The Locked Attic by B P Walter

I have mixed feelings about this story. There is such a random, scattered feeling to it, for me. There are explosions that affect Stephanie's neighborhood. There is a car wreck off scene that changes everything. There are the weird neighbors that are so gross it's not funny. And Stephanie makes supremely bad decisions that should never have happened no matter what excuse she makes for herself.

I'm thinking MORE is going to happen because it seems the explosions are almost a sort of white noise to the story. The wreck was just that, a wreck that changed things but nothing else to see there. And the weird family was just pitiful to me, not that it's the kids' fault who raised them.

The best part of the story is the friendship between Stephanie's son Danny and Jonathan, son of the weird couple across the street. Good kids, struggling with so many things, some the normal parts of growing up and some that should never ever happen. Best friends who are torn apart by several events. Danny spends months being very moody and depressed and Stephanie wants to know why, even after he dies, especially after he dies. Part of the book is narrated by Danny and he's a good kid, getting a bad deal in more ways than one.

Then we come to what's in the locked attic. Disgusting, ick, yuck, wash my brain with bleach. I did like the very end of the story and what it says for the future of three characters because I think it will be good when everything comes out in the wash. I wavered between 3 stars and 4 stars, 3 stars for the adult driven drama and 4 stars for the coming of age story. Danny and Jonathan make this 4 stars for me.

Thank you to HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter and NetGalley for this ARC.

I received locked attic byB.P.Walter on netgalley can't really saw it was a page but there aresome positive points,for instance liked the way the book is divided by chapter for each character the before and after the explosion,but I didn't feel that there was enough information given to the reader, so the reader was left with more questions than answers,still didn't understand the Attic and the secrets,although the book did pose questions about teenagers trying to find themselves and the perverted old man.
As far as I am concerned this book needs a lot of polishing up to become the rough diamond it can be,

This one really went in a direction I was not expecting!
It was a fast easy read and I really enjoyed the story which was told in a couple of diff timelines. As it kept unfolding into ways I never expected I just kept thinking what has the attic got to do with it all!!!
When the attic portion was reveled it felt a little anticlimactic and the whole ending let it down which was up until then a very intriguing read.
Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for this Arc.

3.5 Stars

This was my first read by this author and I have to say his marketing department isn't doing him any favours or justice. From the blurb and cover a person would think this is about people locked in an attic and a mother's revenge for her child having that done to them. A person would be forgiven for thinking that this book is a thriller, but it isn't. It doesn't mean that this is a bad book, in fact, it is a pretty decent book by any measure but it isn't what we readers are led to believe it is, don't let that cover fool you. This is more of a domestic drama or a domestic noir at a stretch.

There were many themes dealt with throughout the story, LGBTQ, grief, classism, and adultery to name but a few. I loved that about the book. It took on many serious issues in a very realistic and sensitive manner. The plot was a unique one and grabbed my attention right away. The story is short and so absorbing I managed it in a single sitting. I loved the format of the book where we are getting multiple points of view and varying timelines. The writing is well crafted and the plot is multi-layered, Walters certainly has talent and I would read more of his books.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

This was a great twisty turny story. We start the book reading about Stephanie who has woken up in hospital. She has short term amnesia, and over the course of the book we find out why she is in hospital and the long awaited secrets that led up to where she is now. We know she is happily married with a son, and they live in an affluent area, where the neighbours are a community.

I loved the way this story was written, as we are drip fed bits and pieces until it all comes together and how everything we’ve read fits together and makes sense. The characters were all well written, especially how nosy the neighbours were, I’m pretty sure we’ve all experienced that to some degree. The writing was excellent and helped the story to flow really well. Another great read from this author, and highly recommended!!

I really enjoyed this! Having previously enjoyed b p Walters I was really excited to read this one. I didn’t enjoy ir as much as the dinner guest but still loves the twists and turns rhat this brought and kept me guessing!

This was very convaluted and all over the place with the plot. It was a mash up for issues that were discussed. I almost did not finish it.

"In some ways, London was more suited to me-nobody had much time for or interest in others... I might have got used to the comfortable way of life that Pete's money had brought me, but that didn't mean I could easily converse with those who had known nothing other than extreme wealth for their entire lives." "I couldn't help but dislike the Franklins living across the street at 54 Oak Tree Close, Kent.

Imagine Stephanie's disorientation and confusion when she awoke in the hospital. "I can remember snatches of what happened...vague memories start to take shape...Clarity begins to emerge." There had been an explosion...emergency announcements...stay indoors. Stephanie started to recall her calculated visit to the Franklins' house under the guise of "not wanting to be alone". The house held secrets, feeding into her son's strange behavior. The Franklins knew things.

A band practice, seven months prior, set this psychological thriller in motion. Janet Franklin, a pompous, control freak treated her new neighbor Stephanie with condescension. However, Richard, a overly critical college lecturer encouraged the friendship of his 15 year old son, Jonathan and Stephanie's son, Danny. The boys were now bandmates as well...but... life changed on a dime. The boys appeared different after a rehearsal. There was an "awkward tension" between them. "... this odd night...everything went spinning off in another direction."

It was a trip to the cinema, father and son. Pete hoped that Danny would confide in him, an attempt to address Danny's unsettling behavior of the past few months. A tragic car crash ensued leaving grief stricken Stephanie without her husband and son. Pete had been "her rock". Sitting on Danny's bed, Stephanie thought about Danny's quietude, behavioral changes and the secrets he would not share. On the day of the explosion, Stephanie was determined to find out what Jonathan knew. "I knew the answers to my questions lay within that house and the family who lived there."

"The Locked Attic" by B.P. Walter is a taut psychological thriller. The multi-layered story is both suspenseful and eerie. Danny's occasional voice provided the coming-of-age aspect, an exploration of the different forms of love. A question remains. What was housed in the locked attic, a room only Richard would access? The secret is mind-blowing! Highly recommended.

Thank you HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Really enjoyed this book, when I say it's full of twists.... It really is! So many of them, so many strange, bizarre twists! In a good way.

Stephanie wakes up in hospital and at first she has no idea what has happened to her but slowly her memory starts to return.
A psychological thriller about family life and secrets that have life changing consequences for all evolved.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins, One More Chapter for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not sure the title and the blurb do this book justice tbh, I almost ‘went past it’ when saw both and presumed it was about ‘someone locked in an attic’….without giving anything away its very much not that but what it is a hard hitting, no punches pulled excellently crafted story which features themes of discovered sexuality, grief, blackmail and big secrets,and best of all it is all written around a street environment and the residents who live there, for me there’s nothing better than these 2 things in a book
Characters ranging from slimy to emotive and featuring just the best snob ever who had me brilliantly horrified yet slightly in awe at her antics
Again this author has the magic of being able to bring alive situations that could be mundane but he has the ability to make a settee sound exciting, it’s hard to explain but it’s powerful, enticing and makes for a fine reading experience that manages to keep every page alive and the only disappointment being when it ends
Superb 🤗

The main character Stephanie wakes up in the hospital and is suffering from amnesia. The story then jumps around to different points in her past. Stephanie lived in a house with her husband Josh and son Danny, who have died in a car accident. They lived across the street from a horrible couple, Richard and Janet, and their son Jonathan who became friends with Danny. However, before he died Danny became distant and withdrawn and was behaving differently. Stephanie struggles to understand what was going on and whether the neighbors had something to do with it. I enjoyed the novel but the timeline jumping around was a little confusing, and titular attic was barely a part of the book!

I found this book too confusing. I just didn't connect with it. I am really disappointed because I expected to enjoy it, but I just didn't. Sorry and hope other readers enjoy it more than I did.

This was really different to what I was expecting but in a good way I was thinking it was going to be maybe a bit predictable and oh boy it was anything but that! It’s my first read by this author and after what I just read I’m going to read all his other books I’m so impressed.
So a difficult book to describe its starts with the main narrator Stephanie waking in hospital unsure of just what has happened to her but little by little she starts to remember, an explosion , her neighbours house and so many secrets all these memories start to fill her head.
The book is one that I just could put down and so much of it I just didn’t see coming it was a completely dark and compulsive story and as it’s told in different timelines and points of view the pages turned at a rate of knots as I desperately wanted to know how it would end!
A really brilliantly written book it was very different and one that I would highly recommend, many thanks to BP Walter for a damn good read.
My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Stephanie wakes up in hospital. She’s not sure how she got there but she does know that her son and husband died in a car crash a few months before. Something was wrong with Danny before he died and her neighbours son must know what it was. On the day of the disaster Stephanie visits her neighbours and discovers something in the attack. Will she get the answers she needs or is she going to be left in the dark always wondering. This book is told mostly from Stephanie’s perspective and sometimes Danny’s.
I liked this book but found it hard going at times as it drew out certain scenes. I would recommend it though. The ending wasn’t what I was expecting.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest views.

This is a hard one to review

I feel like there are so many good ideas in this one but all together they just didn't work so well. It was mostly a coming of age story but then also a lesson in how childish the adults can act too, and how insane it can get.

Told in 3 different timelines, the chapters are short with a punch at the end, making it a very fast and gripping read. But i gelt like there were a few unnecessary characters in the story and i ended up skipping those parts.

All that and at the last page i was wondering if that was that?! Like, the ending felt a bit too unrealistic and convenient to me. But maybe that's all just me because I read thrillers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and I guess I have read too many! :))

Thanks so much Netgalley, author, and publishers for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Rating: 4.2/5

If you are unfamiliar with the work of B.P. Walter I feel it is only fair to warn you that neither the title of the book nor the accompanying synopsis will ever prepare you adequately for the content. I do not mean that in a negative way at all, though some readers may find it more than a little disconcerting. Personally, I have loved everything I have read by this writer and he is rapidly becoming one of my "must read" authors.

B.P. Walter consistently blindsides his audience - and that is an important part of the experience when you are reading one of his books. For that reason I will deliberately avoid going into any detail about the storyline of "The Locked Attic". As with the other novels from this author, the themes are a little dark and potentially disturbing for some people. The characterisation is top notch and entirely credible. In true noir fashion, each of the protagonists is flawed to some degree - though this doesn't mean that you feel unable to empathise with them. The time frame in "The Locked Attic" does move around quite a bit, which I am aware is not to everyone's taste, but it is always clearly signposted and - as with all of this writer's books - it is meticulously planned and plotted to ensure that it all ties together. The result is a compelling, suspenseful and, at times, moving read that held my attention throughout and is easy to recommend.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

An intriguing thriller by B P Walter.

I was so pleased to have the opportunity to read this as I had enjoyed The Dinner Guest.
This is another super story with twists and turns. It follows Stephanie as she wakes up in hospital, and each chapter reveals more and more of what has led her to this moment.
Without giving too much of the story away, there are some suspicious neighbours and an underlying sadness.

Oh if you love a good thriller then simply do not miss this one. It is completely gripping, completely full of lots of twists and turns and utterly addictive. Amazing work.

Like the authors previous books, don’t even try to guess where they are going to go. You'll never do it!

You’ll never guess where this book is going, and you’ll never guess what’s in the attic.

This is a book where you'll be desperate to keep turning the pages until the very end. Just when you think something will be resolved or a new piece of information is uncovered, all is does in invite more questions and pull you further and further in.