Books by this author are always brilliant and this one didn’t disappoint. I read it over a day or two and will be recommending it to friends. Well done!

Kirsty, Adrian and their two daughters leave behind their old, stressful life in London and start afresh by opening a guesthouse in Wales. Kirsty’s mother moves in with them and announces their first guest will be the cousin Kirsty fell out with when they were eighteen. The last thing she wants to do is face old demons as she’s trying to get her fledgling business off the ground. Selena and her daughter Ruby arrive along with an assortment of guests. Soon strange and sinister events occur and it appears more than one person in the house is hiding a dark secret. This chilling, atmospheric story gradually reveals the truth with many twists before the final shocking reveal. Well written, considered, and satisfyingly concluded, the finale however leaves the reader with much to question.

A chilling tale of a family who move away from the city to what they hope will be a better life and as they make their new home into a boarding house a series of events unfold that uncover terrible secrets and results in a death all is not what it seems and Kirsty will do anything to protect her family as bad things start to happen plenty of interesting characters in this well written novel a good read

This was a book that I completed in 2 sittings (should have been one but work got in the way) it kept me up half the night I couldn't put it down.

Great book , I’m not surprised I keep seeing this everywhere. I loved the characters and the setting , I would highly recommend

My Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in return for an honest review. I’m not totally convinced by this book. I suppose all these catastrophic events could happen in one person’s life, but I’m not sure. They do however make a moderately entertaining story. I was about 60% through the book before I began to engage with with it and I’m afraid that didn’t last too long once the part of the problem that was local was revealed. That just wasn’t credible.

Briefly the story concerns Kirsty and Adrian and their two children who live in London. Adrian has a high flying job but has a break down. Kirsty decides that for the good of all they will sell up their London home and buy an ex vicarage that has been boarded up and derelict for many years, in a village in the Brecon Beacons. They will have it restored and run it as a B & B. despite the fact that it soon becomes obvious that they know nothing of the work involved. In order to be able to afford this her widowed mother, with whom Kirsty has never had a fantastic relationship, agrees to sell up and come in with them to run it. Almost immediately a cousin, whom Kirsty fell out with many years ago turns up to stay with her sick child.. I just goes on from there one thing after another happening and stretching the reader’s credulity.

I note that the author was born in Bristol and now lives in Bath. I wonder how much she really knows about life in various parts of Wales. Not a lot judging by this book. The main character, Kirsty was born and brought up in Cardiff, as was I, and her “Welsh accent” is referred to. There is no such thing. The Cardiff accent is very distinctive and not what many English folk think of when they refer to a Welsh accent which they think of as some sort of music hall joke. If you really understand Welsh speech you can tell which region of our country people come by their speech.. The author has kindly provided reading group questions at the end of the book. The first asks how the author has used the landscape of Wales to convey the mood of the characters in the story. Again there is no such thing as the landscape of Wales. The mountains of Snowdonia are as different from the Pembrokeshire coast as the Valleys of South Wales from the Island of Anglesey.. I could go on. One of my Welsh speaking cousins used to refer to the” ignorant English”, and I fear that this could well fall into that category.. In fact there are so many holes in the story that it didn’t bare too much though. It could be a sort of entertaining holiday read, but little else. Just too many problems and difficult relationships stuffed into one story. I can’t believe that a book group would want to read it let alone analyse it..

A disturbing story with good characters set in Wales. Lots of twists and turns and a surprising ending.

Do Not Disturb is the first thriller I’ve read by Claire Douglas but I’ll be searching out her 3 previous books to see if they are as good as this one.
Kirsty moves with her husband and two daughters from London to wales, her mum has sold her house to buy into this large house that needs a lot of refurbishment before they can open it up into their shared b&b. They have moved from London for a reason and this is eeked out in the first part of the book. Kirsty’s cousin, Selena arrives with her daughter, Kirsty and Selena used to be so close in their younger years but they stopped contact and this is another secret that eventually comes to rest.
This is a book where a lot happens and there are a lot of twists and turns with red herrings thrown in all along the way. I enjoyed this and would recommend this as there was a good blend of everything, at times it was a little scary so could come under chiller thriller!
I would like to thank Netgalley and Penguin UK, Michael Joseph for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

DO NOT DISTURB

Claire Douglas’s fourth novel seems, at first, a little quieter than her previous efforts. We’re out of big cities to the Brecon Beacons. The novel feels timeless, or at least any time within the last decade or so - although it is documented, in the Douglas tradition, with Before and After, starting in August 2017.

Our narrator this time is Kirsty, a Welsh mother of two, former City worker married to Adrian. They move out of London and back to rural Wales to run a guesthouse with her interfering mother. Family secrets abound with this one, so of course, half the extended family soon show up for various reasons. As always the plotting is tight. There’s a death at the guesthouse which becomes a murder investigation, the last thing the couple need in a village where they’re strangely not welcome. The whodunnit is teased out, theory after theory explored and then discounted. The twists and revelations really ramp up towards the end, and I raced through the denouement.

There are a pleasing variety of characters - the other guests, some with ulterior motives, several relationships are strained to breaking point. There is the all-encompassing anxiety of a mother with two young children living in a house where things seemingly move of their own accord, and plenty of backstory for her own relationships. There’s not much else to say without spoilers, and with plot revealed in such intricate ways, that wouldn’t be fair.

Once again, I can’t wait to read the next novel by Claire Douglas! ****/*****

Kirsty decided her family needed a fresh start after her husband's breakdown. Opening a guest house in the Brecon Beacons seemed perfect- even if she did have to join forces with her mother- someone she had always found difficult to get on with!

Getting ready for the opening weekend keeps everyone occupied. Their eleven year old daughter is not very happy to be separated from her friends in London. Six year old Evie loves the countryside, the chance to have rabbits and the adventure, but is scared to sleep in her room. There are some locals who also make it clear that incomers are not welcome. Kirsty's cousin Selina arrives along with Ruby her sickly daughter. Kirsty has not spoken to Selina in years.

From the start of the book we know there has been an incident & someone is lying at the bottom of the stairs. The narrative tells of the lead up to this event & then to the aftermath. I found this an interesting way to tell the story. The character's were engaging & there were a lot of red herrings scattered about. I really enjoyed this book. Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for giving me the chance to read & review this book.

A very good thriller, interesting enough to keep me reading through a car journey and I get motion sickness. At times I felt the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. A solid 4 stars, Claire Douglas delivers another good read!

I love the Brecon Beacons but after reading Do Not Disturb I am not sure I will be in a hurry to return.

It all seemed so idyllic. Uproot your entire family and open a bed and breakfast in an old run down rectory, what could go wrong? As Kirsty soon found out it became her and her families worst nightmare and one that I would definitely not like to be a part off.

Kirsty was everything I like in a strong female character. She was stoic, determined and strong, never afraid to confront the past and deal with the present. I also felt slightly sorry for her, and did get a little frustrated with her husband, who although was not entirely well, seemed unable or unwilling to help her. Her mother was equally as bad, harbouring secrets and making her life difficult.

Selena, was an altogether different character, one I instantly disliked, something niggling in my mind that told me she was somewhat economical with the truth, even if she was a good mum towards her disabled daughter. Trouble seemed to arrive at the same time as Selena and it wasn’t long before strange happenings sent shivers down my spine and I began to question just who was telling the truth and who had something sinister to hide.

Douglas was brilliant at building the suspense, the old rectory setting just perfect for those creaking floorboards and doors in the middle of the night. What she also did very well, was to keep me guessing. Just when I thought I had it all worked out, she threw in another twist that sent me in a different direction, and in some ways I felt I was Kirsty as I discovered and experienced the events at the same time.

As I read, the suspense and tension became palpable and the secrets tumbled out, some expected and some not. I did wonder how this family and indeed the guest house would survive, but knew with Kirsty’s strength and determination that it would.

As much as Do Not Disturb was a thriller, it also touched on mental illness, the effects it can have on not just the one afflicted but also the rest of the family, particularly children. Douglas dealt with it in a sensitive and measured way, never overplaying, never overpowering the main plotline.

Do No Harm, was a page turning and addictive thriller and if I hadn’t have been moving house would have read in one sitting. Highly recommended!

A great psychological thriller. Full of twists and changing storylines to keep the suspense up. A little predictable at times but still an enjoyable read.

This book was an enjoyable, fairly quick read. I would call it a 'who done it' rather than a thriller, and it was a little tame for my liking.
There are some good twists and turns, and the role that the children play in the book create some creepy moments. Much of the tension for me came from the idea of living in and running a guest house with my mother. (Love her to bits, but could not live with her and I'm sure she would say the same!) Add to this more family members dropping in on the opening weekend, as well as an estranged childhood friend who brings a truckload of baggage and I found myself reaching for the gin! However, when I think about the actual crime and all the little inexplicable events (for example, the deliveries of dead flowers and hostility from some of the villagers) I couldn't shake the feeling that I was watching a cosy Miss Marple episode on a Sunday evening at 8pm, and for me to rate a book more highly I do need a bit more tension. That's my personal preference though, and it has to be said that this is a well written book, and a good holiday read.

My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Kirsty and Adrian need a break from London. So buying their dream home in Wales and turning it into a B & B seems an ideal solution. Kirsty's Mum joins them in their venture and they can't wait for the opening. It isn't only guests who come and stay but the family turns up as well - Kirsty's brother and his wife; cousin Selena and her unwell daughter, Ruby. Strange things start to happen and then there is a murder........

Although I enjoyed this book on a basic level I found there was just far too much crammed into it. There are complications in relationships between practically every character and each of those seemed to have a twist. Things from the past come back and then there are modern complications with the local villagers. It felt very much as if the author had a multitude of ideas and decided to cram them all in one book. Consequently there is not enough depth to any of the sub-plots or characters.

I liked the fact that we start with the crime and look back at the events leading up to it. The author did do this quite well and managed the timeline so that there was minimal confusion - if any.

Personally I feel that this book could be better with some editing and slimming down of the complications. This would enable to author to allow depth and detail to both the characters and plot. A shame really as this could have been so much better.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

Anyone thinking of moving from the city to open a B&B in the country should read 'Do Not Disturb' first!
First you buy the country wreck, spend a fortune doing it up, then you find out it has a tragic past when your first paying guest walks through the door.
Add to that going in to the business with your mother and then all your family descending on you with all their secrets, looks like murder is the only outlook!
This novel was well written with intriguing family connections and loyalties, it was quite a page turner.
Whilst Dean was a disturbing character he should not have been charged with murder but when you've got a family whose very existence is based upon keeping secrets, what's one more lie?

There's a really claustophobic feel to this book, given that all of the main events take place in the same guesthouse or the area immediately around it. This really ramps up the tension, as does the fact that we know about the mystery from the first few pages ... the rest is all about how it got to that point and the aftermath. I was totally hooked on unravelling the mystery but I was a bit disappointed with the ending, I was expecting some kind of twist but not the one that actually unfolded and while it surprised me, it did feel like a bit of an anticlimax. Having thought about it a bit more afterwards, I did wonder if this was actually deliberate and intended to make you think about the strength of family bonds and what lengths people will go to keep secrets hidden. It is definitely the kind of book that makes you want to keep reading, with some clever twists to keep you guessing.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read Do Not Disturb by Claire Douglas in return for a review of my unbiased opinion. I have enjoyed previous novels written by this author and this was no different. The story begins around a family of 4 (Kirsty, Adrian, Amelia and Evie) who have relocated for a new start after an incident that had and is still having an impact on their lives. Gradually more members of Kirsty's family enter the storyline and her new home and the story develops into several layers, becoming chilling, creepy and downright spooky at times. There is murder, deceit, intrigue and much more. All in all another fabulous psychologically gripping novel.

Definitely comes under the heading of a cracking good read. At times it’s like a modern day whodunnit and at other times it’s a spooky thriller, then very dysfunctional family saga. A great read you will not want to put down

So maybe don't read this when your house sitting alone, at night with weird noises, in an old house... although maybe you should, as that helped with the tension!!
I've read Claire Douglas books before and she really knows how to deliver a thriller with suspense and an epic ending.
Every character had so many secrets that just kept coming and that ending... I'm still in shock!!