Zoe was born and raised in the cult of the Children and their isolated compound Home. Six years ago, she escaped. But now the Hand of God has found her and he wants her to come back. Zoe has no desire to return to the life of indoctrination and abuse she experienced at Home, but the Hand has proof that her sister is there; the sister who helped her escape, and now she is determined to return the favour.

Home is a really interesting and well told look at how cults function and the effect that growing up in a cult can have on a person when they finally become free. The cult of the Children and its various members, especially the Hand, are really sinister and creepy, and the story took a turn that I totally wasn’t expecting with the Hand’s training of Zoe/Catherine and the things he made her do.

The story is told in alternating time periods, one with Catherine as a child living at Home, the other with Zoe as an adult living her life on the outside and having to return to find Amy. I felt that the transitions between the two timelines were clear and this was a very effective way to tell the story, because Zoe has a hindsight that Catherine didn’t have, but is also suffering from repressed memories and does not have full awareness of everything from her own past until further down the line.

There are examples of abuse and sexual assault, but these aren’t explicitly described which makes the story no less disturbing, but not too horrific to read. This could still be triggering for some readers.

I only need to see the word 'cult' to be interested in a story, thankfully its a strong enough pull for me that I could withstand the horrendous formatting of the ARC I received. Capital letters strewn about the page but never in the place you expect to see them! But of course, we don't take this into account when reviewing a book. And what a book this was!

I hurtled through Home in one day; it's filled with tropes, it's mostly predictable, it's just shy of perfect.

I invested so heavily in the lead character Catherine/Zoe, it hurt my heart to read much of this novel, even more so knowing such cults do exist. The way Steed explains the philosophy of the Children Of God to tie in with the current world makes it all too easy to see how people today could be convinced to join such groups.

By writing in first person from Catherine/Zoe's perspective Steed cranks up the emotion and horror of seeing the world through the eyes of a broken, abused young girl whilst carefully balancing it with the tiny triumphs of discovering the free world 'Outside'.

Home is told in three timelines; Catherine as a child growing up in the cult, living as 'Zoe' independently in Ireland and later returning Home to rescue her only relative.

Her naivety and desperation for company is painful to read but makes each small kind gesture extended to Zoe more beautiful for it. Steed leaves tiny breadcrumbs of happiness and hope to shine through each time the bleak cruelty of this story starts to press in.
The Hand Of God made an excellent antagonist, complicated and almost understandable in his ambition, just as a well written villain should be.

The pacing was good overall, only slowing when Catherine/Zoe became repetitive and we wait for her to reach the realisations the reader has already made. This was necessary for her character building as we watch C/Z battle the brainwashing she was born into.

I recommend Home to anyone who enjoys a good cult story. There is of course warnings for abuse in this novel but the scenes are not unnecessarily graphic and aside from one instance most are alluded to rather than described.

An interesting idea for a story but I question the motivations behind some of the more dramatic parts. Where were the authorities? The characters weren’t likeable, but they’re not meant to be on the whole but I feel it could have been handled with a lighter touch so the reader could root for at least one character. I think I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for this book

Home is a gripping novel which follows Catherine/Zoe’s journey in escaping the cult she is born into.

Catherine is one of the children and while she has escaped she is convinced to return in order to save her blood sister.

The story is told over dual timelines and as we read on we learn more about how Catherine escaped, what she was doing before she escaped, and whether she will be able to achieve her objective.

The novel is gripping and the brutal reality of the cult is exposed. The abuse suffered and the lengths they have to go to to escape are terrifying.

I would love a follow up to see how the characters progress!

Home follows our main character Zoe, who has been tracked down and confronted in her flat by a man who she thought she’d left behind for good. This man, known as “the hand of god” knows everything about her and persuades her to revisit her old life in an isolated compound which is home to a cult called “the children”. And so, Zoe goes “home” in a bid to rescue her sister who has fallen back into “the hands of god”, but her return means her freedom is stripped, she’s reminded of some dark times and she has to keep reminding herself who she really is.

I was sold on this one at the blurb… I am fascinated by cults, it sounded gripping and tense, and I couldn’t wait to get stuck in. But unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my expectations. I got a bit lost with the “then” and “now” timelines during the middle section and I wasn’t truly satisfied by the ending.

Having said that, there were some more fast paced parts to the story which I felt redeemed the book slightly and I did find the topics that were explored such as identity, gender roles and indoctrination, were interesting and approached well.

Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing, Raven Books and Netgalley for the ARC.

Home is a tense, emotionally searing story of survivorship and family, and how far one can go to save the ones they love. Told in a dual timeline – THEN, and NOW – HOME is about Zoe, who is 6 years out of the cult she lived in her entire life when the Hand of God, one of the cult leaders, breaks into her apartment and tells her something that makes it impossible to not follow him back Home. This time, however, it’s a rescue mission – all Zoe has to do is remember who she is. And who she is is not “Catherine”, no matter what her memories and indoctrination tries to tell her…

Content warnings for SA and general cult torture treatment. This is a very tense but gripping read.

A bit tough to get into but not that bad once I got into the flow of it. However it was ruined by its completely unbelievable plotline and the ridiculousness of the story itself.

My reaction upon finishing Cailean Steed’s debut Home was this….Wow! Home follows Zoe, a survivor of a cult, who’s new life in Dublin is disrupted when a person from her past dangles the opportunity to rescue her sister Amy. I read this book in one-sitting and at some points I felt like I was being hit with a sledge-hammer due to how tense it was.

Home is divided in ‘Now’ and ‘Then’ chapters to show the lead-up to Zoe’s original escape from the cult when she was a younger, and the present which shows her life in Dublin, along with her rescue plan back home. Firstly, I loved this format, as usually stories that have dealt with a similar subject focus on the lead-up to the escape. At the end it’s all too easy to imagine a happy ending for the protagonist. Although Zoe is happy in her present life, she’s had to fight for her happiness. Her childhood was spent being ground down by people who monitored/censored her actions, her thoughts, her sense of self, etc. Once she escape, it was almost like being reborn, as Zoe has to figure out who she is. This take a tremendous amount of courage and I loved how her friend/boss Maggie supported her in her journey. I also loved Zoe’s relationship with Adi and her determination not to be made to feel ashamed about her sexuality when she returns home.

I also love the advice Maggie gives her to write down four truth things about herself: ‘I was reminding myself that I know who I am, even if other people don’t – or won’t – accept it.’ Zoe constantly draws on her four truths to ground herself, especially once she realises her rescue plan won't be as straightforward as she’d hoped it would.

Zoe’s relationship with her sister Amy was so poignant and I loved how they were able to develop a strong bond in a place where close familial ties are discouraged. I won’t spoil it, but I loved how their bond wasn’t lessened by their years of separation. I also really liked seeing how strong they were in spite of their past and how similar they were too in relation to wanting to protect the people they love.

The scenes between Zoe and the Hand of God, who takes guardianship of Zoe as a child and trains her to be his acolyte were my favourite parts of the novel. To Zoe, the Hand was all-powerful, father figure and it was disturbing to see how indoctrinated she became under his influence. These chapters were so well-written and absolutely necessary to show how a cult works in breaking a person’s will. Although, Zoe’s love for her sister gave her the strength to escape the cult as a child, the influence of the Hand was a spell that Zoe had never completely broken free off. This is what made it such a tense read as I kept wondering if Zoe would return home permanently. As we got further into the story I realized that Zoe was unsure of this herself. After all, there's no place like home.

Overall, I absolutely loved this and that ending! Very much looking forward to reading Steed’s next book.

When I read the synopsis for this book I was immediately interested I have a deep fascination for anything to do with cults so I requested and was granted it from NetGalley. The book is not an easy read it deals with some uncomfortable issues mainly dealing with control and coercion however the author has dealt with this in a sympathetic way I think. It’s the story of Zoe/Catherine and is told in two timelines then and now which I did think at times to be a little confusing but overall it kept my attention throughout. I’m not sure if I liked the read or not and I can’t explain why but I think with the subject matter being a difficult one I found it hard to connect with the characters. So for me a 3 star read and I do look forward to reading more from Cailean Steed in the future.
My thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, Raven Books for giving me the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Engaging and well plotted thriller. Compelling, and an interesting view on cults. I thought the use of time was particularly well done- it could have been confusing but wasn't.

This is quite a disturbing book. Zoe has escaped from Home, a cult community where she was born and raised. One day, she finds a man in her flat. He is called The Hand of God and he is an important member of the cult's hierarchy. He persuades her to return in order to rescue her sister Amy. The story is told in 2 time frames which was fine to start with but as the story went on I found I was getting confused about which time frame I was reading about. Be warned that there are some pretty disturbing descriptions in this book. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
Copied to Goodreads.

Well, this had me gripped from the start!

Home, follows the story of Zoe/Catherine who is rebuilding her life after escaping from a cult, but when The Hand of God tracks her down, she is forced to return to try and save her sister.

It's a dark read, but works so well with the dual timeline. We see the MC in the past and her life inside the cult. The author paints a vivid picture of the awful practices, the grooming, abuse and then the tough training regime under the eye of The Hand of God.
The tension ramps up when she returns with fresh eyes on what is happening and this is when I couldn't put the book down. I found myself rooting for the MC and willing her on her quest for survival.

Despite the dark themes, this is a book about family, strength and hope.
I will be keen to read more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley, to Cailean Steed and to Raven books for the opportunity to read this advanced copy.

1.5/5 stars rounded down to one.

First things first, the rating if not anything else is a retaliation for the slump this book put me into.
Second, I can’t believe how utterly stupid this whole thing was. I don’t understand how any of this could even work and guess what? The book conveniently doesn’t give answers to anything.
The ending alone is enough to hate this whole thing.

I was expecting the suspense to come the whole time but what I got instead was a slowly building giant plot hole.

Half the things we learn are through the eyes of a kid who doesn’t know or understand anything about anything and the other half are from the words of psychopaths. The in between information we get is scarce and too little to make any impact on anything.

I still don’t get why everyone is so fucked up, how they just decide to stay, how this whole place in still going, how all these murders were so easily concealed, how exactly this cult works, how the institution to bring it down works and many other crucial questions.
You could just read the synopsis and you literally will know every that happened in this book, nothing else is answered.

Thank you NetGalley, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc & Raven Books for the digital ARC.

This is a very dark tale, told in a dual timeline, of a cult and its aftermath on two sisters, one of whom goes back to rescue the other. The cult itself is beautifully depicted (if horrific) and all too believable and I was rooting for the sisters from the start. I did wonder if it would be too depressing (for me) but the author ultimately lifted the story with a (believable() glimpse of hope.

The cover and title of this book really caught my eye so I didn’t really read the description and wow was it not what I expected. This book was amazingly well written about - in as little detail as possible - a woman in a cult. It definitely made me feel uneasy at some parts as I assume it was meant to, and was probably missing some trigger warnings of abuse and sexual abuse. I found the book a bit confusing as it switches from past to present and I read the book staggered across a few weeks.
Overall this was definitely a creepy but well worth read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc and Raven Books for the opportunity to read and review this gripping read about abuse, sexual assault, violence, and cult indoctrination. An uncomfortable but ultimately compelling read.

I was addicted to this book the minute I started, it was so hard to put down! (Just one more chapter...) Action, clever twists, compelling characters, it's all here. Author Cailean Steed created a vivid picture of Catherine/Zoe in the past and present, painting a chilling picture of life within the cult to firmly embed us in the story. Cailean's skilful writing style is sharp and concise, reminding me of Maggie O'Farrell's novels. Readers who loved the Handmaid's Tale will fall in love with this book too.

As much as I wanted to love this book - the dialogue and punctuation let it down for me and I struggled to get in to the book. May have just been my kindle but I struggled as it was all over the place.

I loved the story and where it was going, it has so much potential to be great I think it just needs a bit of cleaning up.

I really enjoyed this book, the concept was really good yet heartbreaking!
This book made me go through all different emotions even from the very first free chapters, god it seemed so horrible what she had to endure - even if it was fictional so many women have to live through lives like this

In many ways an uncomfortable read but a compelling one, nonetheless. After a long journey through unimaginable sufferings, as the two timelines come closer together, there is ultimately a feeling of hope.