Closing Costs: A Novel of Suspense

by Bracken MacLeod

Overview

HAPPY HOUSE HUNTING…
 
Nelle and Evan Pereira were thrilled to close on their “forever home,” a spacious paradise nestled against a state forest in Massachusetts. Three months later, on a brisk Saturday morning, their peace is destroyed when an intruder captures Nelle home by herself. Quickly overpowered by the aggressive stranger, she’s forced down to the cold, musty basement where he ties her to a chair. The intruder has a singular, if unusual, demand: he wants her to make a phone call. One that Nelle isn’t confident she can make, even though her life depends on it.
 
Desperate to see herself and her husband to safety, Nelle doesn’t yet realize this was no chance encounter—it was a carefully planned attack. With no one to hear them scream, their secluded home feels horrifyingly isolated. And before this long day is through, Nelle and Evan, who share a dangerous secret, will bring a violent reckoning down upon all of them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780358335764
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	323
Sales rank:	1,016,689
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

BRACKEN MACLEOD is the Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson Award nominated author of the novels, Mountain Home, Come to Dust, Stranded, and two collections of short fiction, 13 Views of the Suicide Woods and White Knight and Other Pawns. He has worked as a trial attorney, a philosophy instructor, and martial arts teacher. He lives in New England with his wife and son.

Editorial Reviews

05/31/2021

As an assistant funeral director in Cambridge, Mass., Nelle Pereira believes she’s more comfortable with mortality than most—that is, until she suddenly faces the very real prospect of her own death when, in this noirish thriller from MacLeod (Come to Dust), she and her husband fall victim to a home invasion. Bound and gagged in the cellar of what now seems like a dangerously isolated dream home the couple bought only three months earlier, Nelle struggles to control her panic, stay alive, and figure out what, if anything, the pair’s plight might have to do with a secret they share. The author judiciously intercuts flashbacks that provide needed relief from otherwise unrelenting tension as well as introduce additional story lines that stunningly blow up the plot in the second half. While the graphic violence and extended threat of sexual assault may be difficult for some, those steely enough will find a powerful if not entirely plausible epic of crime and karmic consequences. MacLeod does a masterly job combining horror and suspense. Agent: Howard Morhaim, Howard Morhaim Literary. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"CLOSING COSTS is a compelling portrait of a marriage, and an unflinching look at a terrible tangle of secrets, lies, and mistakes that lead to irrevocable consequences. From the explosive first pages, through every hairpin twist and turn, and right to the shocking final scenes, Bracken MacLeod expertly ratchets up the suspense page by breathless page in this stellar home invasion thriller."   — Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of Confessions on the 7:45  

“A true edge-of-your-seat thriller, CLOSING COSTS quite literally had me holding my breath as I turned the pages. Very few writers have the skill to achieve that, but Bracken MacLeod makes it look easy. Unflinching, filled with rapid-fire twists and desperate hours, it’s a must-read for crime and thriller fans!” — Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of Ararat and Red Hands 

"CLOSING COSTS is a true roller-coaster ride of a book; an unputdownable thriller that will give you an adrenaline rush from the safety of your living room (at least, you think you’re safe until you start imagining you hear footsteps in the basement, the creak of a door opening…). As Bracken MacLeod deftly reveals the secrets at the heart of the story, he reminds us that every choice has its consequences, and few things are ever truly what they seem." — Jennifer McMahon, New York Times bestselling author of The Winter People and The Drowning Kind 

“An unflinching, un-put-downable, first-rate mashup of home invasion nightmare and modern day noir while also, somehow, holding up a mirror to our ugliness and beauty. Imagine A Simple Plan having been written by the late-great Jack Ketchum, but Bracken MacLeod forges his own path with this teeth-gritting blazer. Happy house hunting?” — Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Survivor Song   

 “The suburbs are a place where bodies compost beneath rose bushes, where black mold festers behind fresh paint, where seemingly perfect families keep their secrets hidden behind tall hedges and drawn curtains. This is the stage for Bracken MacLeod's novel, CLOSING COSTS, a home invasion story that is unrelenting in its suspense and rich with deliciously poisonous mystery. A pitch-perfect thriller for these paranoid, isolated times.” — Benjamin Percy, author of The Dark Net, Thrill Me, and Red Moon 

"MacLeod does a masterly job combining horror and suspense." — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

An unflinching, un-put-downable, first-rate mashup of home invasion nightmare and modern day noir while also, somehow, holding up a mirror to our ugliness and beauty. Imagine A Simple Plan having been written by the late-great Jack Ketchum, but Bracken MacLeod forges his own path with this teeth-gritting blazer. Happy house hunting?

Paul Tremblay

"CLOSING COSTS is a true roller-coaster ride of a book; an unputdownable thriller that will give you an adrenaline rush from the safety of your living room (at least, you think you’re safe until you start imagining you hear footsteps in the basement, the creak of a door opening…). As Bracken MacLeod deftly reveals the secrets at the heart of the story, he reminds us that every choice has its consequences, and few things are ever truly what they seem."

Jennifer McMahon

The suburbs are a place where bodies compost beneath rose bushes, where black mold festers behind fresh paint, where seemingly perfect families keep their secrets hidden behind tall hedges and drawn curtains. This is the stage for Bracken MacLeod's novel, CLOSING COSTS, a home invasion story that is unrelenting in its suspense and rich with deliciously poisonous mystery. A pitch-perfect thriller for these paranoid, isolated times.

Benjamin Percy

A true edge-of-your-seat thriller, CLOSING COSTS quite literally had me holding my breath as I turned the pages. Very few writers have the skill to achieve that, but Bracken MacLeod makes it look easy. Unflinching, filled with rapid-fire twists and desperate hours, it’s a must-read for crime and thriller fans!

Christopher Golden