My Five Word TL:DR Review : I absolutely loved this book

This book just blew me away.  I couldn’t get enough of it to be honest, I loved the way it was written, I was instantly hooked and it took me down a number of routes that had me twisting and turning before finding myself at a dead end.  Seriously, I could read this book again right now and in fact I think I’d probably enjoy it as much if not more than my initial read.

This is going to be a gushing, chaotic, crazy rambling review.  I don’t think I can do justice to the book to be honest because it gave me the chills, it had a ghostly-type horror vibe at the same time as coming across as a dark murder mystery, it looks at relationships and how well you know the person you’re living with and more than that the inspiration for the book is an emotional gut punch.

Where to start.  I’m going to avoid spoilers because I really don’t want to give anything away but the story is told by Aaron Decker.  Aaron’s wife was recently killed in a shopping mall shooting incident.  He finds himself, as you may imagine, a bit untethered, unable to settle and constantly second guessing with a string of ‘what ifs?’ – what if he’d accompanied his wife that fateful morning when she actually asked ‘Come with me?’  Of course, there’s no turning back the clock and Aaron, led by a strange series of weird occurences, all that can be written off as forgetfulness or other random hiccups, begins to go through his wife things – almost as though he is being guided to do so.  In doing so he uncovers a secret side to his wife, something that leads him to start his own investigations and before he knows it his world has changed irrevocably and he finds himself becoming equally obsessed with the desire to find answers.

At its heart this is a gripping murder mystery, dark, creepy, twisted and intelligent.  It also manages to throw in a scattering of paranormal-style occurences that create a spooky atmosphere and add to the tension.  I love the way the author pulls this off by giving us a central character who is level headed enough not to become ‘spooked’ at the same time as realising that he might be putting himself, and others, in danger.  It’s a fantastic balancing act that I have to applaud.  I mean, if this had been me, I would have been running in the opposite direction to Aaron – literally running as fast as my little legs could carry me away from the goosebump inducing scariness.

We join Aaron as he follows in his wife footsteps, working his way backwards, speaking to people she herself spoke to and uncovering a different side to her that he would never have imagined.  It’s brilliant because we go through the same thought processes at the same time as he does, feeling mystified, betrayed, scared or overwhelmed, having our ideas teased out and then finding that we’ve gone astray somewhere along the line.

We travel up and down the country, the miles stacking up as Aaron seeks out more clues before eventually finding himself in the small town where his wife grew up.  There’s a real horror vibe going on at certain points – not a blood-slashing trail of bodies horror type story so much as a Silence of the Lambs uncovering of a dark and twisted mind style tale.

I’m not sure what more I can add to this other than to say do yourself a favour and pick up a copy. I was gripped, I was tense, I couldn’t stop reading.  I just loved it from start to finish and can’t recommend it enough.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks, the above is my own opinion.

My rating 5 of 5 stars