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tatterededges's review
3.0
Multiple characters POV including newspaper articles and diary entries and as well as multiple timelines make this kind of confusing. Especially when some characters operate in several times under different names.
There was a lot in this book that made me scratch my head and say "Er, what's that?" but these are the ones that stand out.
My first question was why would David ever Marry Vicki?
Followed quickly by, in 2018, what cop or healthcare worker reacts that way to epilepsy?
Back to David, all of the characters who slept with him described him as ugly. He was overtly duplicitous since every woman who slept with him in the book was at one point the other woman, he was even cheating on the women he was cheating with. Why would any of them actually trust him (or like him)? He certainly didn't display any charm in the book.
If he was involved with arms dealers, why would he need to coerce Jackie to kill Vicki? Surely he could have easily made her disappear? Would have been a hell of a lot simpler. And why would Jackie just confess at the end?
The police focussing on Vicki as a person of interest in a missing person case where a grown man with a history of disappearing and where there are no signs of foul play seemed completely half-baked. Especially given she was a well-respected ex-governor who had only lost her job after being attacked in the prison. The police would not have treated her like she was a criminal from the get-go.
Her lawyers were shit. The whole case rested on the fact that they found the chain in her house, but they arrested her at the train station on her way home, how'd she get the chain into her home, wipe it clean and hide it away??
And then David just magically turns up in the middle of the trial and gets to jump on the stand and announce that Vicki was violent during their marriage without being cross-examined? Where's the police reports David? Evidence of bruises? oh, that's right, you're a man, you're testimony is enough.
Zelda did not have the intelligence, nor was she quick-thinking enough to have planned to kill Tanya and frame, Vicki. It also makes no sense that Zelda would focus on Vicki as the reason for all her problems. If she really was fixated on Vicki, there would have been some kind of restraining order, after all she was thought to have tried to kill Vicki in prison.
I can't even with the whole Scarlett/Helen plotline. Ridiculous from start to end. Also, arsonists have a distinct profile and it doesn't look anything like hers.
And then because Patrick overhears something a drunk ex-con says in the pub, it's all over?
ok, now that I think about it, I'm downgrading my rating to 2 stars.
There was a lot in this book that made me scratch my head and say "Er, what's that?" but these are the ones that stand out.
My first question was why would David ever Marry Vicki?
Followed quickly by, in 2018, what cop or healthcare worker reacts that way to epilepsy?
Back to David, all of the characters who slept with him described him as ugly. He was overtly duplicitous since every woman who slept with him in the book was at one point the other woman, he was even cheating on the women he was cheating with. Why would any of them actually trust him (or like him)? He certainly didn't display any charm in the book.
If he was involved with arms dealers, why would he need to coerce Jackie to kill Vicki? Surely he could have easily made her disappear? Would have been a hell of a lot simpler. And why would Jackie just confess at the end?
The police focussing on Vicki as a person of interest in a missing person case where a grown man with a history of disappearing and where there are no signs of foul play seemed completely half-baked. Especially given she was a well-respected ex-governor who had only lost her job after being attacked in the prison. The police would not have treated her like she was a criminal from the get-go.
Her lawyers were shit. The whole case rested on the fact that they found the chain in her house, but they arrested her at the train station on her way home, how'd she get the chain into her home, wipe it clean and hide it away??
And then David just magically turns up in the middle of the trial and gets to jump on the stand and announce that Vicki was violent during their marriage without being cross-examined? Where's the police reports David? Evidence of bruises? oh, that's right, you're a man, you're testimony is enough.
Zelda did not have the intelligence, nor was she quick-thinking enough to have planned to kill Tanya and frame, Vicki. It also makes no sense that Zelda would focus on Vicki as the reason for all her problems. If she really was fixated on Vicki, there would have been some kind of restraining order, after all she was thought to have tried to kill Vicki in prison.
I can't even with the whole Scarlett/Helen plotline. Ridiculous from start to end. Also, arsonists have a distinct profile and it doesn't look anything like hers.
And then because Patrick overhears something a drunk ex-con says in the pub, it's all over?
ok, now that I think about it, I'm downgrading my rating to 2 stars.
jill_spamp's review
3.0
Not bad. Pretty interesting plot overall. I like how it discussed fostering children with parents in prison and how it affects the mothers- that was really intriguing. I'm just really sick of the whole "name change of a main character to hide information from the reader" trope. It's kind of a cop-out and very much overdone. I didn't understand the point of the last page or so talking about the oil. I read it and thought "okay? so what?"
cfogg's review against another edition
5.0
I have read Jane Corry’s previous two books & in my opinion, this is the best one. I loved it - couldn’t put it down! Lots of twists & turns, plenty to keep you guessing.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher & Jane Corry for the ARC copy of this book.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher & Jane Corry for the ARC copy of this book.
cfogg's review
5.0
I have read Jane Corry’s previous two books & in my opinion, this is the best one. I loved it - couldn’t put it down! Lots of twists & turns, plenty to keep you guessing.
marilynw's review
3.0
This review seems difficult to write. I enjoyed the book but it was very convoluted. At first I had severe doubts about the main character of Vicki. When the book begins, she is an aroma therapist, dealing with epilepsy and the problems that her epilepsy medicines cause, while always wondering when her next seizure will happen. We know things have happened in her past that are important to the present time but these things are revealed slowly and later in the book. We know that Vicki is still obsessed with her former husband David and mourns a child named Patrick.
With what we know towards the beginning of the book, I don’t trust Vicki or her memory of events. There is mention of prison and memory losses due to her seizures and the side effects of the medicines that she takes. She lives her life afraid that people will find out about her epilepsy and not want to use her as an aroma therapist and she is afraid of the dangers of having a seizure while alone or in public.
We also meet an eight year old girl named Scarlet, whose timeline starts in 2006. Scarlet is used by her drug and alcohol abusing mother, in order to help her mother commit crimes for money and anything else her mother wants. Scarlet thinks what she and her mother do are games and doesn’t realize that her mother is using her to pursue her life of crime. Eventually Scarlet’s mom is arrested and Scarlet is sent to live in foster homes, the first one horrible, the second one very good, but all Scarlet can think of is that she has been taken away from her mother and that she wants to be with her mother again.
The story is told from alternating views of Vicki in present time and Scarlet from 2006 and going forward and then eventually from the views of Vicki and Helen. None of the narrators are very reliable, Vicki because she doesn’t want to face certain things, reveal certain things, and can’t remember certain things and Scarlet because she’s young and has been raised horribly by a criminal of a mother and because she’s so traumatized by her life that she has no grasp of what is really happening in it and to her. And then there is Helen, who we know is looking for something by taking up with Vicki’s ex-husband David, but we don’t know what she wants from him or why she wants it.
Further into the book I began to really like Vicki because we learn she was an educated, hard worker, who picked her career (before her second career of being an aroma therapist) based on wanting to help others and we are allowed to understand things that happened in Vicki’s life that led her to her present day problems and worries. Scarlet is a sympathetic character too, especially because she is so young, has been used and abused by her criminal mother, because she had no one to show her what a normal, healthy life should be like. At the same time, Scarlet’s thinking is so damaged by what has been done to her by her mom and others that it’s hard to feel hope for her.
Even though I had some idea where things were going at times, there was a lot of information withheld, so that we have no way of figuring out what was going to happen next. While enjoying the roller coaster ride, which mostly kept going down, down, down, for Vicki, the book often felt very manipulative and frustrating to me. I do think I’ll be pondering on it for a while because it’ll take some time to unravel all that we learned, some of which became clear only very close to the end of the book.
Thank you to Pamela Dorman Books, Penguin Publishing Group, and Edelweiss for this digital Advanced Review Copy.
With what we know towards the beginning of the book, I don’t trust Vicki or her memory of events. There is mention of prison and memory losses due to her seizures and the side effects of the medicines that she takes. She lives her life afraid that people will find out about her epilepsy and not want to use her as an aroma therapist and she is afraid of the dangers of having a seizure while alone or in public.
We also meet an eight year old girl named Scarlet, whose timeline starts in 2006. Scarlet is used by her drug and alcohol abusing mother, in order to help her mother commit crimes for money and anything else her mother wants. Scarlet thinks what she and her mother do are games and doesn’t realize that her mother is using her to pursue her life of crime. Eventually Scarlet’s mom is arrested and Scarlet is sent to live in foster homes, the first one horrible, the second one very good, but all Scarlet can think of is that she has been taken away from her mother and that she wants to be with her mother again.
The story is told from alternating views of Vicki in present time and Scarlet from 2006 and going forward and then eventually from the views of Vicki and Helen. None of the narrators are very reliable, Vicki because she doesn’t want to face certain things, reveal certain things, and can’t remember certain things and Scarlet because she’s young and has been raised horribly by a criminal of a mother and because she’s so traumatized by her life that she has no grasp of what is really happening in it and to her. And then there is Helen, who we know is looking for something by taking up with Vicki’s ex-husband David, but we don’t know what she wants from him or why she wants it.
Further into the book I began to really like Vicki because we learn she was an educated, hard worker, who picked her career (before her second career of being an aroma therapist) based on wanting to help others and we are allowed to understand things that happened in Vicki’s life that led her to her present day problems and worries. Scarlet is a sympathetic character too, especially because she is so young, has been used and abused by her criminal mother, because she had no one to show her what a normal, healthy life should be like. At the same time, Scarlet’s thinking is so damaged by what has been done to her by her mom and others that it’s hard to feel hope for her.
Even though I had some idea where things were going at times, there was a lot of information withheld, so that we have no way of figuring out what was going to happen next. While enjoying the roller coaster ride, which mostly kept going down, down, down, for Vicki, the book often felt very manipulative and frustrating to me. I do think I’ll be pondering on it for a while because it’ll take some time to unravel all that we learned, some of which became clear only very close to the end of the book.
Thank you to Pamela Dorman Books, Penguin Publishing Group, and Edelweiss for this digital Advanced Review Copy.
nickymaund's review
5.0
From the start this had me gripped - I devoured it! There are multiple viewpoints; the obvious main lead Vicki, a girl called Scarlett and then later on a young woman called Helen. Corry leaves you wanting more - just how are these 3 seemingly separate characters connected, and what do they all have in common? There are twists galore in this story - it certainly leaves you guessing. The characters’ backstories are written with such emotion that you can’t help feeling for them, even the more unsavoury ones. This is my first read by Corry and I’ll definitely be checking out more of her books. The two narrators in this story do a cracking job bringing the characters viewpoints.
lernstreads's review
2.0
This book was SO slow going until the last 75 pages or so. Then it was like the author realized they had been trying to drive with the parking brake on so they shifted that off and put the pedal to the floor. It felt like she realized, "I have a TON of loose ends to tie up and I want to throw in these random twists I haven't set up for in any way! I better get on it!"
kazza27's review against another edition
5.0
Scarlett lives with her Mother and she leads a very dysfunctional life which is unbeknown to her.
This life includes her Mother using Scarlett to play a game to help her make money and feed her addiction. One day the Police turn up during the game and Scarlett's life is changed forever.
Vicki is an Aromatherapist living in Cornwall and it appears that she is hiding from something. One day the Police then turn up on her doorstep to say her Ex Husband David has been reported missing by his wife Tanya and Vicki becomes a suspect.
This book has many different stories weaved into one. The individual stories make you want to keep on reading and Jane's Character development is in-depth and meaningful. My favourite part of the book was how the author twists the stories to bring in further important characters who when first introduced you question why, however all the characters have an important part of shocking conclusion. A really great read.
This life includes her Mother using Scarlett to play a game to help her make money and feed her addiction. One day the Police turn up during the game and Scarlett's life is changed forever.
Vicki is an Aromatherapist living in Cornwall and it appears that she is hiding from something. One day the Police then turn up on her doorstep to say her Ex Husband David has been reported missing by his wife Tanya and Vicki becomes a suspect.
This book has many different stories weaved into one. The individual stories make you want to keep on reading and Jane's Character development is in-depth and meaningful. My favourite part of the book was how the author twists the stories to bring in further important characters who when first introduced you question why, however all the characters have an important part of shocking conclusion. A really great read.
windy_witch's review
3.0
This story is about Vicki who suffers from epilepsy and works as an aromatherapist in a quiet seaside town. It is clear that she is trying to hide something from her past from the beginning. The police turn up one day announcing that her ex-husband has been missing for some time and want to know if she has seen him recently. This unwanted visit from the police brings back memories that she was trying to banish.
As the story unfolds the author brings the story in from the past of a young girl called Scarlet, it is quite difficult from the beginning to ascertain where this ties into the plot with Vicki and her missing husband. However following through the story and as events unfold you find out the truth about Scarlet in the end. I did find this a little difficult to follow at times and struggled to fit these pieces together.
However overall I enjoyed reading this novel and would like to thank Negalley for the opportunity to read it.
As the story unfolds the author brings the story in from the past of a young girl called Scarlet, it is quite difficult from the beginning to ascertain where this ties into the plot with Vicki and her missing husband. However following through the story and as events unfold you find out the truth about Scarlet in the end. I did find this a little difficult to follow at times and struggled to fit these pieces together.
However overall I enjoyed reading this novel and would like to thank Negalley for the opportunity to read it.
georgilvsbooks's review against another edition
5.0
My first read by Jane Corry.
This book is split into three parts. The first and second had me hooked.
Part three, I devoured! The story and all the twists came together in this section and left me gobsmacked!
Such an exhilarating read.
Will defiantly be reading more from this author.
This book is split into three parts. The first and second had me hooked.
Part three, I devoured! The story and all the twists came together in this section and left me gobsmacked!
Such an exhilarating read.
Will defiantly be reading more from this author.