Kim Ebner's Blog, page 4

The Fourth Monkey

Goodreads DescriptionSe7en meets The Silence of the Lambs in this dark and twisting novel from the author Jeffery Deaver called, “A talented writer with a delightfully devious mind.” For over five years, the Four Monkey Killer has terrorized the residents of Chicago. When his body is found, the police quickly realize he was on his way to deliver one final message, one which proves he has taken another victim who may still be alive. As the lead investigator on the 4MK task force, Detective Sam Porter knows even in death, the killer is far from finished. When he discovers a personal diary in the jacket pocket of the body, Porter finds himself caught up in the mind of a psychopath, unraveling a twisted history in hopes of finding one last girl, all while struggling with personal demons of his own. With only a handful of clues, the elusive killer’s identity remains a mystery. Time is running out and the Four Monkey Killer taunts from beyond the grave in this masterfully written fast-paced thriller.My ReviewEvery now and then I find myself in the mood for a good serial killer novel, and this one was pipped to be the best one of the year. When it arrived, I couldn't wait to finish what I was reading, and to jump in. And it didn't disappoint.What I loved most about this story was that every alternative chapter was a passage from the serial killers diary, which he had made sure the lead investigator, Porter, found. The diary is a look back at the serial killer's life, at his totally screwed up childhood, his weird and callous parents and at the type of home the serial killer grew up in. I thought that this was really unique and interesting. How many of us don't wonder about the childhoods of the world's most notorious serial killers? I know I do. I always wonder what happened in their lives to turn them into the monsters that they become. I can't remember ever reading about a serial killer whose background wasn't to some extent, messed up. They never seem to come from happy, loving homes, where they had wonderful, normal, loving parents...well not that I know of anyway.This story is great. We get to meet a really twisted and deranged serial killer, but even more than that, we get to see what his life was like before he became a killer, what turned him into the person that he is. And then there's the added issue of whether the diary is in fact a totally true account of his life. Perhaps we'll never know, but what I can tell you is that this killer will give you the chills. What he does to his victims before he finally kills them is pretty sick and twisted, and up there with the worst of them.I think you can see where I'm going with this review. Yip, you guessed it...recommended!My Rating: * * * *Publication Date: September 2017 (South Africa)Genre: Serial Killer / ThrillerFormat: Trade paperbackSource: Review copy received from the publisher. Many thanks to author, J.D Barker and Jonathan Ball SA for my copy. It was my pleasure to read and review this title.

The Walls

Goodreads DescriptionSingle mom Kristy Tucker works as press agent for the Texas Department of Corrections - handling everything on death row, from inmate interviews to chronicling the last moments during an execution. Her job exposes Kristy to the worst of humanity and it's one that's beginning to take its toll. So when Kristy meets Lance Dobson, her son's martial arts instructor, she believed she finally found her happy ending. She was wrong. Kristy soon discovers that Lance is a monster. Forced to endure his verbal and physical abuse, Kristy is serving her own life sentence . . . unless she's willing to take matters into her hands. Perfectly poised to exploit the criminal justice system she knows so well, Kristy sets out to get rid of Lance - permanently. THE WALLS explores domestic violence, the morality of murder and how far one woman will go to protect her family. My ReviewI was really confused about how to rate this book, and what my review would say. Even though I finished the book a few days ago, I needed time to think through it. I didn't know whether to give a a 3 star or a 4 star review.On the one hand, I found this book very entertaining, easy to read, I loved the subject matter and the questions raised around the death penalty, the fact that with the death penalty there is always the possibility of an innocent person being put to death, and so on. And then on the other hand I found the book a little longer than it needed to be, I thought that not that much actually happened in 400 odd pages, and I thought that some of the scenes involving Clifton were a bit pointless, and I didn't really understand the point of the letters. Okay, so I understood them a bit, but not totally. I also would have liked a bit more of a "thriller", which is what I was expecting.So, in an ideal world this book would probably score a 3.5 stars from me, but seeing as I don't award half stars I needed to ask myself: would I recommend to someone that they buy the book, or would I recommend that they borrower it from a friend or the library. I found myself leaning towards borrowing this book. Thus, this one notches up 3 stars.In a nutshell, Kristy's job is dealing with convicted felons who have been sentenced to die. She deals with the criminals themselves, and the general public and reporters who have questions around each execution. She works for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and although, for obvious reasons, she doesn't love her job, she has gotten used to it. And then Lance walks into her life, a breath of fresh air, and the man of her dreams. But is he exactly who he claims to be, and how well does she actually know him when she walks down the aisle? This is a book that deals with a number of sensitive issues and topics. Everything from the death penalty, to domestic abuse, to murder and other hideous crimes are touched on in this book. I really enjoyed it, and it did get me thinking. However, I found that it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I had probably heard too many rave reviews and so I probably expected too much. But overall, a really good read that I recommend. My Rating: * * *Publication Date: August 2017 (South Africa)Genre: Domestic ThrillerFormat: PaperbackSource: Review copy received from the publisher. Many thanks to author, Hollie Overton and Penguin Random House SA for my copy. It was my pleasure to read and review this title.

The Vanishing Of Audrey Wilde

Goodreads DescriptionFour sisters. One summer. A lifetime of secrets. When fifteen-year-old Margot and her three sisters arrive at Applecote Manor in June 1959, they expect a quiet English country summer. Instead, they find their aunt and uncle still reeling from the disappearance of their daughter, Audrey, five years before. As the sisters become divided by new tensions when two handsome neighbors drop by, Margot finds herself drawn into the life Audrey left behind. When the summer takes a deadly turn, the girls must unite behind an unthinkable choice or find themselves torn apart forever. Fifty years later, Jesse is desperate to move her family out of their London home, where signs of her widower husband’s previous wife are around every corner. Gorgeous Applecote Manor, nestled in the English countryside, seems the perfect solution. But Jesse finds herself increasingly isolated in their new sprawling home, at odds with her fifteen-year-old stepdaughter, and haunted by the strange rumors that surround the manor.My ReviewThe author who brought us "Black Rabbit Hall" is back with this, her next novel. Black Rabbit Hall was one of my favourite reads of last year, and it made it onto my top 10 list of 2016. Although a very different novel from what I normally read, I loved that book. For obvious reasons then, I couldn't wait to start this one.Within 30 pages of this book, I knew I was in for another treat. This author is the real deal and a class act. Her writing is so atmospheric, and sometimes even slightly poetic, that as the reader you are instantly drawn into the story, into the lives of the characters, you are living in the house that they live in, and dealing with their highs and lows. Now normally I'm not a massive fan of poetic type writing, but there's something about the books written by this author that I just love.Please do not expect a rollicking, roller coaster of a ride, do not expect vicious pace and rapidly turning pages, but you can expect wonderful writing and a good story to match. I found that, like Black Rabbit Hall, this book got off to a slow start. Like I mentioned, this author spends a lot of time and a fair amount of effort in creating a scene, in describing it and in getting the characters just right. And that's probably why the beginning of her novels tend to be slow. But let me tell you, by the time you are 80 pages in, you know exactly who is who is the zoo, who you like, and who you aren't so keen on. But it's important to note also that the pace never really increases, not until the very end. So you must be prepared for that.As a slight criticism, and really, this is very slight and it's my very personal opinion, I'm never mad about the constant use of similes and metaphors. I find that it can be a bit distracting. And this author uses a lot of them, tons in fact. For some reason though, they didn't bother me as much in this book as in some others that I've read, probably because her similes and metaphors are often so spot on, and so descriptive that I didn't mind. But yes, I did notice how many of them there were. In a perfect world, I would have preferred less on them, but that's just me.This book uses dual timelines, and uses them very effectively. I was totally entranced by both stories, and both families. I loved the story line and getting to know the four young sisters in 1959, and I was equally intrigued by Jessie and her new family, who have just moved into Appelcote Manor in the current day.So, how did I decide on my 4 star rating for this book? Well, let me just say that the writing was wonderful, and as mentioned, absolute quality. I think it deserves 5 stars. But, unfortunately, the story was really slow and the story itself (the plot) probably average. I would award 3 stars to that aspect of the book. Thus, I decided on 4 stars for this book. If you don't mind slow reads, character driven stories, dual timelines, including some historical fiction, then please give this one a go. You'll be rewarded with quality writing and a great read.My Rating: * * * *Publication Date: August 2017 (South Africa)Genre: Mystery / Historical FictionFormat: HardcopySource: Review copy received from the publisher. Many thanks to author, Eve Chase and Penguin Random House SA for my copy. It was my pleasure to read and review this title.

Friend Request

Goodreads DescriptionWhen Louise first notices the new girl who has mysteriously transferred late into their senior year, Maria seems to be everything the girls Louise hangs out with aren't. Authentic. Funny. Brash. Uncensored and unapologetic. Days into their acquaintance, Maria and Louise are quickly on their way to becoming fast friends. Decades later, when Maria reaches out over social media, Louise's heart nearly stops. Long-buried memories quickly rise to the surface--those first days of their budding connection, the awful judgment of the young women who felt at the time like her sole gateway to belonging. The fateful, tragic night that would change all their lives forever. Her entire adult life, Louise has known if the truth ever came out, she could stand to lose everything. Her job. Her son. Her freedom. Maria's sudden reemergence threatens it all, and forces Louise to reconnect with everyone she'd severed ties with to get away from the past. Trying to piece together exactly what happened that night, she soon discovers there's much she didn't know. The only certainty is that Maria Weston disappeared that night, never to be heard from again--until now.My ReviewIn general, I'm a person who's never been a massive fan of social media...except for Facebook, oh Facebook...now that's another matter totally. Until fairly recently I didn't even know how Twitter worked, and actually, I'm still a novice at it. Instagram, well yes, I've learnt how to use it, but again, only recently. And I don't use it very often. As for Facebook, well I'm on it every day.This is one of the reasons that I loved this book so much. It touched on a topic that I know about, a product that I use, and a social media platform that has been a part of my daily life for a long time now. This book very clearly shows just how little privacy us Facebook users actually have. And it's a book that will make you rush off and check your privacy setting the minute you finish reading it.Louise, a single mother of one young son, quit the corporate world a few years ago to start her own business, allowing her to work from home where she can spend more time with her son. She doesn't have a lot of friends, and is a bit of a loner. But, she does like to check her Facebook page now and then. Until the day when she receives a friend request from an old school friend...but the friend died many years ago. And so starts this fantastic thriller.As most of you know, I'm a fan of dual timeline plots. In this book, the dual timelines take place in 2016, when Louise is a 40-something adult, and 1989 when she's a scholar just finishing high school. When it comes to dual timeline plots, I tend to find that I'm more of a fan of one time period than the other. But in this book, I really enjoyed both timelines equally, or just about equally. I think I perhaps favoured the chapters set in the past slightly, but I was still gripped by the events of the current time. This is a thriller that moves at pace, the writing style is easy and it's the type of book that you can pick up and read anywhere, anytime as it doesn't require tons of concentration. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and although it's not a book with lots of twists and turns, it's a solid thriller.My Rating: * * * *Publication Date: August 2017 (South Africa)Genre: Suspense ThrillerFormat: Trade PaperbackSource: Review copy received from the publisher. Many thanks to author, Laura Marshall and Jonathan Ball Publishers in SA for my copy. 

Here And Gone

Goodreads DescriptionHere and Gone is a gripping, wonderfully tense suspense thriller about a mother's desperate fight to recover her stolen children from corrupt authorities. It begins with a woman fleeing through Arizona with her kids in tow, trying to escape an abusive marriage. When she's pulled over by an unsettling local sheriff, things soon go awry and she is taken into custody. Only when she gets to the station, her kids are gone. And then the cops start saying they never saw any kids with her, that if they're gone than she must have done something with them...  Meanwhile, halfway across the country a man hears the frenzied news reports about the missing kids, which are eerily similar to events in his own past. As the clock ticks down on the search for the lost children, he too is drawn into the desperate fight for their return.My ReviewAfter reading just a few pages of this book, I knew that I was going to really enjoy it. Having just finished a book that I found to be long winded, too descriptive and with not much dialogue, this read was the exact opposite and so it hit the mark. The quality of the writing was great, the plot was great, the dialogue was great...so overall, yes you guessed it, great!I found this read and the plot itself to be pretty intense. I felt anxious about the situation that the main character found herself in and it got me thinking: what would happen if the people that you were supposed to trust the most, being the authorities, pulled a dirty on you? And then nobody believed you, or your story because it just seemed so unlikely. That concept absolutely terrifies me. The thought of being trapped in a bizarre situation, telling the truth, and then just not being believed, has been a concept that I've battled with for some time. It must be absolutely frightening. This whole story is pretty much a sit-on-the-end-of-your-seat type read. By the time I was halfway through, I was totally gripped and entertained. I wanted the children to be found, I wanted Audra to be believed, and I wanted the corrupt officials to get what they deserved.Another thing that I liked about this book was that the plot wasn't linear. It wasn't just a story based in the here and now. There is a reason that Audra was running away to California, and that reason was her abusive and crazy husband. So, although the story is primarily about the disappearance of her children, the book also looked at her relationship with her husband and cut back to scenes of what happened in their relationship. I enjoyed that.A great read Bookworms, and one that is bound to be enjoyed by those of you that love a good crime thriller.My Rating: * * * *Publication Date: August 2017 (South Africa)Genre: Crime ThrillerFormat: Trade PaperbackSource: Review copy received from the publisher. Many thanks to author, Haylen Beck and Penguin Random House SA for my copy. It was my pleasure to read and review this title.

The Marsh King's Daughter

Goodreads Description'I was born two years into my mother's captivity. She was three weeks shy of seventeen. If I had known then what I do now, things would have been a lot different. I would have been a lot more understanding of my mother. I wouldn't have adored my father.'When the notorious child abductor known as the Marsh King escapes from a maximum security prison, Helena immediately suspects that she and her two young daughters are in danger.No one, not even her husband, knows the truth about Helena's past: they don't know that she was born into captivity, that she had no contact with the outside world before the age of twelve - or that her father raised her to be a killer.And they don't know that the Marsh King can survive and hunt in the wilderness better than anyone... except, perhaps his own daughter.My ReviewThis is one of those books that received such glowing reviews, not only from bloggers that I follow and Bookworms in general, but also from some serious authors (like Lee Child and Karin Slaughter), that I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy and dive in. And if I'm totally honest, I also loved the cover and that totally sold the book to me when I first came across it months ago.You can imagine my disappointment then when I realized that this book just wasn't for me. I was battling through the pages, skimming now and then, thinking that there must be something wrong with me because everyone that I trust, loved this book. How sad, for me that is. But, there isn't anything wrong with me, I just didn't like this story and I wasn't gripped. In summary then, here is what I liked and didn't like:What I liked: This author has a natural writing style and I thought her writing was first class. The story flowed, and was easy to read. There were no typo's, nor editing issues (well, none that I picked up on). I also liked the alternating chapters, and generally I'm a big fan of that type of plot structure. In this book, the chapters alternate between Helena's childhood, and her adulthood where she's stalking her father after his escape from prison.What I didn't like: I wasn't gripped by this story and I found the descriptions of Helena's time spent in the marsh, long winded and a bit boring. Also, I didn't like the scene's about hunting, shooting animals, gutting them etc, and although they might have been necessary in terms of the story, I just didn't like them. I'm just not a fan of hunting animals, any animals, at any time, so those scenes left me uncomfortable. Also, the scenes about Helena's childhood in the marsh were so overly descriptive that I found myself skimming them at times, and I don't like reading like that. There was very little dialogue in this story, and I'm a massive fan of great dialogue. I often find that it moves the story along and leads to a gripping story. For that reason, I wasn't in love with the long chapters with not much other than description. And lastly, the suspense that I thought I would feel, I just didn't. I didn't find the story gripping, thrilling, suspenseful or any of those things. In fairness, it did pick up towards the end but by then I wasn't engaged and so I didn't much care.But Bookworm's, I must tell you that this book comes with some seriously strong recommendations. The inside of the front and back covers are full of praise from other authors, and a quick glance at the Goodreads reviews will show you that the majority of people really liked this book. Unfortunately though, it just wasn't for me. My Rating: * *Publication Date: August 2017 (South Africa)Genre: ThrillerFormat: Trade PaperbackSource: Review copy received from the publisher. Many thanks to author, Karen Dionne and Jonathan Ball Publishers in SA for my copy. 

My Lovely Wife

Goodreads DescriptionA heart-wrenching, yet hopeful, memoir of a young marriage that is redefined by mental illness and affirms the power of love. Mark and Giulia’s life together began as a storybook romance. They fell in love at eighteen, married at twenty-four, and were living their dream life in San Francisco. When Giulia was twenty-seven, she suffered a terrifying and unexpected psychotic break that landed her in the psych ward for nearly a month. One day she was vibrant and well-adjusted; the next she was delusional and suicidal, convinced that her loved ones were not safe. Eventually, Giulia fully recovered, and the couple had a son. But, soon after Jonas was born, Giulia had another breakdown, and then a third a few years after that. Pushed to the edge of the abyss, everything the couple had once taken for granted was upended. A story of the fragility of the mind, and the tenacity of the human spirit, My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward is, above all, a love story that raises profound questions: How do we care for the people we love? What and who do we live for? Breathtaking in its candor, radiant with compassion, and written with dazzling lyricism, Lukach’s is an intensely personal odyssey through the harrowing years of his wife’s mental illness, anchored by an abiding devotion to family that will affirm readers’ faith in the power of love.My ReviewI found this one to be a really fascinating, sad, eye-opening memoir. I've always had a little bit of a fascination with mental illness and how people cope with it in their lives, if they ever do. This book is ultimately both a memoir and an autobiography. In the book, the author talks about his relationship with his wife, how he coped with his wife's sudden onset of mental illness and the struggles that he went through. This is the memoir part. But then the author also focuses on his wife, how she coped, what the diagnosis did to her and how she acted and reacted. That is the autobiography part.Although I felt extremely sorry for Giulia and her bipolar diagnosis, which must have been devastating, the person that I felt most sorry for when reading this true account, was Giulia's husband and the author of this book, Mark. I cannot even vaguely begin to imagine what it must be like to see the person that you love crumbling before your eyes. Giulia become unloving, rude, withdrawn, selfish and all these things were aimed at her husband Mark, who was just trying to remain a rock and a constant support. And of course I realize that Giulia didn't have any control over her emotions, or over how she treated Mark, but I couldn't help feel incredibly sorry for him and a little bit irritated with her.I must also mention at this stage, that I found this account to be incredibly honest, and I must applaud Giulia for this as I'm sure she needed to agree to Mark including some of the scenes that he included in the book. For example, there is a scene where Giulia has been released from hospital and she is back at home and Mark asks her to do the dishes after dinner. She is in her room, lying in bed and says no, she doesn't want to do them and he must do them. It's a scene that got my blood boiling because Mark had basically given up his whole life for months and months, he had done everything for Giulia and had looked after her constantly, and she couldn't even do the dishes! This is just one example of a small scene that could have been left out of the book, but wasn't. It's such a normal, every day thing, but yet it was included in the book and it was honest and brutal.Overall, this was a really great read. It's always difficult to rate a memoir / autobiography because it's always difficult to rate someone's real life experiences. I do try and remember that the pacing will be different to a fiction novel, as will the gripping nature of the read. But this one was great. It was incredibly interesting and eye-opening, it was sad but also hopeful. The love that Mark shows for Giulia is incredible and amazing. My personal feeling is that I'm not quite as confident that Giulia shows the same depth of love for Mark, but that's just my personal feeling.This is a wonderful memoir that I'm sure many people will "enjoy" (it's difficult to say enjoy due to the nature of the read). I'm sure that many of you will find something in this read to lift your spirits. I know that I did. And here's wishing all the best to both Mark and Giulia, for their life together.My Rating: * * * *Publication Date: August 2017 (South Africa)Genre: MemoirFormat: Trade PaperbackSource: Review copy received from the publisher. Many thanks to author, Mark Lukach and Pan Macmillan SA for my copy. It was my pleasure to read and review this title.

Final Girls

Goodreads DescriptionEach girl survived an unthinkable horror. Now someone wants them dead... They were the victims of separate massacres. Three strangers bound by similar traumas grouped together by the press. When something terrible happens to Lisa, put-together Quincy and volatile Sam finally meet. Each one influences the other. Each one has dark secrets. And after the bloodstained fingers of the past reach into the present, each one will never be the same.My ReviewThis one definitely got off to a sluggish start. By the time I was 50 pages in, I realised that not a lot had happened. The reader is given some background info on the Final Girls, and how one is classified as a Final Girl, but the story hadn't yet kicked off. And then I got 100 pages in, and I found myself reading just one more page before turning out my bedside light. And then I got 150 pages in and I was totally unwilling to put the book down! By then, I was totally and utterly gripped.Quincy is getting on with her life after surviving a mad killer. She's put the past behind her, she has a successful baking blog and she has a wonderful boyfriend. Life is on track, and although she is unable to forget the past and the events that took place at Pine Cottage, she has moved on. And then Sam arrives on the scene. Suddenly, the past has come back to haunt her. For the reader, this is a good thing as Sam's arrival speeds things up a lot. It's from this moment on that the story picks up pace, and the book becomes rather difficult to put down.Looking back, I'm actually rather glad that the beginning was slow. And I can see the necessity for the slow start. It was important to show the reader who Quincy is, who her friends are and the type of people they all are, what their characters are like. It leads to a greater shock factor later on in the story.I must also mention that this author has a real talent. I thought that her writing style was fantastic. It was solid, quality writing that I loved. I toyed with whether to award 5 stars to this book because I thought it was a great thriller, but at the end of the day, 4 stars just feels more right. I loved this one Bookworms, and I highly recommend it. If, like me, you find the beginning slow, push on. It's worth it!My Rating: * * * *Publication Date: August 2017 (South Africa)Genre: ThrillerFormat: Trade PaperbackSource: Review copy received from the publisher. Many thanks to author, Riley Sager and Penguin Random House SA for my copy. It was my pleasure to read and review this title.

The Honeymoon

Goodreads DescriptionFor as long as she can remember, Jemma has been planning the perfect honeymoon. A fortnight's retreat to a five-star resort in the Maldives, complete with luxury villas, personal butlers and absolute privacy. It should be paradise, but it's turned into a nightmare. Because the man Jemma married a week ago has just disappeared from the island without a trace. And now her perfect new life is vanishing just as quickly before her eyes. After everything they've been through together, how can this be happening? Is there anyone on the island who Jemma can trust? And above all - where has her husband gone?My ReviewIn a nutshell, I loved this one. It was an easy read, with short, punchy chapters, that kept the plot moving along. And it had a twist within the first third of the book that I didn't see coming at all. I loved that because normally in psychological thrillers there's one big twist at the end, but more often than not, there's nothing during the story.I also thought that the characters were all very distinct, and the way that the author described them, allowed me to form a clear picture of each of them in my head. I must say that I wasn't very keen on the main character, Jemma. And she only got worse throughout the story. By the end, I was feeling incredibly sorry for her husband. She was grating on my nerves so badly that I wanted to drown her in the lovely, clear blue sea of their island get away! So well done to the author for stirring such emotions in me.Now for the ending, mmm, I'm not sure quite how I felt about it. Let's just say that I didn't love it. I've reworded this final paragraph of mine a few times, and each time I write it, I find that I might actually be giving something away. With that in mind, I'll keep my feelings short and sweet - the ending was dark, totally unexpected, perhaps a little bit far fetched, and a little bit of a let down for me. The ending just seemed to pop out of nowhere and probably caused me to award 4 stars to this read, rather than 5.This is a great book that I would describe as an easy, gripping and entertaining holiday type read. It's the type of book that you can slip into your handbag, stash in your beach bag or even have lying on the passenger seat of your car, to be grabbed and read at any spare moment. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even if I did find the ending slightly weak. And in case this makes you feel disappointed, or perhaps you now think that you won't read it after all, let me leave you with this thought: the ending made me feel physically sick! So go on, read it, and let me know your thoughts...My Rating: * * * *Publication Date: 30 June 2017 (South Africa)Genre: Psychological thrillerFormat: PaperbackSource: Review copy received from the publisher. Many thanks to author, Tina Seskis and Penguin Random House SA for my copy. It was my pleasure to read and review this title.

A Stranger In The House

Goodreads DescriptionYou come home after a long day at work, excited to have dinner with your beautiful wife. But when you walk through the door, you quickly realize that she's not there. In the kitchen, there is a pot on the stove, and vegetables on the counter, abandoned. Her cellphone and her purse are still in the house, in the bedroom, exactly where she keeps them. It looks like she's left in a blind panic. You fear the worst, so you call her friends to see if they know where she is.  Then you call the police. The police tell you that your wife's been in an accident. They found her in the worst part of town, after she lost control of the car while speeding through the streets. But why would she go to that neighbourhood? And why was she driving so fast? Was she running toward something? Or away from something? The police think your wife was up to no good. You refuse to believe it, at first. Then, as the stories and facts don't line up, and your wife can't remember what happened that evening, you start to wonder. You've been married for two years and you thought you knew her better than anyone else in the world . . .  . . . but maybe you don't.My ReviewPhew, that was a bit of a struggle. I was looking forward to reading this book after really enjoying The Couple Next Door, by the same author. But I almost can't believe that the same author wrote both books. I'm not sure what went wrong, but the writing style in this book was poor to say the least. I can only presume that the first book by this author was extensively edited, to such an extent that it actually changed the style, and this didn't happen with the second book. I know from first hand experience just how difficult it is to write. As a reader, reading a book, especially one that flows effortlessly and draws one into the story, it's easy to presume that writing isn't that difficult, that we can all do it. Well no, let me tell you, it's ridiculously difficult and that's why I really dislike giving negative reviews and criticizing writing style. But in this case, in order to be honest and to render an honest review, I must criticize the writing.I think the problem in this book was that the author broke some basic creative writing rules. One of those rules is the concept of "show, don't tell". In other words, as a writer, you must draw the reader into the story by showing them a scene, by describing it, not merely telling the reader facts. In other words, don't say "the man walked to the door. The woman looked at him and sat down", and so on. I think the writing in this book was like that. And wow, I noticed it from the start, and I struggled with it. At no stage did I feel invested in the characters or the story, I couldn't feel anything because I hadn't been made to feel anything.On a more positive note, I did finish this book despite considering giving up on more than one occasion. The story and plot did keep me interested, and I wanted to know how everything was going to play out. However, by the time I finished the book, I hadn't felt any more engaged and the plot wasn't anything amazing. Sorry Bookworms but I won't be recommending this read.My Rating: * *Publication Date: August 2017 (South Africa)Genre: Psychological ThrillerFormat: Trade PaperbackSource: Review copy received from the publisher. Many thanks to author, Shari Lapena and Penguin Random House SA for my review copy.