Panic Room by Robert Goddard

About the book

WHAT REALLY LIES WITHIN?

High on a Cornish cliff sits a vast uninhabited mansion. Uninhabited except for Blake, a young woman of mysterious background, currently acting as housesitter.

The house has a panic room. Cunningly concealed, steel lined, impregnable – and apparently closed from within. Even Blake doesn’t know it’s there. She’s too busy being on the run from life, from a story she thinks she’s escaped.

But her remote existence is going to be threatened when people come looking for the house’s owner, rogue pharma entrepreneur, Jack Harkness. Soon people with questionable motives will be asking Blake the sort of questions she can’t – or won’t – want to answer.

WILL THE PANIC ROOM EVER GIVE UP ITS SECRETS?

What I thought

This is the 6th Robert Goddard book I’ve read, and apart from one of them, Play to the End, I’ve enjoyed all of them, this one included.

Starting out the book we briefly meet Blake the house sitter. Living alone in a luxury house in Cornwall, Blake enjoys the seclusion, it suits her but she won’t be alone there for long.

Don Challenor an estate agent has just lost his job. His ex wife takes pity on him and gives him a chance to earn some money. She’s a lawyer and her client wants to sell the home that Blake is house sitting. All Don Challenor needs to do is go to Cornwall and in his capacity as an estate agent value the house and take down all the particulars ready for a sale. Straightforward, yes? NO! This is a Robert Goddard slow burn thriller and visiting the house is just the start of his troubles. As he surveys the house, taking photo’s, taking measurements he comes across something of an anomaly in the structure of the home which bring us to the title of the book, could this be a panic room?

This is what I like about Goddard’s books. The central character is always an unassuming person going about their every day business only to be roped into investigations into all sorts of nefarious goings on, full of dodgy characters, often with the odd Russian thrown in for good measure, they keep you guessing as you follow the search for the truth. It had its tense moments, mystery and intrigue culminating in a big reveal with a twist I certainly didn’t anticipate. Another fab book from this author, I enjoyed every page.