A Quick Synopsis: Beach House

Let me ask you: Have you ever been alone in an isolated house in the middle of the night? If you have you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t been alone in a faraway house, then you’re about to experience the pitfalls of such a venture.

Welcome to the Chesapeake along the Maryland shore. As summer beckons Mary Ellen brings her children on the boat to Sabines Island. As she vacations with her children her husband Tony bounces between work and spending time at their Beach House.

Through binoculars, Mary Ellen is stunned to see the orange Mustang in her beach house driveway. Her husband Tony is alone painting the house and the car belongs to a twenty-three-year-old provocative woman, Su Lee. Why would she be visiting Tony?

Later she confronts Tony who is shocked that Mary Ellen knew that Su Lee was at the Beach house. Tony denies there was anything going on and he saw he gave her some software after a conversation in the bar where she works as a bartender.

Mary Ellen tells her concern to Kel, a retired police officer from Philadelphia. Kel helps her investigate the mischievous, Su Lee. Kel, who was unjustly fired, is looking to redeem himself. He slowly uncovers circumstantial evidence around Su Lee that is incredibly frightening.

Mary Ellen confronts Su Lee who tries to intimidate her. Then she begins calling the woman when there is evidence of Su Lee being inside the Beach house. But she never talks to Su Lee on the phone. Rather a message plays back threatening her and telling Mary Ellen she will be dead.

Confronting Su Lee unleashes catastrophic runaway events for Mary Ellen and Kel. She brings her children away from the Chesapeake and back to her main house in Pennsylvania. What happens next is the unthinkable. And Mary Ellen ends up alone in the Beach House and fights for her life.

Hitchcock used the technique of knowing something horrendous will happen. The suspense to the impending event becomes unbearable. That is what I have emphasized in the House Series and specifically to Mary Ellen along the Chesapeake. And Hitchcock utilized the visual. Mary Ellen seeing Su Lee’s car at the Beach house is akin to Jimmy Stewart in rear window who sees more than he had bargained for…

And in the end, some survive, and others do not.

Beach House is available at Amazon in Kindle and Paperback. The audiobook is at Audible.com.