The Broken Doll

The Broken Doll #1

by P.J. Blakey-Novis

In a small town in southern England, a chance encounter triggers a catastrophic series of events from which no one will emerge unchanged. When Sebastian Briggs meets Ella she needs his help. The type of help required, however, is far from what he had expected; dragging him down a path of lust and violence. As a married father of three, Sebastian must fight between his loyalty to his family and the desire he feels for another woman, a woman full of secrets and with sinister intentions. What begins as a simple conversation between two strangers soon escalates beyond any expectations, tearing apart Sebastian's home life and leaving death in it's wake.

The debut novel from Peter Blakey-Novis is a fast-paced tale, full of twists, crimes and steamy passion.

272 pages, Paperback

Published February 24, 2017

About the author

Author of The Broken Doll, parts 1 & 2, both released in 2017. Author of 6 collections of short horror stories: Embrace the Darkness, Tunnels, The Artist, Karma, The Place Between Worlds, and Home, as well as the horror novella Four. Author of a children's book, Grace and Bobo, co-written with his daughter. Editor of Indie Writers Review magazine, and co-founder of Red Cape Publishing P.J. also has stories in numerous anthologies.

Reviews

[Kristina Gallo · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the start of this story, I was pity Ella because her husband beat her. She was passive and unable to resist. She did not report him and pain inside of her collected until her nervous system broke. After seeing an opportunity to get rid of her husband, she will use it. There she crosses her boundaries, transforms into a bad person under the influence of circumstances. She doesn't care about family and marriage, all she wants is her target, Sebastian. On another hand, Seb is not able to control his instincts, he feels like a man in midlife crises who need an affair with a neurotic woman, what Ella was.
The author describes in a rough, realistic way Ella's life, her neurotic nature, and parallel with this, Sebastian and her wife Natasha. Natasha's mistake is because she got used to having harmony and everything she wishes, she can't imagine losing a husband because of a woman who can't offer anything besides her body. She is losing from the worst, but in the state of Sebastian's desires, even the worse choice is a different choice than he used to. This triangle is a challenge for every one of them, and the author leads us through the circle of hell, where is no real winner. I could almost imagine Ella's house in the dark place, abandoned and scary, and this woman in front of the house, lurking around. In this book are elements of thriller and horror, the scale of fear and shame is climbing chapter by chapter, leading the reader in the temptation to judge or approve. As a reader, I stayed with a thought that nothing is safe, even perfect marriage with children can break if your partner is not mentally strong.

[Kimelene Carr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let me begin by saying, this book is a MUST READ!! This was quite an intense, gripping and emotionally stirring reading experience. The events unfolded in such a way that will be shocking, unexpected and thrilling for readers all at once.

There were times I sympathized with characters, other times I felt anger, relief and many times anxious as to what may occur next. For an author to evoke such feelings and grab readers' emotions, it goes without saying how incredibly well written this story was.

An absolutely exciting, riveting tale that will leave readers mind blown and breathless!!!

[Melissa Levine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this story for an honest review.

Let me state for the record, overall, I did like the story. It pulled me in and, in my opinion, delved deeply into a world of craziness.

I had a hard time believing Ella’s character. For years her husband had been abusing her physically, mentally, emotionally, etc. After he died, here comes along Seb, the good Samaritan. While I don’t personally know anyone who has been abused, it just seemed questionable that she would be so eager to start a new relationship so quickly. What was it? About three days after burying her husband? She turned a 180, in my opinion. Lee had her terrified of doing the wrong thing, so she came across as meek, unsure of herself, with low confidence. He had beaten her for years causing all these injuries, specifically the bruises, yet she was the one to make the first move on Seb. She seemed eager to show off her body for Seb (with injuries), walking around in front of him in her undergarments, albeit the reader is told that Lee had never said anything negative about her body, per se, even though he’d mentioned getting bored of having sex with her… And, she had no problem calling Seb out for staring at her. It’s like all the negativity that Lee had put on her suddenly disappeared after Seb arrived. She went from being controlled by Lee to suddenly being the controller of Seb. She turned into a crazy person, stalking Seb, telling him he’d be better off with her, making up lies about them. I guess my biggest issue was with how quickly Ella changed.

The narrator did a good although he didn’t change his voice very much for the different characters, yet he had a nice voice overall. I think it’s something about the accent. The only issue I noticed with the narration was when Seb headed to the takeaway place in search of… I forgot the owners name… but there was random cough sound, which I believe came from the narrator.

Questions/Comments:

While I’ve never seen the result of someone smashing their face with a brick, I can’t imagine it would be hard to tell the difference between a person hitting her in the face with their hand as opposed to a brick, or was Ella going for Seb having hit her in the face with a brick, although that sounds strange?

How did Seb seriously think drinking alcohol with Ella, while he was tired and mad at her, was a good idea? Or after he’s kicked out of the house, he goes to Ella’s and has sex with her and then still expects/hopes his wife will take him back? I don’t think I ever felt sorry for Seb in this story. He just came across as being too dumb, the fact that he kept going back to Ella…

Ella, on the other hand, was a somewhat interesting character. I felt sorry for her in the beginning after finding out how she was treated by her husband, but then she turned into a psycho and it was all downhill from there.

I’m definitely interested in listening to book 2.

[The Book · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Broken Doll is a well written ‘crime of passion thriller’ by Author P. J. Blakey-Novis. Fans of the film ‘Fatal Attraction’ will love this ‘bunny boiler narration’ introducing the characters of Ella, a victim of Domestic Abuse and Sebastian, a seemingly contented family man and all round good guy who comes to Ella’s aid when he sees evidence of the abuse. However, Sebastian’s innocent intentions lead him into making a terrible mistake, one that has devastating and unbelievable consequences for him and his family.

A superb plot that moves at a good pace, and with plenty of drama, excitement and lots of twists and turns to keep readers thoroughly entertained and on the edge of their seats. The characters of Ella and Sebastian are really well developed, and despite their faults, the reader cannot help but have a certain level of empathy for them. Ella’s misguided feelings result in her taking some truly despicable action as she becomes more and more desperate to free herself from her abusive husband, and turn her fantasy fairy tale life into a reality. For Sebastian, his reality turns into a sheer nightmare as he finally realises how unstable Ella is, and the lengths she will go, to keep him ensnared.

By the time Sebastian understands this and comes to his senses, it is too late, and readers remain gripped as to how he will get out of the web an unhinged Ella has spun, and what she is capable of doing next? The dialogue is credible, and all of the characters introduced are believable, and give more depth to the story. There are some odd typo’s, but a reader can easily overlook these due to the plot itself being so engaging. These are a quick fix for the author. There is some erotic adult content within the text and so I would not recommend, The Broken Doll, to readers below the age of 18.

I loved this psychological and dramatic take on two strangers whose attraction to each other is pure toxic! I award 5 stars.

[Sarah Huntington · Rating 5 out of 5]

This didn't sound like my usual kind of read but I like how the author writes so I got a copy.
This was great! The plot pulls you in from the beginning and batters your emotions all over the place, in a good way. Harrowing at times, and thrilling, exciting too.
Very impressive and highly recomended

[Kat M · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was a great start to the Broken Doll series, it had what I was looking for in a suspenseful atmosphere. The characters were what I was looking for and it worked well overall. I enjoyed the way P.J. Blakey-Novis wrote this and am excited to read more from this universe.

I received a free copy of this book via Red Cape Reviews and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great debut novel with tons of tension and suspense. I look forward to reading more by this author.