Julia has always been the friend that Livy turns to when life is difficult. United eighteen years ago by grief at the brutal murder of Livy's sister, Kara, they've always told each other everything.
Or so Livy thought.
When a fresh tragedy strikes, Livy cannot accept what Julia is supposed to have done. But little does she realise that digging into her best friend's private life will tear the very fabric of her own existence apart.
My first impressions of this book were that I was definitely going to enjoy it, and I most certainly did. Recently I can't get enough of crime thriller's, I love the unknown of what's going to happen in each chapter and whether I'm right myself as to who the killer is.
We meet Olivia or Livy and her two children Zack and Hannah, Zack sweet and innocent but very clingy to his Mum and Hannah who is mature for her age of 12. In the beginning we're enlightened that Livy's marriage with Will is on the rocks and has been for the past six years and now that her best friend Julia has disappeared, everything seems to be going wrong.
Determined to find out what happened to Julia, Livy takes matters into her own hands and begins a search as to what happened to Julia and why.
I'll cut to the chase and say the killer was not who I was expecting at all, it was well round up towards the end and the culprit was a certain surprise. I think what makes a great crime thriller and what this book does well is the subtle hints as to who the killer is, thinking back on them moments it seems so obvious. I think it's clever and it just blows my mind how anyone can think like that so to make the puzzle fit together comfortably.
The characters I felt were very well developed, particularly Livy our protagonist. She has a rough time throughout the book, her constant suspicions of her husband and trusting strangers.
My favourite character disturbingly was the murderer themselves, every now and then a chapter would be of the killer's perspective and the name of the person who they killed and how it came about. Scary and believable, this character really did give me the chills!
I think the only minor silly thing I perhaps wasn't too fond of was the ending tieing up fairly quickly, I was expecting it to be more prolonged. So it was definitely fast paced I can't argue with that, but perhaps a little more to it but it's most definitely not boring or long in any part of the book so get ready for the thrills!
Like any crime thriller, I can't give too much insight so to not spoil the book for others. I'm definitely going to read more from Sophie McKenzie, I think this is a brilliant book and a good choice for anyone who loves crime thriller's. The unpredictability of this genre lures me in every time and I love it!
