Audio Blog Tour: The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley

February 20, 2020

The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley
on February 6, 2020
ISBN: 9781409194187
Genres: Family & Relationships, Abuse, Domestic Partner Abuse, Fiction, Thrillers, Crime, Psychological, Family Life, Marriage & Divorce
Pages: 304
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
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five stars - Audio Blog Tour: The Wreckage by Robin Morgan-Bentley

One fatal crash. Two colliding worlds. Three wrecked lives.
Ben is driving on the motorway, on his usual commute to the school where he works.
A day like any other...
Except for one man who, in a final despairing act, jumps in front of Ben's car, turning the teacher's world upside down in a single horrifying instant...
Wracked with guilt and desperate to clear his conscience, he develops a friendship with Alice, the dead man's wife, and her 7-year-old son Max.
But as he tries to escape the trauma of the wreckage, could he go too far in trying to make amends?
How would you cope, knowing you'd caused someone's death? And are the dynamics of this friendship exactly what they seem?

The Wreckage– it’s clear from the offset the tone this story is going to take. A car wreck. Speeding towards an end goal that destroys lives. Whiplash that leaves you feeling pained and distraught. It’s a real play on the title and the deeper meaning behind it is poetic brilliance. This book hits you in the feels like a ten-tonne truck to the chest. You need to escape from the wrecked car, you’re injured, your disorientated and you have to drag yourself to safety. It’s pitch black and your senses have left you. You need to stumble from one event to the other – this book is the direct correlation to this.

As a debut I didn’t know what to expect. Let me tell you this – rarely have I read such a fully immersive, compelling and eye popping read such as The Wreckage. Robin Morgan-Bentley knows just how to lead his readers down a maze, blindfolded and panicky. A Suicide. A Grieving family. A driver left with an incredible responsibility. A mysterious note.

In mere hours Alice’s world is turned upside down. A stay at home mother to her cherished son, Max. she loves a wine or two but tell me what mother doesn’t? Was she expecting the news on that fateful day? What would drive someone to make the decision to throw themselves in front of a moving car on the motorway? I was in my element reading the alternating POV’s in The Wreckage – both Alice’s and Ben’s narrative was emotive and heart-wrenching. It left me with an extreme sense of urgency and it was compelling to have the POV of someone that had been driving the car as opposed to the usual fallout from the victim’s family.

Both Alice and Ben were victims. It was as clear as the nose on your face. Ben really struggled with the feelings of guilt and seemed to only want to do right for his perceived wrong. Alice was left to raise an eight-year-old boy who had his father and her husband wrenched from their lives. There was secrets, lies and a sense of foreboding that kept creeping into my peripheral vision. They are both trying to navigate their own versions of the highway to hell.

I found Ben to be the more interesting character. The Inspectorates proclaimed country’s best school teacher. He has a solid routine that he sticks to, doesn’t drive recklessly, the patience of a saint – the accident hits him very hard. It is also the catalyst that sends him down a destructive and obsessive path. Imagine dominoes – once that first one gets sent on its way, there is no stopping the wave of destruction. This book gave me such an addictive need to find out what happens next – I raced to the finish. The author gave me such a need to work out why Ben, Alice and Adam behaved in the way they did.

In all honesty, I really struggled with Alice. Yes, she was struggling with the death of her husband, but she presented as a bit reckless and irresponsible. She seemed to be so focussed and lost in her own grief that she seemed to lose sight of the most important person – Max. she drank too much and couldn’t acknowledge help when offered. You can tell that her world has turned grey, but she has to be strong for her son. I think the author wrote the character in such a way that you feel conflicted in how she behaves and her motives. Is wrong vs. right so obvious in this story?

The Wreckage is a tightly weaved plot that could cut your oxygen. The story left me guessing right until the end. I doubted every character and felt conflicted around every corner. Be prepared to be catapulted onto a lake of ice, you will need to navigate the thin ice without falling into the cold depths below.

The audio was beautiful. It packed a powerful punch. It heightened the alarming amount of anticipation I was experiencing. It resonated with the fear, the grief, the panic. The Multiple authors hit that sweet spot. We were living the extremes of two forever changed characters and the loss the narrators catapulted into the story made it, in my opinion. The audiobook was inhaled in a matter of hours. It became a living, breathing entity.

Thanks to Alex @ Orion Books for a copy of the Audiobook for review purposes.

A Dark Matter by Doug Johnstone

January 7, 2020

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.

a dark matter by doug johnstone - A Dark Matter by Doug Johnstone

A Dark Matter by Doug Johnstone
Published by Orenda Books Limited on November 23 2019
ISBN: 9781912374991
Genres: Fiction, City Life, Mystery & Detective, Private Investigators, Cozy, General, Noir, Women Sleuths, Romance, LGBT, Lesbian, Psychological, Thrillers, Crime, Domestic, Women, Urban, Humorous, Black Humor, Family Life, Literary, Amateur Sleuth, Suspense
Pages: 300
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher
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five stars - A Dark Matter by Doug Johnstone

five stars - A Dark Matter by Doug Johnstone

Three generations of women from the Skelfs family take over the family funeral home and PI businesses in the first book of a taut, page-turning and darkly funny new series.
‘I was addicted from the first page; gripping, gritty and darkly funny as hell’ Erin Kelly
‘A Dark Matter showcases a writer at the peak of his powers, except that with every book, Doug Johnstone just gets better’ Val McDermid
'Emotionally complex, richly layered and darkly funny. An addictive blend of Case Histories and Six Feet Under’ Chris Brookmyre
_________________
Meet the Skelfs: well-known Edinburgh family, proprietors of a long-established funeral-home business, and private investigators...
When patriarch Jim dies, it’s left to his wife Dorothy, daughter Jenny and granddaughter Hannah to take charge of both businesses, kicking off an unexpected series of events.
Dorothy discovers mysterious payments to another woman, suggesting that Jim wasn’t the husband she thought he was. Hannah’s best friend Mel has vanished from university, and the simple adultery case that Jenny takes on leads to something stranger and far darker than any of them could have imagined.
As the women struggle to come to terms with their grief, and the demands of the business threaten to overwhelm them, secrets from the past emerge, which change everything...
A compelling, tense and shocking thriller and a darkly funny and warm portrait of a family in turmoil, A Dark Matter introduces a cast of unforgettable characters, marking the start of an addictive new series.
_________________
‘A fiendish mystery that is also deeply moving and laced with suitably dark humour ... set to be one of the books of the year’ Mark Billingham
‘This dark but touching thriller makes for a thoroughly enjoyable slice of Edinburgh noir’ Mary Paulson-Ellis
‘A tense ride ... strong, believable characters’ Kerry Hudson, Big Issue
‘Dark, engrossing, impossible to put down. By turns a crime thriller, a family saga, and a page-turner, this book has everything!’ Luca Veste
'That rare book with heart and smarts to lift it above your average crime novel’ Stuart Neville
‘I can never get enough of Doug Johnstone’s thoughtful, observant, soul-lifting writing’ Louise Beech
‘Piercing, wonderfully real and so very readable ... a breath of fresh air’ LoveReading
‘This is confident, assured characterisation that carries the story brilliantly well and keeps the reader utterly immersed in the interwoven story strands’ Live & Deadly
‘A Dark Matter is further proof that Doug Johnstone is as versatile a writer as they come ... there’s rhythm and music in his words’ From Belgium with Booklove
‘A thriller that begs to be read in one sitting. Highly recommend’ The Book Review Café
‘Deliciously chilling, with a wry humour running throughout ... toxic, unsettling and just perfect’ Random Things through My Letterbox

The dark sense of Scottish humour has never been utilised to its full potential. Until now. A Dark Matter is a multi-layered double entendre that is pushing itself to the surface. It capitulates the dreich weather, the wounds that get hidden by alcohol but it’s all held up by the innate will of three immensely strong female characters. They are determined. They are strong and above all…no-one should try to fuck them over! Orenda Books is my go-to publisher for crime fiction and when you find an author that drips in his skill for getting the average scots character down, you know you’re onto a winner.

We have a trio of incredibly strong women. At the top of the matriarchy is, Dorothy. A spunky 70-year-old Californian. She should be commended on her ease for settling in Scotland so well. It really can’t be easy coming from those sun kissed beaches and being faced with dreich and dour weather. She married the love of her life and they were there for each right until the end. Dorothy is a widower, a mother, a grandmother and nothing stands in her way. She put everything into her life with Jim. Their funeral director business, their marriage but did Jim feel the same way? What changed?

Jenny, Dorothy and Jim’s daughter. I loved her. She’s fallen on hard times. She’s been made redundant, she is struggling with the payments on her flat, she seems to have lost her direction in life. Her daughter is grown up, flourishing at university but Jenny seems to be going from situation to situation. Craig her ex treated her appallingly, cheated on her and left her to pick up the pieces. She doesn’t suffer fools gladly but her moral compass is still intact, despite the circumstances. She is now living back with her mum after her father’s passing and is aiding in the funeral directors and the private investigation business. Can she finally find what’s missing and move forward?

Hannah, Jenny’s daughter can be a wee bit obsessive. She focusses on the end goal and never loses sight of it. She is one smart cookie. She is neutralised and held up by her partner, Indy. What a team they make. They are each the others Ying and Yang. Hannah is rocked by the disappearance of her flatmate, Mel. She knows something isn’t right, and my Jove, she’ll get to the bottom of it.

Never doubt how strong a woman a can be, nor how dangerous. Hand this book to those who doubt and wait for their reactions – there are three Skelf women in this story and they are definitely a force to reckoned with. Each one is struggling with their grief. Dorothy finds out her husband has been making strange payments from their business account to an unknown woman. Jenny needs to navigate her new life and her case involving a cheating man. Hannah needs to focus on finding her friend otherwise where will her thoughts take her?

Events lead to a crescendo of shocks and emotion. Will the Skelf women be swallowed up cold hard facts? Are they dabbling in things that they have no right dabbling in? It’s all very bleak – love and death are two sides of the same coin.

I’m very pleased this is going to be a series, I can’t wait to see what the author has the Skelf women getting up to next. The author hasn’t only created a bubble of death and mystery but real deep-thinking points also. He has addressed the #metoo issue and carved away the fog that often surrounds it. Women are so often brought up around by everyday misogyny that sometimes it can be difficult to picture it a different way. Would it be viewed differently if women were treating men in the same way. Even when they do, it seems to be more of a non-issue. The metoo movement needs to be tackled from both angles and Doug Johnstone does that eloquently.

Dark Matter was like quicksand. When you opened the books pages it sucked you in, further and further, until you were all in…nothing was going to pull you out. Doug steers you in each direction, a myriad of compulsive, addictive stories. He’s the crazy driver but you got in his car willingly. You’re in for the long haul, there is no getting out. It really is a book of self-discovery of three immovable women. They discover a lot about themselves. The backdrop was spot on, a true portrayal of Edinburgh. From the weather to the culture, each woman sees their city differently. Their experiences aren’t the same. It really breathes a dark and foreboding element into its pages…fear lurking within.

A Dark Matter is hypnotically readable. It was intense and surreal with a sense of creeping dread pouring from its spines. Doug Johnstone is a master craftsman that will continue to get better and better. This book had me gasping for breath at its sheer brilliance.

Doug Author Picture scaled - A Dark Matter by Doug Johnstone

Doug Johnstone is the author of ten novels, most recently Breakers (2018), which has been shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year. Several of his books have been bestsellers and award winners, and his work has been praised by the likes of Val McDermid, Irvine Welsh and Ian Rankin. He’s taught creative writing and been writer in residence at various institutions – including a funeral home – and has been an arts journalist for twenty years. Doug is a songwriter and musician with five albums and three EPs released, and he plays drums for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a band of crime writers. He’s also player- manager of the Scotland Writers Football Club. He lives in Edinburgh.

https://dougjohnstone.com/

Review: My Name is Leon by Kit De Waal

August 13, 2019

My Name Is Leon by Kit de Waal
Published by Penguin on July 25, 2017
ISBN: 9781501117466
Genres: Fiction, General, Literary, Coming of Age, Family Life
Pages: 320
Format: eBook
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four stars - Review: My Name is Leon by Kit De Waal

“Taut, emotionally intense, and wholly believable, this beautiful and uplifting debut” (Kirkus Reviews) about a young black boy’s quest to reunite with his beloved white half-brother after they are separated in foster care is a sparkling novel perfect for fans of The Language of Flowers.
Leon loves chocolate bars, Saturday morning cartoons, and his beautiful, golden-haired baby brother. When Jake is born, Leon pokes his head in the crib and says, “I’m your brother. Big brother. My. Name. Is. Leon. I am eight and three quarters. I am a boy.” Jake will play with no one but Leon, and Leon is determined to save him from any pain and earn that sparkling baby laugh every chance he can.
But Leon isn’t in control of this world where adults say one thing and mean another. When their mother falls victim to her inner demons, strangers suddenly take Jake away; after all, a white baby is easy to adopt, while a half-black, nine-year-old faces a less certain fate. Vowing to get Jake back by any means necessary, Leon’s own journey will carry him through the lives of a doting but ailing foster mother, Maureen; Maureen’s cranky and hilarious sister, Sylvia; a social worker Leon knows only as “The Zebra”; and a colorful community of local gardeners and West Indian political activists.
Told through the perspective of young Leon, too innocent to entirely understand what has happened to him and baby Jake, but determined to do what he can to make things right. In the end, this is an uplifting story about the power of love, the unbreakable bond between brothers, and the truth about what ultimately makes a family. My Name Is Leon will capture your imagination and steal your heart with its “moving exploration of race and the foster-care system that offers precious insight into the mind of a child forced to grow up well before his time” (Booklist).

If you want a read that pulls at the heartstrings, makes you weep and hug your own children that wee bit tighter then this a book for you. This book highlights the impact, adult’s behaviour and actions affect and change a child’s psyche – for better or worse. During these years’ children develop a sense of the person they are going to become, they learn appropriate behaviour, empathy and appropriate boundaries. They learn the social skills that will carry them through life. This book examines the implications of parental abuse, racial undertones and a little boy who is struggling to find his place in the world.

The cover of the book is absolutely perfect. Leon is angry, with the world, with his mum, with his dad and more heartbreakingly, with himself. We are first introduced to Leon when he is eight and living with his mum Carol and his little brother Jake. The racial undertones are highlighted significantly early on – even within Leon’s family unit. Jake is different from his big brother. Jake is white and blonde haired. They have different fathers. Carol is an extremely complicated character and unfortunately one I couldn’t feel empathy for. She is completely delusional about the fact that Jake’s father will join them and be a proper family. She leaves her baby with Leon whilst she spends all her time chasing this man, leaving two vulnerable children alone without adult supervision- the woman is categorically unfit, and it only gets worse from there. Carol is the kind of pathetic woman (I’m sorry but this is how she comes across) that needs to have a man in her life in order to be happy. Jakes father showed his true colours and made it abundantly clear that he wasn’t interested in playing happy families with Carol and her boys. Well if that’s what he wants then fuck him. Absolutely his loss. Carol had two amazing children and in the end that just wasn’t enough for her. Yes, some mums struggle, and I guarantee all mums find it hard, but you don’t just have a meltdown and stay there. You brush yourself off, pull those pants up high and get on with it. Your children should be your world not an option to pick up and down whenever you feel like it. There’s no love as pure as that of your child, cherish it.

Carol just gives up. Leon ends up constantly caring for his brother and his mum. It’s too much, getting up with him in the night, making his bottles (the hot water), changing his nappies, feeding him, lifting him in and out of highchairs and prams. There is just too much scope for disaster. Then comes a day when there’s no money in his mums’ purse and no nappies or food left and he ventures upstairs to his mums’ friend, Tina. After saying enough is enough Social Services get involved and Leon and Jake find themselves temporarily fostered with the wonderful Maureen. Unfortunately, or Fortunately (it depends on your perspective) Jake is adopted by a loving family and Leon is now desperately alone in this big unfair world.

The empty sound in the house is louder than Jake crying for his bottle. It’s louder than his laugh. Louder than his baby drums. And if Leon turns round and looks at Jake’s cot in the corner of the room, he knows that he will get angry with Maureen so he picks at a scratch in the wallpaper and puts the pieces in his mouth. They taste of fish fingers.

Maureen is one of those gems you find in the world that deserves all the praise. She is worth her weight in gold. She has fostered vulnerable children most of her adult life and she deserves all the credit. She gives up her life to look after these unfortunate children and offer a little bit of stability in an otherwise tumultuous world. She is the first one to truly care about his wellbeing and its heart-warming to see the relationship between them develop and flourish.

This story is written in Leon’s point of view and it is gut wrenching. How can a child understand that what his mum put him through isn’t normal? He goes off the deep end when his little brother, Jake is separated from him. Quite literally a domino effect. I think that if it had been possible for Jake to stay with Leon he would have felt purpose and a sense of they were in it together, and they would survive together. The end result is that he is constantly stealing, he lies, his school work suffers, and he has unrelenting amount of anger that he has no healthy outlet for.

The story takes place in the 1980’s a time which the race battle was coming to a head and this is important in Leon trying to discover what his place in the world is. There are riots in the streets and this is a direct parallel in Leon cycling around the streets and spending time with Tufty (A man of African descent) that helps him feel wanted and included and helps him work out his racial identity.

My Name Is Leon is a story of neglect, racial struggle and a child’s heartbreak. De Waal has given meaning and a voice to many nameless children, ones who otherwise wouldn’t be heard. She has produced an important piece of fiction in the ongoing conversation that needs to be had in regard to racial identity in children.

Review: Don’t Ever Tell by Lucy Dawson

June 18, 2019

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.

dont ever tell by lucy dawson - Review: Don't Ever Tell by Lucy Dawson

Don't Ever Tell by Lucy Dawson
Published by Bookouture on June 25, 2019
ISBN: 9781786819642
Genres: Fiction, Psychological, Thrillers, Suspense, Mystery & Detective, Women Sleuths, General, Crime, Legal, Women, Family Life
Pages: 278
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Publisher
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five stars - Review: Don't Ever Tell by Lucy Dawson

Never make a promise you can’t afford to keep…
This is a story about Charlotte – a mother and a wife with the perfect job, the perfect life… at least, that’s how it looks from the outside.
But behind closed doors, the marriage is breaking, and Charlotte’s husband Tris doesn’t even know how much. He has no idea what Charlotte has planned for him, who she has found. But he doesn’t have long to wait to find out…

Don’t Ever Tell will keep you gripped from the very first page and have you guessing until the very last. From the bestselling author of The Daughter and White Lies comes an unputdownable psychological thriller unlike anything you’ve read before!

Readers are obsessed with Lucy Dawson:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, what a book!… grabs you from the very beginning and doesn't let you go until the very last page… An absolutely fabulous, nail-biting thriller!!' Stardust Book Reviews

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘WOW.... I LOVED IT, best book this year, if you read one book this decade read this!!’ Goodreads reviewer

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I read this in a series of gulps, unable to stop turning the pages… Stunning.’ Cass Green
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Gut-wrenchingly brilliant and addictive.’ Roz Watkins
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Absolutely BRILLIANT. Twisty and compelling, guaranteed to make the reader question who is telling the truth. I devoured it in one sitting.’ Lisa Hall, author of Between You and Me

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Omg this book was soooo good. I couldn't put it down… It was such a shocking twist at the end. All the revelations that came to light at the end were fantastic. This book had everything. Great characters, content and a shocking ending. What more do you want from a book?’ Goodreads reviewer

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'A tense, emotional read with brilliant twists. I absolutely loved it.' Susi Holliday

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘There were so many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming at all... just when you thought you had it figured out... you didn’t!!’ Goodreads reviewer
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A scary psychological novel with an exceptionally well-written plot… the end was completely unexpected and left me open-mouthed.’ Goodreads reviewer

My goodness this was scarily real and relatable I just Couldn’t stop reading. If you seriously only read one book the rest of the year, do yourself and favour and make it this one! It really is a story of you don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. Charlotte appears to have the perfect life, a loving husband, two gorgeous children, a job that she loves albeit struggling with the balance of it, the nice house and car. Life couldn’t be better, or could it? Under the surface, Charlotte and Tris’ marriage is struggling , it’s just a rough patch, isn’t it?

Charlotte – under pressure but rational??

Charlotte truly loves working from home. She’s a good writer but struggling juggling family life and her professional life – squeezing in time to write in between cooking teas, school runs and illness. Tris, is often working away from home, could he do more to ease her strain? Does he do more to cause strain? Absolutely.

One day at a book signing in Edinburgh, Charlotte is a approached by a young fan who hauntingly looks like a younger Charlotte. It is so striking that it stops Charlotte in her tracks…Apparently it hasn’t gone unnoticed by her husband either. The young fan called Mia is a struggling actress , struggling to make ends meet and has a disturbed past. She’s vulnerable and haunted.

The two women’s paths cross again when Charlotte’s sister, Flo reveals a secret about her husband, she really didn’t see coming. Charlotte turns up at a performance Mia is starring in and gives her a proposition she really can’t turn down. This reveals Charlotte’s darker side and her tenacity for her end game.

Mia is caught in the crossfire

Mia is the character I felt more empathy for. She had come out the other side after some extremely dark moments in her life. She worked to get herself into a healthy place and yet, the events that transpired in this book could have quite easily unravelled all her hard work. She was definitively a vulnerable character that in the end got played by them both.

Nothing breaks like a heart.

Plot – blown out the park

I haven’t read anything by Lucy Dawson before but by god this won’t be the last book I pick up from her. Outstanding, Psychological thriller at it’s best! This was by far the best take on the revenge thriller that I have come across so far. The plot is dark and twisted and executed oh so amazingly well! The main character was unreliable and darkly motivated herself and although you could surmise the way the plot was developing the ending was a surprise and it blew me away. Bravo Lucy Dawson, Bravo.

While My Eyes Were Closed by Linda Green

June 9, 2019

While My Eyes Were Closed by Linda Green
Published by Quercus Publishing on January 28, 2016
ISBN: 9781784292805
Genres: Fiction, Thrillers, Psychological, Crime, Family Life, General, Mystery & Detective, Police Procedural, Cozy
Pages: 432
Format: Paperback
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three half stars - While My Eyes Were Closed by Linda Green

A nail-biting psychological drama for fans of the Richard & Judy bestseller THE LAST THING SHE TOLD ME
One, two, three . . . Lisa Dale shuts her eyes and counts to one hundred during a game of hide-and-seek. When she opens them, her four-year-old daughter Ella is gone. Disappeared without a trace. The police, the media and Lisa's family all think they know who snatched Ella. But what if the person who took her isn't a stranger? What if they are convinced they are doing the right thing? And what if Lisa's little girl is in danger of disappearing forever?

***
Linda's next emotional page-turner, THE SECOND TIME WE MET, is now available to pre-order!!

What would you do if your child went missing under your watch? How would you cope? Would you cope? As a parent myself this was a nightmarish scenario. As the story unfolded, I was shocked at the actions and dialogue and I was gripped and invested in the story to carry on reading. This could happen to anyone’s child, you hear about it all the time on the news. It’s a truly horrifying topic. The story spans three people’s perspectives, Lisa, Muriel and Matthew.

Lisa is strong but cracking under the pressure.

Lisa Dale, mother of three. She has a strained relationship with her eldest daughter, Chloe. Lisa takes her youngest child, Ella to the park before picking up her son, Otis from a football presentation. It is just like any other day, nothing unusual happens, nothing out of place in their lives but their lives change inexorably due to closing your eyes for a few minutes. During a game of hide and seek, Lisa is distracted momentarily by a phonecall from a client. Lisa looks for her daughter, who by all thoughts looks like she has found the best hiding place is actually in fact missing – whether that is at the hands of a third person or by infact wandering out of the park remains to be seen.

Lisa although extremely effected by the events of the day, remains a rock to the rest of her children. She tries to bring normalcy to both her kids and her husband who seems to be drowning under the pressure by the day. She never gives up hope but does not cry in a public stage instead choosing to show the strength of her character.

Muriel has experienced incredible loss.

Muriel on the face of it is an extremely odd character. When we first meet her she seems incredibly delusional in her actions and the self reasoning behind it. She is an elderly lady that has standards that are old fashioned and appear to be very stern and unnecessary. This is the character that instilled the most emotion from me and in places did find myself emitting anger at some of the assumptions she made. As the story moved along it was obvious that although her actions were completely irrational but it was plain to see that she was suffering from mental health concerns due to trauma.

Matthew lived a tragic existence

Matthew and Chloe were the characters I had most empathy for. Matthew suffered after his mother and father got divorced. It meant now that his mum focussed ALL her energies on him – knowing what he was up to and who with, he wasn’t allowed a girlfriend or have her in his mother’s home and generally felt suffocated with his life with her. The end result is just plain tragic.

Plot – Well Executed

The story was interesting and a different take on the increasing amount of child abduction novels out there. I found it refreshing that the story was more focussed on the fallout on the family as a whole and cause and effect of an individuals actions. It was a fast read and I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened next. It was a different take being able to read from the abductors point of view and I did feel sorry for her in a way even although she did something quite abhorrent. It was a good, steady read and recommend to those that enjoy a good Psychological Thriller.