Questionable guilt
Susan Webster has just been released from the Oakdale Psychiatric Institute, after serving a four-year sentence for killing her baby son, Dylan. However, despite everyone telling her she committed the crime – including her husband Mark – Susan has no recollection of doing so.
Having been warned of possible reprisals and hostile reactions from people, Susan took the precaution of changing her name by deed poll to Emma Cartwright and now lives in a new area where she hopes she will be able to escape her past. Therefore, when a hand-delivered envelope, addressed to her real name, lands on her door mat she is understandably unnerved.
Opening the envelope, Susan’s fear instantly turns to confusion when she discovers a photograph inside of a young boy who, according to the inscription on the back, is supposedly Dylan, now aged four. Although she knows this cannot be true, it does not stop Susan from imagining Dylan might still be alive somewhere.
As the sender has chosen to remain anonymous, Susan’s friend Cassie initially thinks the photo is just a prank and tells her to ignore it, but when a newspaper cutting of her trial is planted in Susan’s bag, Cassie has to admit there is more to it than mere coincidence. Worried someone has discovered her true identity and is stalking her, when a man knocks on Susan’s door and addresses her by her real name, she immediately thinks he is responsible for the photo and angrily dismisses him. However, believing him to be a journalist, she then decides to enlist his help in finding the identity of her tormentor and the truth behind their motives. After all, if Dylan is truly alive, it means someone must have framed her for a murder she did not commit.
‘How I Lost You’ is a fast-paced psychological thriller that grabs your attention from the very beginning and firmly holds onto it until the very end. Alternating between the past and the present, the story gradually pieces together a web of cruelty and deceit, culminating in the shocking revelation that nearly everyone has something to hide. I have to admit, I was initially confused by the sudden introduction of the chapters dealing with past events, as the characters depicted within them seemed at first to be unconnected to those of the present-day, causing me to feel slightly irritated by their intrusion and wonder what the relevance was. However, the unfolding backstory itself was so engrossing, that it was not long before everything began to make sense and the relevance finally became clear.
Having been warned of possible reprisals and hostile reactions from people, Susan took the precaution of changing her name by deed poll to Emma Cartwright and now lives in a new area where she hopes she will be able to escape her past. Therefore, when a hand-delivered envelope, addressed to her real name, lands on her door mat she is understandably unnerved.
Opening the envelope, Susan’s fear instantly turns to confusion when she discovers a photograph inside of a young boy who, according to the inscription on the back, is supposedly Dylan, now aged four. Although she knows this cannot be true, it does not stop Susan from imagining Dylan might still be alive somewhere.
As the sender has chosen to remain anonymous, Susan’s friend Cassie initially thinks the photo is just a prank and tells her to ignore it, but when a newspaper cutting of her trial is planted in Susan’s bag, Cassie has to admit there is more to it than mere coincidence. Worried someone has discovered her true identity and is stalking her, when a man knocks on Susan’s door and addresses her by her real name, she immediately thinks he is responsible for the photo and angrily dismisses him. However, believing him to be a journalist, she then decides to enlist his help in finding the identity of her tormentor and the truth behind their motives. After all, if Dylan is truly alive, it means someone must have framed her for a murder she did not commit.
‘How I Lost You’ is a fast-paced psychological thriller that grabs your attention from the very beginning and firmly holds onto it until the very end. Alternating between the past and the present, the story gradually pieces together a web of cruelty and deceit, culminating in the shocking revelation that nearly everyone has something to hide. I have to admit, I was initially confused by the sudden introduction of the chapters dealing with past events, as the characters depicted within them seemed at first to be unconnected to those of the present-day, causing me to feel slightly irritated by their intrusion and wonder what the relevance was. However, the unfolding backstory itself was so engrossing, that it was not long before everything began to make sense and the relevance finally became clear.
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