Alison is as close to
anonymous as she can get: with no ties, no home, a backroom job, hers is
a life lived under the radar. She's a nobody; she has no-one and that's
how she wants it.
But once Alison was someone else: once she was
Esme Grace, a teenager whose bedroom sat at the top of a remote and
dilapidated house on the edge of a bleak estuary. A girl whose family,
if not happy, exactly, was no unhappier than anyone else's—or so she
thought.
Then one night a terrible thing happened in the crooked
house, a nightmare of violence out of which Alison emerged the only
witness and sole survivor and from which she has been running ever
since. Only when she meets academic Paul Bartlett does Alison realize
that if she's to have any chance of happiness, she has to return to her
old life and confront the darkness that worked its way inside her family
and has pursued her ever since..
Published: 23rd April 2015
Publisher: Sphere
Goodreads : Click here
Series or Stand-Alone: Stand-Alone
Source: Review Copy from Publisher
What I loved about this book...
I really enjoyed this story. This is a new author to me and I have a feeling I will be looking into reading more of her work. This book was actually so creepy (especially when describing what happened to Alison's family) I didn't want to read this at night. What I loved the most about this story was the creep factor. There is really great suspense in this story where you see what happened to Alison in the past and try to figure out what really happened together with the fact that there are some creepy things happening to Alison now which made me wonder if the past wasn't going to stay in the past! This book kept me looked right to the very end.
There are a lot of secrets in this story that are revealed gradually as the story progresses. Some I had guessed and some I was really surprised at. There were definitely some family secrets that I had not guessed at and were really interesting to read.
I do have to say that this book does touch on an adult sensitive subject. I can't say what that is as that would spoil part of the story but just in case you don't like that kind of thing I thought I would just mention it here to let you know.
Christobel Kent was born in
London in 1962 and now lives in Cambridge with her husband and four
children; in between she lived in Florence.
She worked in publishing for
several years, most recently as Publicity Director at Andre Deutsch.
Her debut novel A Party in San Niccolo, was published in 2003.
Alison is as close to
anonymous as she can get: with no ties and a backroom job, hers is a
life lived under the radar. But once Alison was someone else: once she
was Esme, a teenager whose bedroom sat at the top of a remote house on a
bleak estuary. A girl whose family, if not happy, exactly, was no
unhappier than anyone else's - or so she thought.
Then one night
violence was unleashed in the crooked house, in a nightmare that only
Alison survived and from which she's been running ever since. Only when
she falls for the charismatic Paul does Alison realise that to have any
chance of happiness, she must return to her old life and face a closed
community full of dark secrets.
As she seeks to uncover the truth
of what happened that terrible night, Alison begins to question
everything she thought she knew. Is there anyone she can trust?
Published: 23rd April 2014
Publisher: Sphere
Goodreads : Click here
Series or Stand-Alone: Stand-Alone
Source: Review Copy from Publisher
My Review
What I loved about this book...
This was a really great read for me. What I loved the most was the thriller aspect of it. Wanting to find out the truth was the aspect of this story that kept me glued to each page and keeping reading until the very end. There were definitely a lot of twists and turns in this story and I Love that in a story. l
What I was not fond of with this book...
There is a lot of information to take in with this story there were some parts where I just had to backtrack a little to make sure I absorbed everything, so I actually ended up reading this book for longer than I probably needed to because of that but that did not spill the fact that I really enjoyed this book and I am definitely going to be checking out this author and what else she has written. .
About the Author
(From Goodreads)
Christobel Kent was born in
London in 1962 and now lives in Cambridge with her husband and four
children; in between she lived in Florence. #
She worked in publishing for
several years, most recently as Publicity Director at Andre Deutsch.
Her debut novel A Party in San Niccolo, was published in 2003.
