The Final Chapter is a darkly addictive novel that highlights every author’s fears: procrastination, writer’s block, and the possibility of being murdered, of course.

Thorne House is haunted to say the least. With the dark history of the Thorne family’s tragic deaths – all except for the daughter, Evelyn Thorne – the estate then became home to Australia’s worst serial killer, Byron Jackovic, who buried the bodies of his victims in the forest behind the house. Despite this, Thorne House has now become a cosy writer’s retreat, its quiet location in the Blue Mountains making it the perfect spot for aspiring or well-established authors to block out the rest of the world and focus on writing their next novels.

When a vicious snowstorm traps a group of authors inside with no wi‑fi or access to the nearest town, our protagonists – awkward, self-deprecating Desley; vain, high-profile author Colette; and ambitious, vengeful Maia – are stuck with the strict manager and two other male guests, one of whom seems especially suspicious. While some guests have come to write, others have come to kill.

January Gilchrist writes a slow-burn drama of increasing tension, feuds, and hatred between the guests that builds to a nail-biting crescendo in the last 100 pages and leaves you frozen in place until you finish the final chapter. Full of witty banter and stinging barbs, secrecy and plenty of motives for revenge, each character has something to lose and a reason to kill. With echoes of Stephen King’s The Shining, the macabre history of murders in Thorne House fuels each character’s fear and rage, putting their morality to the ultimate test. The Final Chapter is a wickedly entertaining thriller that is bound to make you binge-read it in one go – or at least make you question your holiday choices.