Tag: kidnap

3.5*, blog tours, book review

#BookReview #BlogTour The Family Lie by Jake Cross @bookouture

if only I could read faster

My second blog tour of the day is for The Family Lie by Jake Cross and published by the wonderful Bookouture. I received a copy of the book to read but was under no obligation to review the book and all thoughts are my own.

My Review:

The Family Lie by Jake Cross starts with a bang. Imagine waking up in the middle of the night and finding the house empty, your husband and daughter are nowhere to be seen but the back door is open and something just doesn’t feel right.

That is what happens to Anna, and before she knows it the house is full of police and questions are being asked that Anna isn’t comfortable answering. The police officer in charge, Miller, believes husband Nick is responsible and that he has taken their little girl.

But it soon becomes clear that he isn’t involved, but we know that the parents seem to be hiding something. Just what is going on and who has taken the little girl and why?

This book could have been excellent, the premise was great and clever and certainly very twisty. I also liked the author’s style of writing but sadly there were a few things that let the book down.

Mainly, the characters just weren’t anyone I cared about. With the book starting with the kidnap we didn’t get to know the family before it happened, the missing girl was a stranger whose name was barely used throughout the book. Her parents were unlikeable and I was never really sure whether I cared all that much whether she was found.

The only character that felt fully formed was Miller, the police officer searching for the missing child. However, she was also incredibly annoying at times, constantly calling Anna ‘Dear’ which drove me slightly crazy, and calling Nick, the husband ‘My friend’.

However, saying that, I enjoyed reading The Family Lie by Jake Cross, I wanted to know what they were lying about and why and it was a clever twisty tale and you will never be quite sure about who to trust.

Blurb:

You whispered goodnight to your daughter. You didn’t know that would be your last goodbye.

You wake up in the middle of the night.

Your five-year-old daughter is gone.

Your husband is nowhere to be seen.

Your family think he took her.

The police believe he’s guilty.

But he wouldn’t do that, would he?

He’s a loving father. A loving husband. Isn’t he?

An addictive and completely gripping psychological thriller with a twist that will blow you away. Fans of The Girl on the Train,K.L. Slater and Shalini Boland won’t be able to put down this jaw-dropping novel.

About The Author:

Jake has been making stuff up from a real early age. His parents never believed his silly lies when he was young, so he still has no idea why he thought he could invent a decent story as an adult. But he kept trying, and here we are. THE CHOICE is his first novel, the first of three thrillers to be published by Bookouture, and he hopes you like it. If you don’t, he at least hopes you don’t ask for a refund.

Author Social Media Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jakecrossauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JakeCrossAuthor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17625443.Jake_Cross

Buy Link:

Amazon: https://geni.us/B07N8VVHGFSocial

Apple Books: https://apple.co/2t41M85

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2D1yls8

Googleplay: http://ow.ly/sLbg30nxGTv

4*, blog tours, book review, psychological thriller

#review The Second Captive by Maggie James @mjamesfiction @BloodhoundBooks #blogtour

if only I could read faster

BLOG TOUR (5)

My Review:

The blurb to The Second Captive really appealed to me. The concept of the captive starting to see their kidnapper and keeper not as the enemy but as someone that they care about (Stockholm Syndrome) is fascinating to me.

I found The Second Captive got me into the story really quickly, I wanted to keep reading, no, I had to keep reading, especially once Beth was kidnapped. I had to know how she was going to escape and how was Beth going to cope once she did.

I really liked how the story was told, the first half is told by Beth and her kidnapper Dominic. This meant that we got to understand what was behind his decision to kidnap Beth and keep her in his basement for so long. While I certainly didn’t like Dominic, I did appreciate reading his thoughts and processes. Once Beth manages to escape, and this is no spoiler, we know from the first chapter that she does, the story is told by Beth and her mother, Ursula, with a small amount from Dominic too. This worked really well. I liked that we didn’t hear from Beth’s family while she was missing, it meant that the whole focus of the book was on what was happening inside the cottage that Beth and Dominic lived and that we were never quite sure what efforts had been put in place to find Beth by her family.

Having had every aspect of her life controlled by Dominic it was never going to be easy for Beth once she broke free. Fearing disappointment from her mother Beth tried to keep her ordeal secret, but of course, this isn’t as easy as it sounds. This was the only part that I thought The Second Captive strayed into the ‘not quite believable’ side, and that was a shame but it didn’t spoil the book in any way.

Overall, I think that The Second Captive by Maggie James is an excellent psychological thriller that will appeal to many readers. I’ll definitely be reading more from Maggie James.

Blurb:

 

Second Captive final
The Second Captive by Maggie James.

 

Beth Sutton is eighteen years old when she is abducted. Held prisoner in a basement, she’s dependent on her captor for food, clothes and her very existence. As the months pass, her hatred towards her imprisoner changes to compassion.

 But Beth cannot forget that her abductor is also a killer. And she has evidence to prove it…

 Then Beth escapes

 Can Beth escape from the prison that she has found herself in?

 And is there a relationship between love and fear?

 

About the author:

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Maggie James is a British author who lives in Bristol. She writes psychological suspense novels.

 Before turning her hand to writing, Maggie worked mainly as an accountant, with a diversion into practising as a nutritional therapist. Diet and health remain high on her list of interests, along with travel. Accountancy does not, but then it never did. The urge to pack a bag and go off travelling is always lurking in the background! When not writing, going to the gym, practising yoga or travelling, Maggie can be found seeking new four-legged friends to pet; animals are a lifelong love!

Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MJamesFiction/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mjamesfiction

Goodreads Author Page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/828751.Maggie_James

Blog: http://www.maggiejamesfiction.com/blog

Website: http://www.maggiejamesfiction.com