Reviews

When Olive Collins' body is found inside her house, seemingly months after her death, the police wonder why her neighbours didn't notice sooner. Withered Vale is a small gated community, the residents have money and privilege, and most of all they all know each other. As the police start to ask questions though the perfect facade starts to crack, and secrets start to appear from all angles. Suddenly all of Olive's neighbours appear to have a reason to want her dead, the question now is for the police to narrow it down.

Another great listen, expertly narrated by Aoife McMahon. There's quite a few characters in this book, and it would have been easy to get them mixed up if it wasn't for the combination of great narration and well drawn characters.

None of the characters are particularly likeable, for various reasons, but the book is still compelling. At first it seems that Olive was a bit of a loner, and that although her neighbours weren't close to her there's no reason for them to wish her harm. As the book progresses though you see the dynamic of the community from a totally different light, and realise that there is a lot going on behind closed doors.

I loved that this book was told from different points of view, giving us chapters from all of the characters including Olive herself and the police investigators. Jo Spain uses this as a way to tell the reader about the same events from different perspectives, which gives us a great insight into the characters.

I couldn't put my finger on who the killer was, changing my mind almost every chapter as I found out more secrets and more reasons for people to want Olive dead. I suspected everyone!

If you haven't read any Jo Spain books yet I strongly recommend starting. This one is a stand alone so would be a great one to pick up.

naomitl's review against another edition

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4.0

This is one of those books where you feel like you figured out the story, then start doubting yourself and then it turns out you were right in the end. Until some of the very last moments you don't know who did it. Lovely book.

taylorgilronan's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

givy's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

pollyanna_lee's review against another edition

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4.0

"Guilt lies close to home"

I love a domestic thriller, they feel so much more relatable than some fast paced or sensational detective/spy novels and leave me actually feeling something after reading them. I haven't read one for a while and forgot why I like them so much, this book reminded me why.

Somewhere in Ireland there is a gated community built on farmland, six newly-built homes surrounding the original cottage. In this cottage is Olive, a 55 year old woman who seems to keep herself to herself. Nobody even reports that they haven't seen her for 3 months until flies are seen coming out the chimney of her house. The book follows the investigation into her death and the potential motivations of her 'perfect' neighbours.

We have the perspective of Olive from the grave, retelling the goings on in the community and how feel she got on over the years with her new neighbours. I really didn't know how to feel about this character, one minute you see her as a lonely woman just trying to make friends, the next you absolutely hate her. Each neighbour has an interesting motive for wanting Olive to be gone, whether they killed her or not. This wasn't a nail biting thriller so much as a more comfortable nosy into people's personal lives and how far people will go to hide their secrets. The pacing was great, I was invested within the first few chapters. I enjoyed the characters of detectives Frank and Emma, I thought they were a nice mismatched pair to follow along with. Each twist was well-placed I thought, left me constantly changing my opinions on people and ultimately blind-sided me with the conclusion. Didn't see that coming.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and raced through it in one day, it just fell short in some parts for me. Like I said I enjoyed all the side-plots in this book, however I felt it suddenly ended. I would have enjoyed a epilogue at the end, tying up these loose side plots we'd followed for the whole book. I appreciated the ending, showing the development of relationship between the detectives but I would've liked to see this closure with other veins of the book.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys domestic thrillers, stories about how small communities are intertwined with each other and how much people really can live in each others pockets. For example, if you enjoy the work of Shari Lapena, C.J. Coopers Book Club or maybe Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club, I think you'd enjoy this.

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