This book drew me in right away with the premise of Innocence UK, a group that takes cases in which people may be imprisoned unjustly. I have always been fascinated with how “justice” works, so this looked very promising.
I thought Tess was an interesting character. It was apparent that she had issues of her own and used her job as a way to avoid dealing with her problems. However, when her latest case caused her to visit the town in which she grew up. Past and present collide to make one page-turner of a book.
The plot was well-paced. There was enough action to keep everything moving along, but it was methodical and didn’t feel like details were crammed in. Everything unfolded in a natural way, which I appreciated.
I also liked the way the author interspersed the flashbacks for both Carrie (the “case” that Tess is working on) and for Tess herself. The characters were similar in many ways, and the backstories of each woman illuminated the parallels. That being said, the method also gave me just enough information to keep me guessing and second-guessing what I thought I knew. I love it when a book does that.
Of course, this being a crime novel, I’m not going to give away the ending, but I will say it’s a good one. There were also a few twists that I did not see coming (I think one of my notes was “Oh, no WAY did that just happen!”) If you are looking for a cracking good entertaining novel to get you through the end-of-summer doldrums, pick up Clear My Name. A definite five stars. You won’t be disappointed.
