Day: June 15, 2021

I have mentioned many times how much I enjoy this author’s work. Although I still think that After the Accident is the highwater mark, this book kept me turning pages.

Which, actually, was a little weird because I never really connected to any of the characters or felt immersed in the story. It was more like I was a fascinated outside observer.

I don’t know why it struck me like that.

Anyway, the author did keep me guessing and wondering who was behind what event and how their motivations may have worked into the situation. In that regard, I didn’t figure much out before it became apparent in the story.

That being said, there were some misses as well..

Some of the red herrings were good, but others seemed thrown in just to create doubt. That’s fine, but I would have liked them to have a little more depth.

For example, take Hope’s ex-boyfriend (Aki) and his new girlfriend Angel. I know why the author set them up in the story, but I think it could have been more fleshed out. A pivotal moment involving Angel, essentially at the climax of the story, almost seemed like more of an aside.

Conversely, I thought that what happened to Stephen would have much more bearing on the story. I also had to suspend disbelief a few times. It seemed very strange that in the course of everything that happened in the past (that trickled into the future) nobody ever thought to really involve the police.

Also, I thought that for all that Hope was hit with, she was WAY too trusting of people. I think I would have been super-cautious about every little thing and every person I came in contact with would be suspect. And the ending seemed very abrupt.

I guess that’s the thing for me with this book. There was a lot of untapped potential in it. I almost felt like this was an earlier book that the author wrote and returned to, because other recent books have been more put together.

I know the review seems like I didn’t like the book, but I did. And it certainly kept me guessing. I just don’t know if it was for the right reasons. Other readers may have a completely different experience with it. You should definitely pick it up and try it.

Author Bio:

Kerry Wilkinson is from the English county of Somerset but has spent far too long living in the north. It’s there that he’s picked up possibly made-up regional words like ‘barm’ and ‘ginnel’. He pretends to know what they mean.

He’s also been busy since turning thirty: his Jessica Daniel crime series has sold more than a million copies in the UK; he has written a fantasy-adventure trilogy for young adults; a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter and the standalone thriller, Down Among The Dead Men.