Anna only has one rule for the annual Pace family vacations: tread lightly and survive.
It isn't easy when she's the only who doesn't seem to fit in. Her twin brother Benny goes with the flow so much he's practically dissolved, and her high-strung older sister Nicole is so used to everyone―including her blandly docile husband and two young daughters―falling in line that Anna often ends up chastised for simply asking a question. Her Mom is baffled by Anna's life choices (why waste her artistic talent at an ad agency?), and her Dad―well, he just wants a little peace and quiet.
The gorgeous villa outside a remote Tuscan town seems like the perfect place to endure so much family time―not to mention Benny's demanding new boyfriend, Christopher. If her family becomes too much to handle, then at least Anna can wander off to a wine tasting or lose herself in an art gallery. That is, until strange things start to happen―strange noises at night, food rotting within hours, dreams that feel more like memories. Then, the unsettling warnings from the locals: don't open the tower door.
But Anna does open it. And what she releases threatens to devour her family―that is, if her family doesn't tear itself apart first.
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Anna kicked off the annual Pace family vacation with a lie.YOUR FLESH AND BLOOD
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(Titan Books, 26 March 2024, paperback, 336 pages, copy from the publisher)
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This is a new author for me. I loved Diavola. I read a lot of horror fiction and it takes a lot to surprise me or write something I've read a hundred times before. I'm a huge fan of haunted house novels so couldn't wait to see what the author had to bring to the genre. Diavola ticked all of the boxes for me. I dislike horror fiction that's bloody and gory and in your face and often crude. This novel is the kind of horror I prefer, subtle and menacing. It's what's not said, what happens just out of sight that's truly frightening. There's nothing quite like menace when it's written as well as this novel. I also loved the fact the family at the heart of the book are dysfunctional which makes the menace all the more unsettling. I'd recommend this.
