This unsettling psychological thriller follows Mark as he spirals into a state of paranoia after moving to a secluded house. Constantly feeling watched, he's forced to question what is real.
After years on the move, Mark believes he has finally found quiet: a secluded Clerkenwell house, once a music studio, tucked behind Georgian terraces. But small disturbances ripple - a glance held too long; a neighbour who seems to know too much; watchers hovering just out of frame - and a routine planning request appears to trigger a response too coordinated to be chance. Unease becomes vigilance.
Guided, unexpectedly, by Lana - the observant child next door whose hand-drawn map records what adults miss - and emboldened by chess moves with hidden meanings, Mark begins to trace faint threads: a misplaced notebook, failing technology, curious Dickensian figures, and a house with a past that resists being archived. In a city of doorbell cameras and polite surveillance, the line between caution and obsession thins. Is he being targeted - or reading patterns into noise?
Such an Odd Word to Use is a slow-burn psychological mystery - literary in tone, quietly propulsive - about neighbourliness, urban isolation and the stories we tell to feel safe. A novella for the digital age, where even silence may be scripted.
For readers of Jonathan Lethem, Paul Auster, Tana French and Louise Candlish; for fans of Black Mirror and The Capture.
'An atmospheric novella... creating an unsettled feeling that lingers after the final page.' - LoveReading, Indie Books We Love
'Smart slow burn of a London mystery, with lively puzzles and literary heft.' - BookLife Reviews, Editor's Pick
