There Goes Pretty by CC Adams

Not all marriages are happy.

But very few become this terrifying.

CC Adams is turning into a prolific writer, with a solid body of work behind him. Novellas like Forfeit Tissue and But Worse Will Come marked him out as someone to keep an eye on. This, his latest, from Dark Minds Press, is another good one.

Denny and Olivia seem to have a perfect life. The book opens with their idyllic wedding but it’s not long before cracks start to appear. A cold breeze here, something glimpsed in the corner of an eye there.

I won’t spoil what’s going on here, but the first out and out scary scene in the book comes about a third of the way in, when Olivia goes to bed. It’s a really effective slice of writing: Adams knows how to make your skin crawl and he does that in spades here. He can change a scene from normality and mundanity of life to open mouthed terror in seconds.

Things unravel further from there, and this is a short, extremely tight novella. Adams has a knack for creating believable, flawed characters that are just like people you know. He also grounds his work in London, although location is not that important to this particular story. It could be set in any city.

Essentially, if you’re looking for a new read and you’ve not read CC Adams yet, this would be a great introduction to his work. If you’ve read his work before, you know what you’re getting yourself into and have probably already pre-ordered.

Recommended.