Such an Odd Word to Use

<p><strong style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>This unsettling psychological mystery follows Mark as he spirals into a state of paranoia after moving to a secluded house. Constantly feeling watched he's forced to question what is real.</strong></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>After years on the move Mark believes he has finally found quiet: a secluded Clerkenwell house once a music studio tucked behind Georgian terraces. But small disturbances ripple - a glance held too long; a neighbour who seems to know too much; watchers hovering just out of frame - and a routine planning request appears to trigger a response too coordinated to be chance. Unease becomes vigilance.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Guided unexpectedly by Lana - the observant child next door whose hand-drawn map records what adults miss - and emboldened by chess moves with hidden meanings Mark begins to trace faint threads: a misplaced notebook failing technology curious Dickensian figures and a house with a past that resists being archived. In a city of doorbell cameras and polite surveillance the line between caution and obsession thins. Is he being targeted - or reading patterns into noise?</span></p><p></p><p><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Such an Odd Word to Use</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> is a slow-burn psychological mystery - literary in tone quietly propulsive - about neighbourliness urban isolation and the stories we tell to feel safe. A novella for the digital age where even silence may be scripted.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>For readers of Jonathan Lethem Paul Auster Tana French and Louise Candlish.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>'An atmospheric novella... creating an unsettled feeling that lingers after the final page.' - </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>LoveReading Indie Books We Love</em></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>'Smart slow burn of a London mystery with lively puzzles and literary heft.' - </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>BookLife Reviews Editor's Pick</em></p>