Quick Synopsis

When Ellie and her older boyfriend take their first trip together, an idyllic weekend turns into a nightmare.

Publisher’s Synopsis

He’s not who he says he is.
Then again, neither is she.

Steven Harding is a handsome, well-respected professor. Ellie Masterson is a wide-eyed grad student.
 
Together, they are driving south from New York for their first vacation: three days in an isolated cabin, far from the city.
 
Ahead of them, the promise of long, dark nights—and the chance to get to know each other better, away from prying eyes.
 
It should be a perfect romantic getaway for two. But when a snowstorm strands them in the house, each realizes the other harbors a dangerous secret—and soon it becomes clear one of them won’t escape the weekend alive.
 
By turns tantalizing, surprising, and thrilling, Nobody But Us heralds the arrival of an incredibly talented author of literary suspense.

Book Review

Nobody But Us is a locked-room mystery that takes place in a remote house during a snow storm. This story is told through the alternating points of view of a couple escaping for a long weekend away from the city to celebrate their 6 month anniversary.

Nobody But Us is marketed as a thriller, but I found the pace to be pretty slow, particularly at the beginning. I think the author is overly descriptive, further slowing the pace, and making me incredibly frustrated with the writing. In fact, in several instances, the descriptions made it impossible to decider what actually happened, and the events remained unclear until a character clarified.

Nobody But Us takes place in New York and a supposedly remote location in Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay. As someone who lived in Maryland for 5 years, let me just say the place described could not actually exist. The town mentioned is not nearly as remote as stated, not to mention an oceanfront house with no neighbors for miles. I wish these were the only details that bothered me, but alas, this book was littered with issues.

While the characters are American and it takes place in the U.S., the author lives in the U.K. There is nothing inherently wrong with this. However, Laure Van Rensburg needed a better editor. The one she had failed at their job, considering the number of British terms and standard language throughout the book. For example, the lights of the police cars only flash blue, and the emergency car brake is referred to as a handbrake. Some other ones: kohl instead of eyeliner, lobby instead of foyer, jumper instead of sweater, and multiple things described as bloody.

The plot of Nobody But Us unravels slowly and picks up a little bit in the second half. As someone who reads a fair share of thrillers and mysteries, I found it mostly predictable. I knew one of the twists very early on. However, I was not invested enough to even ponder the ending.

Sadly, there was a bit more to this review, but thanks to technology, it is lost forever.

Essentially, Nobody But Us was a bit of a disappointment for me. I think if it had been better written the entire book would have been enjoyable. If you can look past the purple prose and the British terms where there should be American, I would recommend it. Otherwise, skip it for some better thrillers.

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Writing

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Character development