Author: Harriet Tyce

Wherever I read that this book was a thriller I am afraid I completely disagree. For me this was a book about a family drama, that did present a bit of mystery but other than that is not the suspense novel I thought it will be.

The story begins introducing you to Alison, a barrister and a mother that seems to have everything on the surface. A prosperous career and a lovely family with her husband and daughter. However, on a deeper level she’s far from having a perfect life. Being constantly rejected by her husband, having an affair with a colleague, and failing as a mother has made her rely heavily on alcohol, showing that she drinks a lot.

Personally, I found all the characters dislikeable (except for her daughter, Matilda, who is only six). I couldn’t relate to Allison on any level (thank God) and all the bad decisions she kept making. Although as the story progresses, I started to feel sympathetic towards her. The relationship with her husband, Carl, is falling apart as he seems to be disgusted by her and as a result she turns into Patrick, who, unfortunately, ended up treating her worse.

On the sideline of the story, the novel presents a murder case, it was written really well and as the author has a law degree herself, she provides great context for it making it interesting. However, we have seen that type of murder before a lot of times and the ending for it was predictable.

The last chapters of the book saved the whole story for me. Towards the end the story begins to have excitement and the ending was kite good; in my case, I was surprised by it. Yet, the rest of the book was repetitive and lacking that turn-pager excitement I expected from the positive reviews I’ve seen.

In my opinion, besides for the last couple of chapters in the book, I wouldn’t recommend this book.

Book Review, Fiction