The three-story house overlooking the sea in Cornwall cost so much more than Elle anticipated, but of course everything in it had to be perfect. This, coupled with her second novel contracted to debut in six weeks, and an extreme case of writer's block, made her jump at the chance to be the guest speaker at a two-week writer's retreat in France. If she didn't produce her second blockbuster novel in the next month, she would lose her book contract, and the house with it. This job would be a win/win-the speakership paid handsomely, she would have time to work on her novel, and she could list her ocean view house on Airbnb.
She was immediately contacted by a woman who wanted the house for those two weeks for her, her husband, and their two children. She seemed nice and was happy to pay the rental fee. Elle stored all her valuables in the third floor writing room which she padlocked and left the key with her sister Fiona to give to the renter. A little nervous to have strangers in her house, Elle left for France.
Ella's debut novel was an international sensation and what was amazing about her book was that she never intended to be a writer nor did she ever take a writing class. She and her boyfriend, now separated husband, traveled around in his van eating ramen and camping on beaches. She just started writing in the breaks between shifts as a waitress or coat check attendant, and unlike her focused journalist sister, hit it big with her first effort. After a whirlwind tour of interviews and book signing events, Elle and Flynn started building their dream house by the sea and tried to start a family without success. The stress of this and the overpriced house debacle drove Flynn away-Elle was on her own.
After she returned from France, she started noticing that things were not exactly as she left them. A window was open in the room that she padlocked shut, a shard of glass had fallen onto her bathroom floor and hurt her heel, and someone was watching her house from the beach at night. One evening, she was actually locked in her writing room from the outside, but when the police were called, they found nothing that could possibly lock her in. She became unfocused from lack of sleep and her writing suffered. But as she unwound, her mind reached back to an incident in college that she hoped never to revisit. Feverishly, she began writing the story of her college teaching assistant who sexually assaulted her in his office and lied that he was innocent. Nobody believed her and it changed both of their lives. Now that she had her story, she was driven to complete it on deadline, but the incidents in the house were starting to get worse and the pressures of both were ratcheting up the tension. When she spotted the word “liar” in the steamed-up bathroom mirror, she knew something evil was stalking her-and there were so many reasons that people were right to hate her or scare her to death. Was it finally time for Elle to pay for her success?
In the prologue, the author writes that anyone renting their house out to strangers must think of the consequences of allowing people you don’t know or probably won’t meet, full access to your house and possibly things you’d want to keep hidden. She uses the device of alternating chapters to allow the reader to get in the mind of the renter who is not who Elle thinks. Of course the readers don’t know who it is either, but they know that this person is dangerous and has a diabolical agenda. But Elle can’t blame anyone but herself-after all she let it in.
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