Both of You by Adele Parks | Book Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Leigh Fletcher: happily married stepmum to two gorgeous boys goes missing on Monday. Her husband Mark says he knows nothing of her whereabouts. She simply went to work and just never came home. Their family is shattered.

Kai Janssen: married to wealthy Dutch businessman, Daan, vanishes the same week. Kai left their luxurious penthouse and glamourous world without a backward glance. She seemingly evaporated into thin air. Daan is distraught.

DC Clements knows that people disappear all the time – far too frequently. Most run away from things, some run towards, others are taken but find their way back. A sad few never return. These two women are from very different worlds, their disappearances are unlikely to be connected. And yet, at a gut level, the DC believes they are.

How could these women walk away from their families, husbands and homes willingly? Clements is determined to unearth the truth, no matter how shocking and devastating it may be.

Wow.  I went into Both of You blind, and boy am I glad I did.  I thought it was going to be another psychological thriller that I would anticipate the twists and turns…I was wrong.  I needed to dig further, examine everything closer, be prepared to have my mind peeled apart.  This story has the capability of encasing your heart in ice, its harrowing and captivating and pushes ice cold water through your veins.  Be prepared for the author to give you a remarkably unique journey through your worst fears and leave you rocking in the corner by the closing of the final page. 

Both of You investigates the disappearance of two women in the same week.  Leigh Fletcher is a married woman with an average life but a demanding job.  She’s step-mum to two teenage boys that she dotes on.  She has more than an awkward relationship with her mother, there is a toxicity pulsing off her and you wonder just how Leigh copes with her comments and demands.  We see just how her relationship with her husband Mark begins, the instant attraction, the love felt for the boys.  It’s how I imagine a lot of marriages are…but what’s that I can see, a creeping shadow that isn’t quite revealing itself.

Kai Janssen.  The polar opposite of Leigh.  She is married to Daan, a Dutch businessman who wants for nothing.  Money is no object, he lives a high-flying lifestyle, women have never been a problem, he can have anyone.  He then meets Kai.  An older woman that tests his resolve, his purpose.  Their relationship is one of passion and spontaneity.  She has caring responsibilities for her mother, but their relationship somehow works.  When Kai goes missing, why does Daan’s perception of his wife not marry up? 

Both of You consumed me, and I allowed it to swallow me whole.  I wasn’t disappointed. It indulges all your nightmares, your fantasies, wraps them up and hand delivers it.  Adele Parks is a master of investigating the human condition, in both real and ugly terms and still able to make the reader feel empathy but also pity.  The trouble with being human is that we always want more, we want what we can’t have, ignoring the morality of it all. 

DC Clements interviews the husbands that reported their wives missing.  She’s suspicious of both husbands’ involvements.  Is the narrative that its always the husband true?  What clues are left behind?  Is there something that they aren’t telling her?  Connect the dots and the truth will come home to roost. 

Both of You is a spectacular read.  Adele Parks has done a sublime job of creating an fully immersive imagery and invoking real emotion from her readers.

ABOUT ADELE PARKS

I was born in Teesside, NE England. Since graduating from Leicester University, where I studied English Language and Literature, I’ve worked in advertising and as a management consultant. In 2010 I was proud to be awarded an honorary doctorate of Letters from Teesside University.

I’ve always dreamed of being a writer and my first novel – Playing Away – was published in 2000; that year the Evening Standard identified me as one of London’s ‘Twenty Faces to Watch’, which was very nice of them!

I like to keep busy and am pretty flattered when I’m described as one of the most-loved and biggest-selling women’s fiction writers in the UK, (who wouldn’t like that?!) 4 million copies of my UK editions have been sold and I’m translated into more than 30 different languages. I’ve published twenty bestselling novels in twenty years, including the number 1 bestsellers Lies Lies Lies and Just My Luck. I have written 18 contemporary novels and two historical ones, Spare Bridesand If You Go Away, set during and after WW1. All my novels examines issues that are important to us all. I like to scrutinize our concepts of family, our theories on love, parenting and fidelity with (I hope) honesty and humour. Whatever period I set my novels I’m known for examining the thorny issues of the lives people lead with my trademark, up-front, tell-it-as-it-is style.

I write numerous articles and short stories for national magazines and newspapers and often appear on radio and TV talking about my work and related matters. You know, basically a talking head. This works well for me as I’m very chatty and fairly opinionated. I think it’s true to say once I get going, it’s quite hard to shut me up.

I passionately believe that reading is a basic right. I’m a proud Ambassador for the National Literacy Trust and The Reading Agency’s Six Book Challenge, a scheme that encourages emerging adult readers who are becoming passionate about books. In 2008 I wrote a Quick Read, Happy Families as part of the celebrations of World Book Day, which went on to win Quick Read Learners’ Favourite Award, as voted for by the public.

I am a judge for the Costa Book Awards and The British Book Awards which is a great privilege and an amazing experience. During my career I’ve lived in Italy, Botswana and London. Now I live happily in Guildford, Surrey with my husband, teenage son and cat. I guess, that’s it, so far…

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