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The Nanny by Ruth Heald – REVIEW
The Nanny is an immersive page-turner. It’s provocative and shocking and hurtles along at breakneck speed. The past forges the present; that’s a fact that’s well known. How long can we keep running before it catches up with us? We can lace up those Nikes and get a head start, but the funny thing about our past is that it’ll always know where we are, where we reside; its GPS is continually trained on you. Some people are lucky in the knowledge that their past harbours no secrets, no skeletons in the closet – but for some, as is the case of the protagonist, Hayley, her past is something she’s…
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The Beach Party by Amy Sheppard – REVIEW
I have a soft spot for cold cases; I will inhale all the true crime podcasts, books, and documentaries that I can find. They tend to throw up all manners of dead ends, webs of deceit, and secrets lurking around every corner. That’s why The Beach Party caught my eye. With an enticing cover and a dark premise, it promises a story to keep you guessing. It promises to have the reader so engrossed that the ticking of the clock is the only sound you can hear in the background. A girl was found murdered on the beach, and no one was ever charged for it, but it’s being re-examined…
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The Ex Between Us by Nicola Marsh – REVIEW
The Ex Between Us has a killer premise. The story was impactful with a deep plot that evokes emotion on every page. Marsh constantly stokes the flames of mystery. The story had me instantly with the book cover. Mysterious, the colours remind me of the feeling of sorrow. I had the feeling that the book would be chilling and atmospheric. The story focuses on two main characters, Abi, and Jo. Abi is struggling after her only child, Rob leaves to go to college. Empty nest syndrome is real, she has focussed her entire life on bringing him up to be the young, confident man he has become. Getting pregnant at…
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The Liar’s Daughter by Rona Halsall | Book Review
Well holy moly was this a ride and a half. The Liar’s Daughter was as I expected, swift and nerve splitting. Rona Halsall’s novels always get my heart racing, and her new release undoubtedly would be no different. A prologue that had me sweating bullets and asking questions without coming up for air. Paramedics arrive at a remote farm in North Wales, the women they attend to has had a severe knock to the head and is only just conscious. Its an injury that they doubt she has done to herself but she’s insistent. The only thing is, why can they hear someone else in the house? The title and…
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The Wife by Shalini Boland | Book Review
The Wife was typical of the genre. It was set up with an ambiguous event that would implicate the characters and future events. We were given loaded dialogue, a perfect husband and family but something missing, there’s always something missing. The prologue sets the tone; apparently everyone knows that the events don’t add up, but the protagonist, Zoe, is just living in blissful ignorance. I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the last Shalini novel I read, but that’s not to say this isn’t a good book, I did want to race through the chapters but, the believability was niggling in the back of my mind. The Wife examines…
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A Killer’s Daughter by Jenna Kernan | Review
A Killer’s Daughter was a very interesting read, and it was certainly unique. In fact, I don’t think I’ve read a plot from the child of a serial killer’s perspective before. First, I want to talk a little about what just didn’t work for me personally. The beginning of the novel started a bit quizzically. It felt very dark and I suddenly began to question just how the events were going to play out. I was confused at times to how all this was going to impact the protagonist, Dr Nadine Finch. There was a lot of repetition of past events, I’m sure it only need to be mentioned once…
