The Girls in the Basement

The Girls in the Basement

Steena Holmes

Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0

Jillian thought she knew her husband. They’ve been married for twenty years. But she doesn’t know him at all.Jillian Harper thought moving to the quiet little town in Montana would be the fresh start her family needed. A charming farmhouse, friendly neighbors, and endless open fields — it was supposed to be perfect.Until the bodies are found.Buried deep on their land. Hidden for years.The police are everywhere. The town is whispering. And Tucker — her devoted husband — is acting . . . strange. He won’t tell her where he was all day. He won’t explain why his phone was off. And worst of all — he won’t meet her eyes.Jillian knows Tucker is lying. She just doesn’t know why.But the truth is far worse than she imagined. Because someone left those bodies there. Maybe the real monster isn’t lurking out there in the fields . . . Maybe he’s sleeping in her bed.


From the Forum

No posts yet

Kick off the convo with a theory, question, musing, or update

Recent Reviews

Your rating:

  • BookAnonJeff
    Apr 08, 2025
    Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0

    Dark Tale Well Told From An Interesting Perspective. First, I gotta give props to Holmes for the way she handled the trigger warning in this book. I personally prefer them to be on the author's website so those (like me) who prefer not to have any spoilers at all going into the book can have that experience, yet those who need/ want trigger warnings can still find that information as well. (Also, to be clear, Kindles automatically begin just after the table of contents in a book, so if a trigger warning is included at that spot, it *cannot* be easily skipped.) This noted, if you as an author are going to put one at the front of the book... maybe use a version of the one Holmes used here. ;) As to the actual story here, it is one of those slower psychological thrillers where you *know* some *dark* stuff is going on largely behind the scenes... and even get the occassional glimpse of it from other characters... yet getting our main character to the point of seeing that which she has spent a lifetime not seeing.... takes some time. One good thing that Holmes chooses here that keeps the book from going even more into the darkness is that while *some* aspects of the behind-the-pages darkness make it onto the page - enough to get a glimpse of all that is happening - that particular element isn't shown as much as perhaps some readers may want. Instead, Holmes focuses much more on the views of the wife who thinks her family is finally safe and can live a normal life... except that she keeps catching her husband having hushed conversations about... something. This, to me, is the far stronger storyline as it is one of the *less explored* stories in the genre generally. There are a lot of characters here, absolutely, and while it can get a touch tough to track them all in the beginning, as the story plays out it does become much more clear who is doing what and when, particularly in the rather explosive climax. For those who prefer their stories ended in nice little bows that wrap up every single thread... yeah, this aint that. And is actually a stronger tale because of it... and, perhaps, one that means that Holmes intends to come back to this world. Time will tell. ;) Very much recommended.

    0
    comments 0
    Reply
  • View all reviews
    Community recs if you liked this book...