Lots of books play with themes like these: the outsider in a golden group, the deadly desperation to belong, the disastrous event that rends it all asunder. Perhaps incongruously for older teens, the whole group get caught up in a half-serious game: searching for a priceless diamond necklace, the subject of a local scandal in the 1930s, and reputedly still hidden somewhere in the house’s grounds.

They meet charismatic runaway David, with whom both Andy and Peter fall a little bit in love. That summer they, along with their friend Em and Andy’s boyfriend Marcus, spend a lot of time hanging around an abandoned manor house. In these flashbacks, Andy and Peter are 18 years old and unlikely best friends: Andy the daughter of a neglectful alcoholic, her life so far defined by abuse Peter comfortably middle class, the son of a vicar, bound for Oxford. More importantly, it prompts her to think back to the events of 20 years ago, a key period in both their lives. A woman named Andy receives a phone call from her friend Peter’s mother Peter, it seems, is missing – or at least, he’s not contacting his parents. But Before the Ruins is more than the sum of its parts. As with Catherine House, I read the blurb, recognised attractive keywords – ‘ruined manor house’, ‘resentment, lies and a terrible betrayal’ – and settled in for what I assumed would be an enjoyable retread of some favourite themes, something fun and light to while away a sunny afternoon. (4.5) This was the second book within a couple of weeks that I completely underestimated.

Meticulously plotted and gorgeously written, Before the Ruins is a page-turner of the highest order about the sealed-off places in our pasts and the parts of ourselves waiting to be retrieved from them. But the Game becomes much bigger than the necklace, growing to encompass years of secrets, lies, and, ultimately, one terrible betrayal. When the group learns that a diamond necklace, stolen fifty years ago, might still be somewhere on the manor grounds, the Game-half treasure hunt, half friendly deception-begins. There they meet David-charming and unreliable, he seems to have appeared out of nowhere.ĭavid presents an irresistible lure for both Andy and Peter and complicates the dynamics of their lifelong friendship. When Andy's alcoholic mother predicts the apocalypse, the four teenagers decide to see out the end of the world at a deserted manor house, the site of a historic unsolved mystery.

It's the summer of 1996 and school's out forever for Andy, her boyfriend Marcus, her best friend Peter, and Em. A gripping, multilayered debut in the tradition of Tana French and Donna Tartt about four friends, an empty manor, and a night that will follow them for the rest of their lives

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