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The house on the cliff : a novel

Title:

Author:

Williams, Charlotte, 1954 August 10- author.

Series:

Jessica Mayhew ;

Series Number:

Summary:

Jessica Mayhew is a sharp, successful therapist with a thriving practice and loving family. But the arrival of a new client, actor Gwydion Morgan, coincides with a turbulent moment in her life: her husband has just confessed to a one-night stand with a younger woman. The son of a famous stage director, Gwydion is good-looking and talented but mentally fragile, tormented by an intriguing phobia. When Jessica receives a frantic call warning that he is suicidal, she decides to make a house call. The Morgans live in a grand clifftop mansion overlooking the rocky Welsh coast. It seems to be a remote paradise, but there's something sinister about it too: Jessica learns that the family's former au pair drowned in the bay under mysterious circumstances. In her quest to help Gwydion, to whom she's grown increasingly attached, Jessica becomes ensnared in the Morgan family mystery, which soon becomes an explosive public scandal--one that puts her directly in harm's way. Meanwhile, Jessica is doing her best to keep her marriage and family together, but her growing attraction to Gwydion is impossible to ignore.

Edition:

First U.S. edition.

Physical Description:

338 pages ; 21 cm

Genre:

Psychological fiction.

Subject Term:

Family secrets -- Fiction.

Publisher:

Harper Perennial,

Publication Date:

2013

ISBN:

9780062284570

Publication Information:

New York : Harper Perennial, [2013]

Call Number:

WILLIAMS

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode

33607003041145

Collection

Adult Fiction

Call Number

WILLIAMS Charlotte

Status

Searching...

Item Holds

Searching...

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A riveting psychological crime novel featuring Jessica Mayhew, a therapist who becomes entangled in the long-dormant murder mystery that haunts her patient's family

Jessica Mayhew is a sharp, successful therapist with a thriving practice and a loving family at home. But actor Gwydion Morgan's dramatic appearance at her office coincides with a turbulent moment in her life: her husband has just confessed to a one-night stand with a much younger woman. Gwydion, son of the famous stage director Evan Morgan, is good-looking and talented but mentally fragile, tormented by an intriguing phobia. When his mother phones to say he is suicidal, Jessica, determined to trace the cause of his distress, decides to make a house call.

The Morgans live in a grand clifftop mansion overlooking the rocky Welsh coast. It seems to be a remote paradise, but there's something sinister about the place, too. Jessica learns that an au pair who cared for Gwydion drowned in the bay under mysterious circumstances. In her quest to help her client, to whom she's becoming increasingly attached, Jessica becomes ensnared in the Morgan family mystery, which soon becomes an explosive public scandal--one that puts her directly in harm's way. All the while, Jessica is doing her best to keep her marriage and family together--but her connection with Gwydion is impossible to ignore.

A smart, sexy novel of suspense, The House on the Cliff will keep you gripped until the very end.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In British journalist Williams's uneven first novel and series opener, Welsh psychotherapist Jessica Mayhew finds herself strangely drawn to Gwydion Morgan, a handsome, anxiety-ridden actor who needs her help banishing a crippling fear of buttons (known as koumpounophobia). When Jessica discovers that Gwydion's former au pair, Elsa Lindberg, died in a tragic drowning accident, her interest is piqued, and she begins researching Gwydion's complicated home life. Meanwhile, Jessica's teenage daughter is alternately sullen and rebellious, and her husband just confessed to sleeping with another woman. Jessica sees Gwydion as both a lover and a son, and later seriously contemplates having affairs with both him and his famous father, theater director Evan Morgan, to get back at her adulterous husband. The sympathetic Jessica makes up only in part for a clumsily wrought mystery, in which most of the plot twists are telegraphed too far in advance to have any real impact. Agent: Peter Straus, Rogers, Coleridge & White (U.K.). (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal Review

Therapist professionalism goes out the window when Welsh psychologist Jessica Mayhew, still smarting from her husband's confession of a brief affair, finds herself distracted by a desperately unhappy new patient, the son of a famous movie director. Jessica's therapy appears to be helping Gwydion Morgan, but what he talks about now makes Jessica fear that an unsolved crime happened on the Morgans' estate years ago. Concurrently, her physical attraction to the handsome young client cannot be ignored. Decidedly off her game, Jessica sifts through real memories, false memories, and simple deceit, but she'd better find the truth soon because a killer has grown impatient. VERDICT This solid domestic suspense debut, nicely seasoned with gothic elements, should please Gone Girl fans and those who crave a real page-turner. Williams's 40-something psychotherapist makes a particularly vulnerable protagonist. While Jessica might be the worst therapist ever at keeping her personal agenda out of the session, readers will admire how Williams has created such believable characters and how she weaves effectively psychological theories throughout. (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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