Book Review - Broken Branches - M. Johnathan Lee

Review - Broken Branches M. Jonathan Lee

This is a sinister psychological chiller with an eerie creeping sense of stomach turning unease.

I thought it was going to be your traditional "couple buys spooky old house" story but it goes somewhat deeper than that.

We certainly have a young family, living in a creepy old cottage known as Cobweb cottage, overlooked for centuries by a huge old tree. Ian and his wife Rachel with their little boy Harry moved into the home owned by Ians family for generations, following a family tragedy.

It soon becomes clear that the tragedy which brought them here is not the only bad thing that's happened, but quite where the rot began is yet to be uncovered.

Ian and Rachel are barely speaking any more. His work from home is beginning to suffer and his days are structured around waiting for his beloved son's return from nursery and the energy and love he injects into this rather glum and morose household and his rather frantic and disorganised, desperate research into his family history and attempts to uncover what is behind rumours of a curse.

Things are increasingly disjointed, Ian's actions grow ever more hectic and the couples relationship falters and all the time it's very clear there is an underlying factor we are as yet unaware of. Is Ian losing his mind? or is Rachel?

Are the broken branches the threads of his past woven into his family tree or are they the actual branches of the tree which overshadows all events in this creepy old cottage? Or are they perhaps the threads of insanity threatening to overwhelm Ians mind? You'll have to read this book to find out.

There isn't much light in this book, like the branches of the oppressive tree which shadows Cobweb cottage, it is dark and destructive and peppered with grief and tragedy.

It is sad and shocking and when I stumbled upon one concealed truth which left me reeling, close to the ending I thought that was what had been lying in wait to shock me, then the author throws one final curved ball on to the playing field and blew my head to bits! A gripping, slow burning, shocker which left me with a lump in my throat.

Find out more about the book here

The Blurb

'Family curses don't exist. Sure, some families seem to suffer more pain than others, but a curse? An actual curse? I don't think so.'

A family tragedy was the catalyst for Ian Perkins to return to the isolated cottage with his wife and young son. But now they are back, it seems yet more grief might befall the family.

There is still time to act, but that means Ian must face the uncomfortable truth about his past. And in doing so, he must uncover the truth behind the supposed family curse.