by Kerry Wilkinson
Publisher: Bookouture
Pages: 427
Format: eARC
Buy the Book: Amazon
Goodreads: Paige, Richard and me. We thought we’d be friends forever. But everything changed the day we took the short cut home from school along the old railway line. I wish we’d gone the long way. I wish we hadn’t seen our classmate, pale and still in the undergrowth. And I wish we hadn’t promised to keep one, awful detail a secret just between us…
Twenty years later, I have a brand-new life, and try never to think about my old one.
But I’m dragged back when Paige calls out of the blue. Richard has been accused of something terrible. Everyone back home is whispering about the body we found years ago, and saying Richard deserves to be locked up…
Before I know it, I’ve returned to the small town I thought I’d never see again. Paige is almost the same as I remember – jet black hair, slender frame – but why does she seem so nervous? She’s adamant the only way to clear our friend’s name is to tell the truth about what we saw twenty years ago.
Can I really trust that Paige is on my side – or is she hiding her own dark secret? And if we clear Richard’s name, will the blame fall on me?
When we find a strange note in Richard’s flat, one thing is for certain: someone else knows the truth too. All three of us are in danger…
Kritters Thoughts: Once you are accused of one thing, it can be pretty easy for friends, enemies and the public to cast blame for other things. Richard is arrested for the murder of a former teacher and a dead body that he and a friend discovered comes back up and becomes a part of the current narrative. Told from the point of view of Harry, said friend who found the body of a classmate with Richard and who had left this small town in England for Canada a long time ago. He is summoned back by their mutual friend Paige, so they can get to the truth and free Richard as she is convinced that he is innocent.
This was a great mystery/thriller that had such great ups and downs and the clues were dropped at just the right spot. Following Harry and Paige as they investigated in hopes of freeing Richard and finding the killer, I love it when the investigation is led by amateurs. Without spoiling a thing, I can say I was so happy with the who of the who dun it and although it definitely came together real quickly at the end, if I read it again, maybe I could have found a clue or two a little faster!
I read a variety of books that are set across the pond as it will and sometimes the books read as though they could be set anywhere and the specific "english" terms aren't distracting, but they were so in this one. Every once in awhile as I was reading, I had to almost decipher the word and figure out what they were really talking about and it took me out of the plot a time or two. I say this in case you are a reader that avoids books that aren't set in the United States.
I liked this one. It was good, but not sure if it would be one that I would hope to continue to follow as I feel as though the book was completely self contained and maybe wouldn't work in a series form.
Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row
Ebook 2021 Challenge: 9 out of 100
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one copy of this book free of charge from Bookouture. I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.
No comments:
Post a Comment