The Village

“But the memories that hang heaviest are the easiest to recall.”

― Julie Gregory, Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood

The Village is an atmospheric and terrifying novel that takes place in a small village in England called Nighbrook. This is a book that completely draws you in from the first page. The reader follows Naomi and her new husband and stepdaughter as they move from London to Nighbrook. Naomi’s ulterior motive is that she has been following a mystery as a crime reporter and has bought the very house where the crime took place. The Harper family; Susan, Martin, and Grace, a very sick little girl with an unidentified illness, disappeared ten years ago without a trace. Leaving all the lights on in the house, the oven on and an unfinished breakfast. The town police officer, Lloyd, is very much in the forefront of this story as his memories of the Harper family pervade the book. We know the small village is protecting a secret, but we don’t know what it is.

The villagers of Nighbrook dislike outsiders and are making Naomi’s life difficult, but it is not just them. Morgan, Naomi’s new stepdaughter, is very resentful of Naomi as she feels Naomi broke up her parent’s marriage. The relationship between them is fraught with animosity and jealousy. Morgan’s mother is mentally ill and an addict, but Morgan very much wants to live with her.

The Village will leave you guessing and second guessing what you think happened to the Harper family. There are so many lies, deception and twisty turns. Each person living in Nighbrook, creepier than the next. The story is told through flashbacks, memories, and present time. There are dual points of view but also the reader sits in on the town meetings and we are privy to the inside information of those who live in the village. As one reader said, perhaps there’s something to be said about living in a large, anonymous town or city after all. The entire book makes you feel you are living in an M. Night Shyamalan movie.

This is my first book by Caroline Mitchell, and I loved it. There is everything you want in a mystery; suspense, intrigue, lies. There are two huge twists right at the end that will cause the reader to rethink who they named the perpetrator throughout the entire book. What actually happened to the Harper family? The answer will surprise you.