The Spare Room is the latest novel from British writer M. I. Hattersley, author of several psychological and domestic thrillers. Over the last twenty years, he has toured Europe in a rock and roll band, trained as a professional actor, and founded a theatre and media company. He’s also had a lot of incredibly boring jobs to help sustain his creative endeavours.

Lauren Williams has just faced a heartbreaking breakup with her fiancé and has moved to Manchester for a new start. A five-day work course offers her the perfect escape, but when the venue’s accommodation is fully booked, her workplace finds her an alternate accommodation in an advertised spare room of an elderly couple’s home. It’s definitely not ideal, but Lauren is determined to make it work. But as soon as she enters the house, her gut instincts tell her that something is off, and she feels uneasy. Her hosts are an elderly couple who both have some memory problems, and there’s something odd about them. When she’s shown to her room, she notices an adjacent room locked with a padlock, which piques Lauren’s curiosity. She’s informed that this belongs to the couple’s daughter and is locked unless she’s visiting. When she begins hearing mysterious noises and voices at night, she starts believing there’s something sinister going on in the house and behind the locked door. When she sees suspicious strangers in the neighbour’s backyard, her internal alarm gets further heightened. Desperate for answers, she breaches the forbidden room, where she uncovers a chilling secret that changes everything. Suddenly she realizes that the kindly elderly couple are not who they seem, and she may be in great danger staying in the house. With only a few days left in her stay, she has to decide to either get out now or tough it out and find out what’s really going on. To her dismay, things get out of control before she can make a safe escape.