Serenity Falls

 

By C. J. Tudor

Review

A 2026 Top Rated Read

Dan is astonished to discover his mother has bequeathed a house to him. But equally surprising is its location — Serenity Falls, Florida. It's a house he knew absolutely nothing about. Dan sees it as an opportunity for new beginnings and, along with daughter Sadie, leaves his life in the UK to start afresh in Serenity Falls. However, almost as soon as they arrive strange and unsettling occurrences begin. Is life in Serenity Falls really as idyllic as it's made out to be or is something dark lurking beneath the façade?

I've read all of C. J. Tudor's full-length novels to date and each one has been fabulous. Serenity Falls is another excellent read. It gradually pulls you in with a series of disturbing events and you soon realise that all is not what it seems. In my opinion it's a slow-burner that bit by bit gets creepier as the story progresses. It has a Stepford Wives vibe with the Serenity Falls community living in a controlled 'bubble' were perfection is the norm and crime rarely happens. I thought the plot was unsettling and creepy. I loved it!

★★★★★

Print Length: 400 pages

Publisher: Penguin

Publication Year: 2026

Author: C. J. Tudor

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Synopsis

Welcome to Serenity Falls – the most idyllic, and safest, town in the US – a place to grow up, grow your family and grow old together. For Dan and his daughter, Sadie, it’s the perfect relocation option. A fresh start, thousands of miles from their troubled past in the UK.

But their idyll is shattered when they find a dead body in the swimming pool of their new house – a house Dan’s late mother kept secret from him all his life.

It’s just the start of a series of disturbing discoveries. Abandoned houses where people have seemingly just upped and left. The strange woman Sadie sees around town putting up ‘missing’ posters for a child who drowned almost thirty years ago. An ice cream van that drives around at night making sure residents are asleep...

As plans gear up to celebrate Serenity Falls’ fiftieth anniversary, something is stirring beneath the surface of the blissful façade. Is Serenity Falls really the perfect town or is it founded on something far darker? And is someone so desperate to keep its secrets that they’d resort to anything to preserve them?

Welcome to Serenity Falls.
Once you’re here, you’re here to stay.