Cailean Steed - Home

Cailean Steed - Home 

4.5⭐

Genre:  Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, LGBTQIA+, Psychological Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: Paperback Proof 

Publisher:  Raven Books 

Date Published: 19th January 2023 

 

Big thanks to Raven Books for sending me a copy of the book to read and review. 

Book Blurb: 

Someone has broken into Zoe's flat. A man she thought she'd never have to see again.
They call him the Hand of God.

He knows about her job in the cafe, her life in Dublin, her ex-girlfriend, even the knife she's hidden under the mattress.
She thought she'd left him far behind, along with the cult of the Children and their isolated compound Home – but now he's found her, and she knows she must go back to rescue the sister who helped her escape all those years before.

But returning to Home means going back to the enforced worship and strict gender roles Zoe has long since moved beyond; back to the abuse and indoctrination, she's fought desperately to overcome.

Going back will make her question everything she believed about her past – but could also risk her hard-won freedom. Can she break free a second time?

One – My name is Zoe
Two – I am here to rescue my sister Amy
Three – Nothing anyone says here is true
Four –
Four –
What is my fourth true thing?

My Review: 

I found this book very intense, and fascinating, but at the same time also quite triggering (make sure you look up trigger warning before reading, as this book covers quite a few very heavy topics). I liked the captivating writing and short chapters, which kept the tension and suspense very well. I also liked how chapters switched from present to past, giving the reader a glimpse into Zoe’s life in Home before she escaped, as well as her trying to build her life after Home, and it all gives such a great comparison on how much she changed once she was out of the cult environment, but at the same time displays how much she was under the spell of the cult during her time growing up at Home.

The story follows Zoe, who six years previously escaped Home, a religious cult in the Scottish wilderness. She now has a new life and new identity, as well as tries to forget her life in a cult as much as possible. However, the past doesn’t stop haunting her, she misses her sister, who escaped Home a few years before Zoe. Unfortunately, since leaving Home, Zoe was unable to find her sister or make contact with her. One day, however, a  person who Zoe is least expected to see from Home comes to her new life with a proposal. Zoe is left to decide whether she wants to go back to the House and face her past or live her life as it is now, but never see her sister Amy again.

That change between the present and past chapters gave a deeper glimpse into Home and allowed the reader to learn little by little about Children, Hands and Sisters. It felt like the reader is learning about Home as much as and at the speed at which Zoe is learning, as she grows up. I also felt that the change between chapters deeply looks into the psychological effects of the cult environment, especially how people are brainwashed into joining them and believing them. It also displayed how the cult environment can use some of the followers as weapons and some, as objects for a specific purpose, like Zoe, who was used by one of the higher-up people in the Home. There were definitely some triggering chapters and in parts, it was so hard to read about all the trauma that Zoe had to experience and was subjected to as a child and how those traumas carried into her life post Home.

Although, we, as readers get some glimpses into Home and its hierarchy, there were still things that weren’t answered or explained about the cult, such as who created it, why it was created., etc. The book in my opinion really lacked that more in-depth backstory about the hierarchy and rules of the Home.

I also wish the ending wasn’t so abrupt, the third act happened quite late in the book and once the book reached that real thrill level, the book just ended. I would have loved to read what happened to Zoe, Amy and Home after the last scene and whether they all successfully leave Home or not. 

Overall: Such a great debut! This story was really interesting, and intense, yet at parts very disturbing and triggering. The writing was very captivating and kept me in suspense until the very end. This was also my first ever book about cults, so it was definitely an interesting subject to read about. I just wished the ending was a bit longer and that we get to learn more about what happens to Zoe and Amy and if they both leave the Home successfully once and for all. 

About the Author:

Cailean Steed is a writer, teacher and aspiring dog owner who lives in Helensburgh with their husband and son. They have also resided in Aberdeen and Dublin, and hope one day to live somewhere with less rain. Cailean's work has been published by New Writing Scotland, Boudicca Press and Barren Magazine. Home is their first novel. Their mother would like them to write something more cheerful.

https://www.caileansteed.com/