small world. Major ensures the tone changes with each narrative swap, and it definitely worked in the author’s favour. I felt the atmosphere to be overwhelming at times, suffocating almost. That was how powerful the presence of Overtoun Estate was in this novel. It absolutely took my breath away.
But of course, it could only be so long until all three worlds would collide, even if in different eras. As Ava fought her way to the truth, I began to put the pieces together of this heart-breaking story, and it quickly became clear to me, just who was who, and what role they had played in the past.
I genuinely cannot put into words just how beguiling I found this novel to be. Slithering right out of the pages and invading the very room I sat and read this book in, at times it felt claustrophobic, tainted almost. C D Major has written a deeply chilling and unnerving tale in The Thin Place, one which has captured my imagination and driven it wild ever since. Rich with history, emotion and authenticity in a way that pulled me ever deeper into its pages, I fell so far into this story, it felt near impossible to claw my way back out. I really cannot recommend this enough to any readers out there who enjoy a slow-burning mystery which wraps you up and holds you tighter and tighter until the final page. I enjoyed this so much, and I do hope there is more to come in a similar fashion from C D Major very soon.
C D Major writes suspenseful books inspired by events in the recent past. Cesca worked in television and teaching before writing full time. Alongside her thrillers she writes feel-good reads under the pseudonym Rosie Blake. She teaches creative writing and vlogs writing tips over on her website http://www.cdmajor.com. Cesca lives in Berkshire with her husband, son and twin daughters. She can be found on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and enjoys connecting with readers.
You can pre-order your copy of The Thin Place by C D Major here.
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