The Short Straw

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What to expect

Leaving isn't safe... But staying would be deadly.



'An addictive read. . . Patricia Highsmith meets Shirley Jackson' - GILLIAN MCALLISTER

'A deliciously creepy tale of three sisters forced to take refuge in an abandoned mansion. Seddon deftly weaves between past horrors at the manor and the present-day struggle of the sisters to survive the night. What sets this thriller apart is the stellar writing and bone-chilling atmosphere Seddon creates.' - SARAH PEKKANEN, bestselling author of Gone Tonight

Three sisters find themselves lost in a storm at night, and seek safety at Moirthwaite Manor, where their mother once worked. They are shocked to find the isolated mansion that loomed so large through their troubled childhoods has long been abandoned. Drawing straws to decide who should get help, one sister heads back into the darkness. With the siblings separated, the deadly secrets hidden in the house finally make themselves known and we learn the unspeakable secret that binds the family together.

Critics Review

  • The Short Straw is an intensely readable and gripping page turner. By turns tense, shocking and moving, and with an atmosphere you could cut with a knife

    ALEX MICHAELIDES

  • An addictive read that takes place over one unforgettable night where one family’s secrets rise to the surface – Patricia Highsmith meets Shirley Jackson

    GILLIAN MCALLISTER

  • Deliciously creepy, and a fascinating study of the complex, often toxic, relationships within families

    SHARON BOLTON

  • Utterly gripping and unputdownable

    JANE FALLON

  • Having three sisters, I could relate to the sibling dynamics . . . It’s twisty, gothic, and with a heartbreakingly shocking reveal

    LISA HALL

  • Holly creates such exquisite tension that you really can’t put her books down . . . I felt the sense of place, the weather, the cold in that house in my bones

    EMMA CURTIS

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