What I read in December
Titles gifted for review via NetGalley
This post will be updated during the month with my reads as I read them! 🙂 If you are looking for inspiration on your next book and enjoy thrillers / mystery – these might be right up your street!
Double Deceit by Julienne Brouwers
Set in Amsterdam, Jennifer Smits and her lawyer husband have gone for a weekend away to try and rekindle their relationship. He accidentally loses sight of their young son and a manic search for him begins. Despite them finding him safe and well they have a blazing row and he storms off out of the hotel.
When he doesn’t return that evening Jennifer starts to worry. Their car is still there and he’s never been gone this long before. A knock on the doorstep reveals her worst fears – her husband has been found dead in a ditch – presumed the result of a terrible accident.
When sorting through his possessions Jennifer finds a card that rips her world apart – its from a lady called Sandra and implies that they were having an affair. Determined to find out the truth, Jennifer calls her, and they agree to meet.
After grilling her husbands mistress, she learns that her husband may have been involved in some complex cases at the law firm, and Jennifer begins to feel that his death may not have been an accident after all.
The more she learns about the scenario surrounding her husband’s death – the more harm follows – putting peoples lives, and relationships at risk.
Overall, Double Deceit is fast paced, page turner of a thriller and I found myself questioning lots of the characters and their potential involvement in the back story.
That said, there were quite a lot of plot holes for me, and some parts I just didn’t find realistic, particularly in relation to police investigations, data protection and medical practice. Jennifer (as a highly qualified general practitioner) makes some quite naive decisions and fails at times to see what is right in front of her (I can only assume this was the grief and excess alcohol that was clouding her decision making / risk taking)
If you can see past these elements however, this was a great read and I finished it quickly, willed on to discover the truth about what really happened to Jennifer’s husband.
3/5
The Perfect Father – Charlotte Duckworth
After previously reading (and loving) Unfollow Me by the same author, I was really looking forward to reading The Perfect Father and seeing what Charlotte Duckworth had in store for us next!
The Perfect Father tells the story of couple Robin and Esther. After a difficult pregnancy with Hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) Robin offers to become a stay at home Dad so that Esther can return to the job and career that she loves.
One day Esther receives a text message from Robin with just one word – Sorry. She rushes home to find her husband and their little girl Riley are missing.
Told in two perspectives (both Robin and Esther) and switching between the past and present, a back story is built up that helps us learn everything that led up to present events. It soon becomes clear that Esther and Robin’s relationship isn’t the perfect life we were initially led to believe.
As the story progresses, the gradual emergence of the truth are presented, with some pretty major and unexpected plot twists – one of which was so casually presented that I had to read back to clarify that I had understood it correctly!
The characters are written well – its clear that we aren’t meant to like Robin, and the way he speaks and thinks in a dismissive, jealous and somewhat unpleasant way really works well. That said, I found I didn’t really like Esther that much either, I found some of her decisions unrealistic and as such found it hard to warm to her.
Overall The Perfect Father was a good book and I enjoyed it, however it didn’t quite live up to its predecessor in that I found the ending a little lacklustre and was left hoping for one final twist that didn’t quite materialise.
3/5
New Years Eve – JG Murray
New Years’ Eve introduces us to couple Hayley and Ethan, who feel like they have finally come in to some luck when they move to Palace Gardens- a converted victorian house and a stark difference from their run down flat at the dodgy end of town.
However, when they move in, they quickly learn that the Palace Gardens residents are a tight knit community and don’t offer Hayley and Ethan the welcoming arrival they had expected and hoped for.
A music teacher working from home, Hayley learns about strange things happening as some of the secrets of Palace Gardens start to be exposed, and the more she learns the more vulnernable she starts to feel. Her obsession with the neighbours starts to become a little out of control, causing rifts between her and Ethan, so when they receive an invite to a New Years Eve party, they are hopeful that the neighbours are finally starting to be civil and that they can put this to bed once and for all. However… are they willing to let bygones be bygones and bring in the New Year on a high, or is it quite the opposite?
New Years Eve is quite a slow burner, and at times I did feel like this book wasn’t really for me. There is a lot of scene setting and detail which I felt like I could skim read and it lacked some of the compelling twists and turns that I normally look for in a thriller. Overall a pleasant read with some dark topic areas, but unfortunately didn’t blow me away.
3/5
