Cushla

Rachel and Dan -- in love, expecting their first baby and also mourning the sudden death of a close friend -- want to go somewhere hot in January. When Dan produces a ring and tells her he's already booked a luxurious resort on Antigua, the holiday turns into a honeymoon. Everything should be perfect. And, at first, it is.

But Rachel's experience of the island soon turns from idyllic to disturbing. As furniture shifts and objects fly around, a waitress begs her to leave, and a fellow guest starts to frighten her, Rachel realises that something sinister is going on. When the waitress is found dead in the hotel grounds, Rachel realises her only hope is to persuade Dan they should leave. But Dan seems to have his own reasons for wanting to stay, and soon Rachel is unable to decide who -- or what -- she should be most afraid of.

Another imprint from Hammer Horror which aims “to bring compelling and intelligent horror to a whole new market with a modern and sophisticated twist” aka Smart Horror.

The Quickening is a good fast read; a creepy premonition, whispered cryptic warnings on arrival at the idyllic destination and there is something dark and menacing lurching along a sunlit beach with "...black dirt on its hands. It had come to the island looking for her."

Crisp writing, great pacing, tense (loved the rising levels of panic) and genuinely disturbing...maybe one to leave behind if you are heading off to sunnier climes