The Nesting

Thank you NetGalley and C. J. Cooke for the eARC of The Nesting! I was expecting more from this book, it certainly has it's moments of suspense and mystery but the story overall could use some refinement. Some areas of the story could use less focus because it didn't add anything. The supernatural element was minimal and the then and now style of the story was enjoyable. It was fine for a one time read but I wouldn't pick it up again. I will post my review on Netgalley, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Google Play.

A rambling story, with many interesting twists and then there are the spots that just don’t follow through. There is a supernatural note, but mostly a twisted pattern of darkness and abuse that doesn’t always make sense, other than with regard to the main character of Lexi. Not a bad read, but there should be a rewrite with regard to things that happen in the beginning and how the book ends.

The Nesting by CJ Cooke is a gothic noir novel that draws on elements of Nordic folklore and Scandinavian mystery traditions. The book also pays homage to Rebecca and Jane Eyre, with many allusions obviously made toward those estimable works. Unfortunately, The Nesting is a bit of an over-ambitious mess, with some serious flaws that detract from what might have been an interesting blend of conceits. Lexi is a troubled young woman whose recent job loss, relationship breakup and subsequent suicide attempt has left her looking for a new home and direction for her life. Aimlessly riding in circles, she overhears a woman on a train talking about turning down a lucrative job opportunity as a nanny. Lexi can hardly believe her luck when the woman asks her to look after her computer for a moment, and she sees this as a sign that she was meant to seize an opportunity. Lexi decides that she will impersonate the qualified candidate by stealing her personal information. The job includes looking after two young girls on a trip to Norway with their father, an architect who has recently lost his wife. Incredibly, Lexi manages to convince her new employers that she is a certified nurse with years of experience, an expert in the Montessori Method and a vegan chef, to boot. Assuming the persona of “Sophie Hallerton,” she accompanies the family to a temporary home bordering a fjord and deep in the wilderness. Even though the matriarch had presumably died of suicide, strange occurrences and a secret diary makes Lexi suspect that the death was no accident. The novel then throws so many things into the mix that the reader is left lost wondering if this is a ghost story, a monster tale, a murder mystery, the hallucinations of a mentally unstable protagonist, or nature’s revenge run amok. Such unresolved ambiguity would be problematic on its own, but the book also suffers from several dropped plot points and a distinct lack of logic in terms of character, time and setting. Noises in the basement are mentioned to but never explained, the children are not depicted with age-appropriate attributes, and several characters survive circumstances that are not even slightly believable. The abundance of calamities that befall the characters becomes numbing and inevitable, even predictable. Some of the best parts of the book are the sporadic folk tales that are abruptly sprinkled in. Cooke attempts to take an overabundance of ideas and incorporate them all into one story, and it just doesn’t hold together. The Nesting is ultimately disappointing with its lack of focus and failure to inspire real thrills despite its many sources of laudable inspiration. Thanks to the author, HarperCollins and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.