Remain by Nicholas Sparks

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👻 Remain by Nicholas Sparks & M. Night Shyamalan — 2⭐️⭐️ | A Ghost Story With No Ghost of a Twist

Ohhhh friends. I wanted this to be good. I really did. A collaboration between Nicholas Sparks (king of emotional romance) and M. Night Shyamalan (king of twists)? On paper this sounds like the literary equivalent of peanut butter and chocolate.

Instead… we got peanut butter and toothpaste. 😬

Let’s talk about it.

⚠️ Content & Trigger Warnings

This book contains:

  • Death & drowning

  • Grief and depression

  • Psychiatric hospitalization

  • Suicidal ideation

  • Graphic violence

  • Arson

  • Attempted murder

  • Substance use

  • Infidelity themes

Proceed accordingly.

📚 Overview

Genre: Paranormal Romance / Thriller
Published: 2025
Authors: Nicholas Sparks & M. Night Shyamalan

The premise?

Architect Tate Donovan, grieving the death of his sister, retreats to Cape Cod to design a home for his best friend. While staying in a historic Victorian house, he begins seeing the spirit of Wren, a woman who supposedly drowned there two years earlier.

They fall in love (yes, with a ghost 👻), and Tate becomes convinced her death wasn’t an accident. So he investigates.

Romance. Mystery. Small-town secrets. Supernatural visions.

Sounds great, right?

…Right?

🚨 SPOILER WARNING 🚨

From this point forward, I am discussing the FULL plot and ending.

If you want to preserve whatever suspense this book allegedly has… turn back now.

🏚️ Full Plot Summary (With All the Spoilers)

Tate is struggling after his sister Sylvia’s death. He’s seeing strange visual flickers that doctors blame on stress. He rents a supposedly empty house in Heatherington, Cape Cod.

Night one: humming in the kitchen.
Night two: ghost yoga in the parlor.

Enter Wren.

She appears, disappears, flickers, cooks with him, plays games with him. They bond deeply. Tate opens up about his psychiatric stay; she shares her messy divorce from Griffin, financial issues with business partner Nash, and drama involving a man named Dax.

Meanwhile, Tate receives three posthumous video messages from his sister encouraging him to embrace love. (Subtle? Not even slightly.)

Tate and his friend Oscar start digging into Wren’s death, which was ruled an accidental drowning but was initially suspicious.

They investigate:

  • Griffin (the ex)

  • Nash (embezzlement)

  • Dax (obsessive, creepy letter writer)

We are clearly meant to suspect all three.

BUT.

Let’s rewind.

🧐 The “Mystery” That Isn’t a Mystery

In Chapter 14, we learn that Reece, the caretaker’s husband, is Wren’s only surviving blood relative.

In Chapter 19, Louise (the caretaker) casually says she and Reece were the only two people on the property the night Wren died.

Also in Chapter 19, Wren tells Tate the killer is not Griffin, Nash, or Dax.

Excuse me.

If it’s not those three… and the only other two people there were Louise and Reece…

WHO COULD IT BE? The cat? The ghost raccoon? 👀

From that moment on, I felt like the book was winking at me. Except not in a clever way. More like in a “please pretend this is shocking later” way.

🔥 The “Big Reveal”

On the anniversary of Wren’s death, Tate has a terrifying vision in the upstairs bathroom:

A large masked figure smashes Wren’s head against the faucet and drowns her. A smaller accomplice helps hold her under water.

The smaller figure removes Wren’s locket.

And Tate recognizes it.

Louise has been wearing that exact locket.

Reece then attacks Tate.
Louise runs Oscar down with a truck.
Reece sets the house on fire.
Crowbars are involved.
Explosions happen.

Reece is killed by falling debris. Louise is arrested.

Motive? Reece would inherit Wren’s valuable property as her only surviving relative if she died before the trust distributed.

And that’s it.

That’s the twist.

The thing we were told halfway through.

💔 The Romance Aspect (The Only Thing That Works)

To be fair:

The love story is decent.

Nicholas Sparks knows how to write longing, vulnerability, emotional confession, and quiet connection. Tate and Wren’s bond feels sincere. Their final goodbye among the ruins of the burned house is tender and bittersweet.

When Wren tells him she can finally move on? That’s classic Sparks emotional manipulation — and honestly, it works.

If this had just been a melancholy paranormal romance about grief and healing, I might have rated it higher.

But don’t sell me a thriller with suspense and then hand me a Scooby-Doo episode without the mask reveal.

🐌 Pacing & Structure Problems

  • The middle drags.

  • The investigation feels repetitive.

  • The suspects are red herrings so obvious they practically wear neon signs.

  • The “twist” lacks impact because it’s telegraphed so early.

I kept flipping pages quickly — not because I was breathless with suspense, but because I needed confirmation that I wasn’t losing my mind.

“Surely there’s another layer.”
“There has to be another twist.”
“There’s no way that’s it.”

But… that’s it.

👻 The Ending

Eight months later, Tate is back in New York. He’s dating someone new. He sees another spirit — a young boy — and decides to embrace his ghost-seeing ability.

Which means the story ends not with closure… but with the setup for Potential Ghost Whisperer: Architectural Edition.

Okay then.

🎭 Themes

The book explores:

  • Unresolved trauma

  • Grief and depression

  • The redemptive power of love

  • Small-town deception

Unfortunately, the execution doesn’t match the ambition.

⭐ Final Thoughts — 2/5 Stars

⭐ One star for the emotional romance
⭐ One star for the atmospheric Cape Cod setting

And that’s me being generous.

If you’re coming for:

  • A shocking thriller → you won’t get one.

  • A mind-bending twist → absolutely not.

  • A slow, melancholy paranormal love story → maybe.

This was such a letdown considering the powerhouse names attached to it. I expected chills. I expected cleverness. I expected to be gasping.

Instead, I was nodding like, “Yes, obviously.”

And that is not the reaction you want in a supposed suspense novel.

📚 If You Want Something Better…

If you’re craving emotional depth OR actual twists, try:

  • The Sixth Sense (film) – M. Night Shyamalan (if you want a real twist)

  • The Night House by Jo Nesbo (for eerie psychological suspense)

  • The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (grief + supernatural done better)

  • The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides (a twist that actually twists)

  • The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks (if you just want pure romance without the fake thriller energy)

Have you read Remain?
Were you shocked?
Or were you sitting there like me with your detective hat on by Chapter 19? 🕵️‍♀️

Tell me I’m not alone.

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